Hobby room squalor- I'm not the only one...

[DR JAY]

Hello all.Over the years I have seen many posts on many forums regarding "Show Us Pics Of Your Hobby Room" and was inundated with pictures showing immaculate work spaces without the slightest hint of use...kinda like cleaning the house before the cleaning lady shows up so she won't think we're pigs. I get it: who wants to show off a messy work space, but the dust and shaving-free desktops with strategically placed tools anda single model body in the centre of the cutting mat seems a little too contrived. Don't get me wrong: I always clean my room between projects to hospital standards, but for the most part I have 3 separate office size desks which provide roughly an area of 12 square inces of unobstructed work space on each one during builds.I am by no means a dirty or unorganized person and the rest of my house is nothing like the state of Manland most times. Even when I used to be an Automotive Tech for nearly 25 years I always laid my disassembled parts and components on paper floor mats taped to my bench top to keep them clean and in order and the tools in my cart were spread out on clean rags like the surgical tray in an operating theatre.

But that was at work where a professional appearance was required at all times and efficiency was key in making money and avoiding comebacks. (ZERO comebacks in the last 8 years!) My point is: I CAN'T be the only one who builds models like this....

Am I?

[Chuck Most]

No, Jay. You're not. One of the reasons I rarely post pictures in threads like the one you describe are because 90% of the time my work area resembles the ruins left after a neutron bomb detonation. In fact, my photography area is on the totally opposite side of the room, so the mess is to my back (and thus completely unseen by the unflinching eye of the camera lens)- I often pick up the project and carry it across the room in order to photograph it when posting a work-in-progress.

[rel14]

My room has shelfs on all four walls 9 in apart,,then isn't room on any of them to set a dime, my table right at this moment

has 7 differant builds on it, trying to get 15 done my Nov. But, i can tell you were everything is blind folded.

i spend about 3-6 hours a day in there,,,, Got to Love what ya do...Not what people think.. A-men P.S. no pics. lol

[Jantrix]

Not me man. My desk aint all that neat while I'm building, but it's one model on the desk at a time for me. Things get lost too easy if you let them get spread all over kingdom come.

[Fat Brian]

Since moving into the new house I don't have a desk set up for myself yet so my current workspace is a recliner with a rolling laptop table to work on and it's messy around that too. If I'm working on something that is fairly kit stock the mess isn't so bad, but when I need to find specific parts from other kits and this or am looking for suitable donor parts the extra kits tend to pile up around my chair.

[mikemodeler]

Just cleaned and organized my work area because we are having a party in 2 weeks and my work area is out in the open in what is called a bonus room. I found a lot of pieces and parts in the process and hope to spend some time at the desk once the party is over. I have never had a modeling area that was open to others so I am learning to be neater! Like most everyone, I tend to get a couple (or more) kits going at the same time and end up with a mess.

[Dr. Cranky]

Mine goes through stages, and toward the end of a series of builds it will look like a disaster, but that's all right. The last thing you want is to be stressing about it, but what happens to me is that I have to start digging around for tools in the clutter, and then that gets to me. So I do a Spring cleaning every so often and it makes me feel good. Between projects.

[crazyjim]

I swept the floor in my shop yesterday and always clean the workbench top before starting another build. I actually build at the desk I've had since grade school, but the open boxes are kept behind me on a 36' x 96' workbench. The left side of that bench is reserved for cutting & sanding, while the right I keep clean for resin casting area. Next to the desk is my spray booth. It all fits into a 10' x 20' air conditioned/heated, insulated room.

[Austin T]

Usually the day of the show the bench is scattered with food wrappers,BMF scraps,empty soda cans,countless paint marks and a thin layer of flocking that never manages to get into the paint.Once I get home I clean of the bench,do a pass and review of my prizes,and hang any awards on my wall.

[cartpix]

Mines a disaster area. Like you, it necks down to about a foot square of work space. I'm working on it, though. I usually clean it up but it doesn't take too long for it to go back. I need to figure out how it happens & stop doing it that way. It takes the fun out of it, when you can't find the Exacto knife that's right in front of you, covered with a bunch of ######.

Jeff

[Dingo5162]

All I can say is my work area is a total disaster with one huge 1/8th scale model airplane sitting on it at the moment and its been like that since November last year wit no work done at alll.

Dingo

[paul alflen]

A TRUE MODELER'S DESK, WILL HAVE MANY STARTED/STOPPED PROJECTS ON IT! MINE IS CERTAINLY NO MARTHA STEWART PERFECT OR NATE BERKIS ORGANIZED, EITHER!!

[Bart68]

I never show the madness thats my desk/work area. It's not that it's dirty just messy and I don't like people seeing that at all.

[vintagestang]

Mine looks like 5 oz. of c4 was dropped on it!

[Borgis]

As they say, this thread is worthless without picures...

Sometimes my "hobby room" looks like this.

But usually it's a lot more cluttered.

[Danno]

I would have posted a picture of my workbench, but I can't find my camera ... because it's somewhere on my workbench.

Stand back ... I'm going in!

[Lunajammer]

Messy, very. But I don't like filth, so I sand over a waste basket when I can and clean up debris and tailings every so often. However the clutter is at the verge of tolerability.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Lunajammer

[DR JAY]

I realize I should have posted a pic to show my own ground zero, but I have none to show....kinda like hiding the evidence! I have a day off work- i can shoot some metallizers and Alclad right now or spend that time cleaning Manland...Easy Choice. Later, boys- I'm going to fire up the airbrush!

[Aaronw]

Mines a disaster area. Like you, it necks down to about a foot square of work space. I'm working on it, though. I usually clean it up but it doesn't take too long for it to go back. I need to figure out how it happens & stop doing it that way. It takes the fun out of it, when you can't find the Exacto knife that's right in front of you, covered with a bunch of ######.

Jeff

That was mine in the old house, I'd clean up a bit and find whole models I forgot I'd been working on.

When I moved I set up the new bench with lots of space and seperate areas for different functions, so I'm not trying to scratchbuild, resin cast, paint, assemble all at the same table. I also put shelves under the bench so I have a place to store my in progress but not working on right now models, instead of just shoving them off to a corner of the bench. It seems to be working fairly well because now I have a whole 2 sqaure feet to work.

[Guest]

Mine is a organized mess! I can find anything on it, .................... given enough time!

[Tony T]

What does "clean" and "organized" have to do with a work bench?

Here's an idea of how it usually looks...

The boxes usually go off to the side...these were for progress on the build...and there hasn't been much of that since I've been working on a 1/12 scale doll house for the Mrs. Almost done...man, individual shingles sure take a while...faster with 5 min epoxy though!

Edited June 6, 2012 by Tony T