Work Bench/Hobby Room Inspiration

I do have a "Man cave" in my new house. My wife said I have to keep it clean! So my solution was to build my work area in the closet. I then built a "research desk" behind me and added display shelves and 4 bookcase I had. As you can see I have already filled the space I though would be enough. So I am working on a redesign of the space for more shelves. I will end up custom building the entire room I believe at a future date.

benzdoc

 

 

Again, thanks to Hutch for bringing this whole topic up! And for the great responses - y'all got me going on something I was pretty much stranded on. 

The thanks really goes out to you guys.  I gained a lot of very useful information from this particular thread.  I won't be moving for six months, but my prep list for my new hobby room has grown.  There are no IKEAs out here in Colorado, but we will live a short distance from one in Northern Virginia.  I will look at the additional shelving tips you all gave and apply accordingly.  I am real pumped to set up my new room.

Thanks for the hint on the shelf edge - I hadn't thought of that. Even so, I probably won't be adding those right away; my finished collection will barely fill the case as it is. Having the supports welded in is something to do first though!

Good thought on the rubber sleeves / pads. I was thinking of just slicing the ones that come with the shelf in half. In theory, that could work. 

Working for a German car company, I've grown to appreciate and love templates. So, I made one for this project; admittedly pretty low tech, but it should do the job. You can see the silver side panel of the case, with my Home Depot paint sticks (formerly used for holding small parts during painting) that I put together as a template. 

Tomorrow I'll just zip the rod stock into 12.5' lengths, and tack them on. As promised, I'll snap a few photos then.

Quick update from my side; last night I was able to complete the modifications to the side rails of the cabinet. I've got pictures of the various steps and will post them this evening; hopefully at the same time as assembling the cabinet.

I can't wait to get my models out of the closet and into view!

'I can't wait to get my models out of the closet and into view!'

benzdoc Ha ha ha your quote sounds like we need a 'modeler's pride parade' or lobby the government for 'modeler's rights'

Like every small special interist group outsiders are clueless as to the enjoyment, time and pacience involved with our hobby. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' Its satisfying when a viewer takes time to appreciate 100's of hours spent on a project. At the same time frusterateing when a viewer has a 2 second glance without regard to the effort involved.

Probally why I enjoy model contests. Everyone there is interisted and can appreciate what you brought to the table. Most are friendly and friendships develope over discussing the cool builds on display. Then the question arises 'Did you enter a build?' Kind of like a show and tell on a higher level. Techniques and mistakes are shared, everyone leaves a better modeler with new friends. Also THE best place to find deals on modeling products. Buy lots of raffle tickets and wait untill the afternoon to buy that special kit or two, as they would rather sell than haul kits back to the store.

I know a bit off topic yet I feel the best place to display your proud build is around like minded hobbyests and in the acid proveing grounds of the sometimes crule contest tables. I found the satisfaction wasn't awards as it seems a bias exists for club members and certain 'ringers' who are expected to win. My ultimate satisfaction, or last laugh is graceing the pages of 'Great Scale Modeling' annual issue. Three times lucky where only one build placed at the contest Great Scale covers.

Yet everyone needs a cool display at home, some day hopefully. With some luck the ex. will let me have the corner Curio cabinate from Ashley furnature that was my late mum's to display my models.

Here are a couple of pictures of my display cabinets.  I was lucky a friend of mine owns a retail shop and he was changing things around so he was going to get rid of these 2 cabinets.  He gave them to me.  They are 70 inches long and 18 inches wide.  I put a second shelf in one of them for my 72nd scale stuff.

Just stumbled upon this thread ....

AWESOME IDEAS!!!!

I've have a dedicated modeling room/ home office in the house, but its an open "formal" living room at the front of the house, so things have to be kept clean. I'm in the process of putting in built-in bookcases for display. One of the cases is going to have cabinet storage in the bottom for paints, models, and supplies.  Just the way the room in situated, there's a corner behind the desk (which sits in the middle of the room facing the open doorway, which is about the size of a set of french doors) that I plan on building a set of corner "cabinets" that will open up into a building desk. That will leave the desk in the middle of the room as my "research" desk.

I really like the ideas posted about converting the display case from IKEA. I'm thinking about checking those things out for placement/ display areas in the rest of the house. (My wife likes my hobby, but doesn't like the mess of construction .... but she LOVES looking at the finish products.)

As of right now, I don't have plans to put my paint booth in that room .... there's just not room for it. So, I have it sitting in a spare bedroom on a folding table, venting out the window when used.

Again, LOTS of GREAT ideas coming out of this one. KEEP'EM COMING!!!!!

Jason, you are so right! Most people have no idea what they are looking at. On the other hand, people like me will go to the Military Shop in CA and spend hours looking at the models on display there - like ChuckW's Dauntless. 

So, back to the modification. For an update, the shelf is assembled and my models are now 'in view' so to say. Last night I made the modifications to the side rails and painted them so that this evening everything was ready to assemble.

Here's the first picture, where I was cutting the rod stock down to the right size; just about 12.5"

Here are the 'rods' ready to be welded to the stock pieces; you can see the cut off wheel and the plastic wheel chucked into a die grinder that I used to debur and finish the cut edges:

Now it's on to the welding stage. If you look close, you can see the IKEA side rail, my aforementioned template and the new shelf support ready to be welded in along with the welding gun:

After all of the side rails were welded in, I cleaned everything up with the plastic wheel (MIG welding leaves burned edges and discolored metal; not ideal for topcoat). Then I relocated to my house, and laid out the rails over a plastic drop cloth with the first coat of paint:

I found the best thing ever at Home Depot; it's a textured paint finish that closely matches what the IKEA rails came with. This stuff is great!

So that was last night. Today and this evening was a killer, but I did manage to assemble the cabinet and put my models in it; I'll take pics and post them tomorrow. 

I hope this is somewhat interesting to all y'all (this is the only Southern word I'm picking up!) and helps you find your own perfect solution.

Cheers!

Mike

benzdoc

 

I hope this is somewhat interesting to all y'all (this is the only Southern word I'm picking up!) and helps you find your own perfect solution.

Cheers!

 

Mike

More than "somewhat interesting"!!!!!    Great work...I'll have to check out that paint at Home Depot.

I'm envious of the nice workshops you guys have.  Here's mine, it's ugly but functional, and I don't care if I spill paint on the floor!

It's great to see other folks work areas. Some are quite nice indeed but all that matters is all of them shown have been functional.

While I can understand that no one would be too anxious to show their area at it's messiest like in the middle of a project- I somehow doubt anyone's can compare to mine for overall clutter? But it's not as if it's "dirty". I just have too much stuff and not enough room and besides whenever I'm working on any project I pull out everything I think I need to have nearby. For those reasons- you will not see my "space".

But I'm enjoying this thread anyways!

Cadet Chuck

I'm envious of the nice workshops you guys have.  Here's mine, it's ugly but functional, and I don't care if I spill paint on the floor!

What are you talking about, man?!  Looks like a kickin man cave to me....any private place to build is okay by me....sure beats my first building place many years ago-->the dining room table....

The new side rails look great, Ben - can't wait to see what they look like in the cabinet with models on them.

I've always been a bit concerned that by doubling the shelves; would you lose the ability to really see each model?  With the stock design, you can really get a good look, appreciate the model.  I'd like to see what it looks like with all the shelves in place.

-Fred

Just recently we moved and my wife gave me this room on a first floor

not much space (85"x85") but with some imagination , IKEA and friends help it become a very nice place to spend time, relax and build models...

First I put a wall and door (just a closet door but it works for me)

next, I got IKEA (BILLY) bookshelfs with glass dorr (and some glass shelving)

where I can put my WIP projects

also space for supplies, books and magazines

large built-in table and shelf on the left side

also a shelf above the door ...

working area ..

includes a photo "studio"

Painting requires ventilation, so I set up a little space in the basement

Under the table is a wide shelf for "other stuff" like cable box, dvd player, computer and all kind of cords and connectors. Additional cabinet was placed under the table (also Ikea was very resourceful )

For model display I used Ikea glass shelves with addiitonal shelving (a little welding and few glass plieces did the trick), but this is a diferent subject. I hope it will help you in setting up your own space on the FIRST floor

gzt,

Great use of efficiency.....I like what you did with the place!!!!

OK, here's the conclusion of my IKEA cabinet modification. Sorry it's taken a few days; I'm so behind on so many things...

First of all, forgive my amateur attempts at photography! There's a lot of improving I have to do in this department. With the disclaimer out of the way, here are two different shots of the completed cabinet:

With the door open, here's a closer look at the shelf and added support:

I can't remember who, but someone asked if it might be too tight to add extra shelves; I believed beforehand that it would be alright; you can make your own judgement based on these:

So there you have it. Depending on what you're building, it seems that there's plenty of space; for reference the airplanes are all 1/48 scale. So, a twin engine, or even 32nd scale bird might be a tight fit, but I still think in terms of the footprint rather than height. 

Also, keep in mind that you can adjust the height of the added shelves; I just put the in the middle of the available space; depending on your needs it could be varied per each shelf. 

One last thing; since this is the hobby room thread, here's my workbench:

I'm a bit jealous of the people who don't have a dual use workbench...

Thanks again to everyone to contributing to this thread - because of this thread I've got this cabinet and my models are out in view of the world - bot most especially me. And I'm fired up to get modeling again!!

I found that the halogen lights go a long way to make it easier to see the details in the models. They are called  GRUNDTAL in IKEA parlance, and are not expensive. When I modified my shelf I left the top section larger, otherwise the top model is too close to the lights. As it is the best lit and at eye level, I use that as the place to show off the "newest arrival'.

I would not be warry too much about it,unless you put too powerful bulb out there.

I have this light mounted and it works fine . I keep it on for hours and no problem with my models heating up. Sure I tested the temperature before I left it alone for the first time :)

Well, we've moved into the new homestead and I am slowly getting the new man-cave to specs.  My "honey-do" list remains long, but I am finding time here and there to get "the room" up-to-speed.  IKEA has helped with shelving and additional working area.  I purchased a glass sheet, as advised (Fermis).  I am in the process of venting my paint booth out the window, based on advice early in the thread by (Gigatron).  I will also be setting up a model photography area (new territory for me).  My goal is to have the man-cave set up by the November holidays in synch with the completion of major house renovations, so that I can go full speed building kits.

Much of the advice on this thread is being incorporated....many thanks to all.

hutchdh

Well, we've moved into the new homestead and I am slowly getting the new man-cave to specs.  My "honey-do" list remains long, but I am finding time here and there to get "the room" up-to-speed.  IKEA has helped with shelving and additional working area.  I purchased a glass sheet, as advised (Fermis).  I am in the process of venting my paint booth out the window, based on advice early in the thread by (Gigatron).  I will also be setting up a model photography area (new territory for me).  My goal is to have the man-cave set up by the November holidays in synch with the completion of major house renovations, so that I can go full speed building kits.

Much of the advice on this thread is being incorporated....many thanks to all.

Hey, you never mentined where on the east coast you moved to!  where did you settle in to?

Justinryan215

 

hutchdh:

 

Well, we've moved into the new homestead and I am slowly getting the new man-cave to specs.  My "honey-do" list remains long, but I am finding time here and there to get "the room" up-to-speed.  IKEA has helped with shelving and additional working area.  I purchased a glass sheet, as advised (Fermis).  I am in the process of venting my paint booth out the window, based on advice early in the thread by (Gigatron).  I will also be setting up a model photography area (new territory for me).  My goal is to have the man-cave set up by the November holidays in synch with the completion of major house renovations, so that I can go full speed building kits.

Much of the advice on this thread is being incorporated....many thanks to all.

 

 

Hey, you never mentined where on the east coast you moved to!  where did you settle in to?

Northern Virginia, just north of Fredericksburg.  I mentioned in another post that I was saddened to leave Colorado as it is a great place to live.  On top of that, there were some of the best LHS around between Colorado Springs and Denver.  I am now faced with no LHS in Northern Virginia/Washington, DC...sad.  Most of my purchased are now via internet....glad we have that.

Wow, you guys are so.....  organized!  My stuff is all over the house, literally.  I started in the dining room, since we rarely use that, but moved most of my current work to the great room where the TV is so I could be with my bride watching TV and working on the current project at the same time.  She found a small chest of drawers in an estate sale and brought it home for me to put most of the stuff that was on the table in the great room into, but the stuff still creeps out and around. 

I know I'll never be as organized as you guys, but wish I was better.  This thread IS inspiring, though!

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

I wanted to close the loop on this thread...some months back I asked for inspiration and I took pointers from just about everyone in putting together my new Man Cave.  Room is a bit small, but my wife gave me the green light, so I had to settle...no arguing here.

Just organized my room a little better. 1st pic is dresser where i store my aibrushes and aftermarket acc.Boxes on left are full of aftermarket goodies.

Next are pics of stash.

Next is the "work" area.

And finally the paint booth.

Yowza....nice set up.

Man..I miss having a basement. We moved to NJ...Mystic Island..and have a lagoon in my backyard so no chance at a basement. The next best thing is the "Florida" room...until I renovate it then I`ll have to wait til one of the kids move out to get my own space again..lol. Her`s a couple of pics...a little messy at the moment..several projects going at once....paint booth....airbrush setup (nitrogen)...Table...part of my airforce.

p

My workspace is too depressing to take pics of.  It consists of a 5' long 2' deep old beat on computer desk which sits about 10 inches away from the edge of our bed in the bedroom.  I use the bed for a seat.  I tried organizing it multiple ways but I have decided that just letting supplies and tools flow organically seems to work.  One of these days we have to find a bigger mobile home. lol

Rich

I say work where you can. I spent many a'days working at the coffee table in the living room at night while the wife and I watched TV ... packing everything up each night.

I'm fortunate enough to have a study in the front of our house that I've been given free reign of. I'm trying to keep it nice looking but hey, modeling is a messy hobby!

Hello everyone

Here is my workbench in SUNNY California.  Yes it is SNOW.  It happens once every 20 years.

I just realized that I hadn't posted pics of my workbench here. So here they are.

I need to take pics of my small bookshelf still. My only problem is where to display my kits after they're done.