My Workbench, back to usual....

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I cleaned my workbench a few weeks ago. But since I have two rigs, an IMSA Mustang, a Firebird, a Porsche, a Camaro, a tractor, an Austin and three hot rods going it looks like THIS

XD

Anybody else have this dilemma? I suppose not many, as I've seen some clean work areas around here.

Edited September 7, 2014 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Ramfins59]

It would drive me crazy having so many projects going on at the same time...... I couldn't do it. I work on one model at a time until either I finish it, or, I hit a big snag and then it goes back in its box and I work on a different one.

[JTalmage]

I build on a fold up table, so no room for multiple things going on....

[Jantrix]

No. I NEVER have more than one model out at the same time. Even if I'm working both in the same time frame. When I shift, everything from the previous build is bagged and boxed and set aside. Too much chance for misplaced parts, when you have multiple builds on the bench. I do this for fun and the frustration of searching for parts, is the opposite of fun.

[JTalmage]

^^^ This!

[tubbs]

I have 4 projects (32 ford, 62 Pontiac, 70 super bee,64 fairlane) on my bench as we speak. there is also the misc projects that that hang around, not to mention all the parts on the bench for future projects. see, if I put things away, I will never find them.

[tubbs]

No. I NEVER have more than one model out at the same time. Even if I'm working both in the same time frame. When I shift, everything from the previous build is bagged and boxed and set aside. Too much chance for misplaced parts, when you have multiple builds on the bench. I do this for fun and the frustration of searching for parts, is the opposite of fun.

wow!! nice, bur for me, I find it a lot quicker and easier just to "push" projects with kind of a forearm-on-table sweep to the side. like I said earlier, this works well for me because if I can't find a part, there are only a few "piles" I have to look thru. if I put it away, I will be looking for it for days!!!

Edited September 8, 2014 by tubbs

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Besides, when I get a new kit I start working on it that day. I don't let it sit in the box. I'd prefer to be going on it and have a car to work on while another is in paint.

[tubbs]

Besides, when I get a new kit I start working on it that day. I don't let it sit in the box. I'd prefer to be going on it and have a car to work on while another is in paint.

... that's how I got soooooo many projects going in the first place.

[crazyjim]

I normally have 3 builds going at any particular time. My process is pretty simple. Open the box and dump everything out. Set the empty box to the rear of the bench and then all the parts off the sprues. From the empty box I work forward to the front on the bench starting with the body parts, then chassis and related parts, interior, and then engine parts. The next kit will go to the left and get lined up and the 3rd kit further to the left. I might be fortunate in that the bench for separating kit parts is my stained glass bench and measures 8' x 3'. Plenty of room.

[pharoah]

I would only have 2 at the most on the table at one time. And I have a good sized table. I'm working (? lol)on a 1/8th scale project at the moment,so there/s no room for anything else.

[Tom Geiger]

Yes fer shure!

I will have several things going on the bench at one time. Part of that is I get to a stage of working on a model where you can only do a little before waiting for paint or glue to dry. So I like to have another project so I can continue working that specific evening. The second reason is that I like to have several projects going at different stages, so that if I don't feel like working on one, I can move over to the next one. I"ll be working on some fine detail on one model, but I feel like chopping plastic... it's good to have a project at that stage to swing over to.

I do get to the point of workbench overload and I have one of those "Hold Everything!" moments. That's when I will sort out the inter-tangled projects into boxes, clean up the dust and yuck, and start over with just one project on the center of the bench!

Funny thing is one of the best times I had as a modeler was when I was between model rooms due to house renovations. I had a project I was working on for my club's Christmas meeting contest. I worked on a board, on top of my kitchen table. I worked in earnest every evening, but at the end of the night, I had to regroup and put it all away. It wound up getting sorted out, bits of mess tossed out, and all put on the board, on top of the refrigerator so my little kids couldn't get at it. That kept me neat and honest! Maybe I should try that again!

[niteowl7710]

I have a 3' wide by 6' long table I work at...I keep my madness separated by never taking more parts out of the box than I'm working on in one individual sitting - eg JUST the engine runners, or JUST the interior parts. I admit on small parts I am an "on the runner" painter unless it something requiring substantially clean-up. Once they come off and until ready for unit assembly they go into pile of removable plastic tackle containers that were in the tackle box I used for my OTR Semi-Driving workshop. Quick piece of masking tape with a sharpie to remind me what in the hey the parts actually go to, and so on. If I'm not working on the parts, then they stay SEALED (if possible) in their bags to keep from going AWOL or being turned into a hockey puck by the furry basement inhabitants.

I've found that if I clean up and BOX UP a kit I'm working on it, it gets shelved into no mans land of the stash, and might never return for months or years until the project comes back to the forefront of my mind again.

[Tom Geiger]

I've found that if I clean up and BOX UP a kit I'm working on it, it gets shelved into no mans land of the stash, and might never return for months or years until the project comes back to the forefront of my mind again.

My solution for that is that I put a series of shelves over the workbench where all the boxed, unfinished projects reside. That way I have to look at them. There are times I sit at the bench and look up at the labels on the boxes. One will catch my attention and I'll pull it down. Sometimes I just grok a few, and put them back, but other times the next thing I know I'm working on it. Sometimes I get a step or two done and it winds up back on the shelf. Other times it gets finished. No matter what, the project is a step better than before and those projects don't get lost in distant memory!

[niteowl7710]

My solution for that is that I put a series of shelves over the workbench where all the boxed, unfinished projects reside. That way I have to look at them. There are times I sit at the bench and look up at the labels on the boxes. One will catch my attention and I'll pull it down. Sometimes I just grok a few, and put them back, but other times the next thing I know I'm working on it. Sometimes I get a step or two done and it winds up back on the shelf. Other times it gets finished. No matter what, the project is a step better than before and those projects don't get lost in distant memory!

I need a significant overhaul of my entire work area. When my grandparents built this house in the early 50s, a basement was a place where you kept your washer/dryer, wood/coal burning furnace, a coal chute, the water heater and all of your canned/bottled vegetables, sauces, etc. The idea that anyone would use it DAILY was absurd.

The end result of that is other than those appliances (and a later added oil furnace) the only wiring down here is 6 light sockets. That means in order to plug anything in I have to use those light socket adapters. As a result I have a bare CFL bulb, an end table lamp, and a desk work lamp as my illumination. To keep my laptop down here, and run the space heater in the winter (concrete floors) I have to run an extension cord into the next "section" of the basement and up into another light socket adaptor. I want at LEAST this section re-wired to give me several OUTLETS, as I want to hang those overhead shop florescent lights, and have a place to install a paint booth and the compressor to my airbrush. Installing shelves over the table would require drilling into the cinder-block wall. But with outlets I could push the table against the wall - instead of it "floating" in the middle of the floor under the light socket - and let me work on it the 6' lengthwise.

I used to work on another longer table like this as a teenager, and I just kept my ongoing projects stacked up in the further corner so they were never out of sight, out of mind like they are now.

[Tom Geiger]

I need a significant overhaul of my entire work area. When my grandparents built this house in the early 50s, a basement was a place where you kept your washer/dryer, wood/coal burning furnace, a coal chute, the water heater and all of your canned/bottled vegetables, sauces, etc. The idea that anyone would use it DAILY was absurd.

that sounds like my grandparents house in Jersey City, NJ. When they upgraded from coal to a huge oil burner (complete with asbestos paste finish) in the early 1950s, my grandfather decided to finish the major part of the basement. He went with that early 1950s style "Rec Room" look of green asbestos floor tiles, real pine board paneling half way up and the upper half was done in green printed panels made of what may be something like a modern ceiling tile, but probably contained asbestos! When my father and I cleaned out the house to sell it in the mid 1990s we found a box on the shelf, unopened of "Asbestos paste for furnace repairs". We quickly put that in a sealed plastic bag and got rid of it!

The coal room became my father's photography dark room, the walls in there were probably built before cinder blocks, being rocks and mortar. There was a business end of the basement that held the furnace, shelving and closets for tools as well as my grandmothers work area, sink and wash area. I do remember her using an old style wringer washer when I was little, and the dryer was a line the length of the back yard! She did have a modern washer and dryer set in the later days. I was allowed to work on model cars in that area on the floor next to the furnace. When we were clearing out that space, I actually saw spots on the floor, shadows of model bodies I had sprayed directly on the floor as a kid.

I don't know your basement space, but the first thing I would do is paint all the walls white to brighten it up. You can put up shelving that doesn't need to be secured to the walls. I did that in my old house. The shelves don't need to be super strong since model kits are light! It doesn't sound like you are confident with electricity, but you don't need much for modeling. Have someone access what power you do have there, and if it's a separate circuit from the rest of the house. Your wiring down there is probably old cloth wrapped cable, which would be brittle from age. I'd go back to the power panel and run new wire. You can probably run a circuit or two that would work for greatly enhanced lighting, as well as some outlets around the room for your tools, heater and such. Maybe we have an electrician from PA here on the board??

Edited September 8, 2014 by Tom Geiger