Tuesday 10 December 2013

Approaching the bench

The Sprue Cutters Union requests: Show us your Workbench.

About 5 years ago my wife and I became empty-nesters as our adult kids moved out, and over the subsequent years the vacant space has been assimilated into our needs. Two rooms in the basement were knocked into one to create a fitness room for my wife, and – more by osmosis than planning – I took over most of the rest of the floor for modelling. It doesn't always look as tidy as the photos and there've been some minor changes recently but it's essentially still the same.



The main work area is a simple IKEA table flanked by a couple of storage cabinets. 



Since this photo was taken I've added a third angle poise lamp. The small set of drawers in the right corner of the table contains paints and spare parts, and was a gift from my parents in 1973! The kit on the bench is the MPM Gloster Meteor, long since finished.



The cabinets on the wall to the right of my work area contain reference books, model mags and some of my stash, mostly the 1/72 kits.




Painting is done in the utility room, where I've recently installed a spray booth although I'm not happy with its location and may have to move things around.


And directly above the spray booth, the remainder of my stash. (Well, besides the kits below the stairs and in the spare bedroom closet...) 

How other Unionists work: 



Thursday 5 December 2013

World Peace, and an Airfix Hurricane.

This week's SCU question: What are four items on your wishlist? Since the answer to that can change daily, I'd better carpe diem and write something down now. As tempted as I am to wish for 'more time to model' or 'better canopy masking skills', I'll try and respond in the spirit in which the question was posed.

Truth is, I really don't need much of anything, least of all kits. In fact I've spent a good part of the year whittling down my stash so to wish for more seems counter-productive, but inevitably there are a few items which I could find room for on the shelf:-

1. Airfix Hurricane Mk. I 1/72
This is a new-tool from Airfix and by all accounts is a lovely little kit which I can see being a weekend project when my mojo fails me (a weekly occurence, so I wouldn't have to wait long).


2. Pit Road Vickers Crossley armoured car 1/35
This is a re-release of a kit that has been pretty hard to find for the last few years, so when it was announced as being in stock at Hobby Link Japan I went straight over there and ordered it. Well, I tried to anyway; there must have been a glitch because I went in a perpetual cycle from log-in page to 'your basket' then back to log-in page, so I was unable to actually land one. Perhaps it was divine intervention preventing me from buying yet another kit I didn't need, or simply a dodgy Japanese server, but as a result it remains on my wish-list.


3. Paint storage racks
Unfortunately I've yet to find a commercially available paint rack system that will comfortably hold all of my hundreds of jars of various brand paints, and my DIY skills are seriously lame, so I'm hoping some generous woodworking friend will see this and offer to do it for me. I've got some plans drawn up...

4. Special Hobby AH-1G Huey Cobra 1/72
Can I wish for a kit that's not even out yet? I've loved the Huey Cobra since I built a Matchbox kit of it back in the 70s, and at last a new-tool kit has been announced and I've even seen test shots of it online, so it must be imminent and I must have one. (Please don't bother telling me there's an AZ Model kit already out – if you do, I'll know you've never built an AZ Model kit).




Other Unionists on this topic:-