Heres a shot of my workbench. Its a mess and its normally like that.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
I gots two. I decal and glue on my computer desk (comeptes with Homework) but dremeling and painting are limited to the garage. Painting goes on in an old computer box taped to the tabletop surface. A gooseneck lamp shines into the box and can be mopved to avoid overspray, and the inside holds a Rubbermaid plastic turntable, I can hold small models underneath, do pot touch up undr there, and on top for overall unbstructed blasting.
I like Garry's it's so new looking. And trains behind are added bonus. Though I'd hate having to carry to staging.
"Opps! &%(&^%%$(*& that ^%&(^$ thing fell out of my &^$#^&*&**% hand!
-Morgan
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
This is a photo of mine from a couple of months ago. My airbrush and paintbooth are in a different room. I have a lot more hanging on the peg board these days. The gooseneck lamp and magnifier are from fly tying but are really helpful. My unbuilt kits and scenic details are in plastic milk crates stored under my layout.
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Tim Fahey
Musconetcong Branch of the Lehigh Valley RR
My workbench is not so clean.
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
douglast wrote: Many years ago I went to a store that sold new and used office furniture. I bought an old wooden oak office desk, it was 3 ft by 5 ft. The desk was going t o be stripped down and refinished. It was still painted gray with a gray linoleum type material glued to the top of the desk. I got the desk for $25. I stripped it down and refinished it myself. I put a formica top on the desk. This desk is about 95 years old.The drawer storage is nice, and the pull outs shelves are real handy. I have 2 swing arm lights on the desk. There are several storage type parts cabinets and a big tool box with sliding drawers for the small tools to be kept in.Every time we move (5 times) I have brought this desk along.
Many years ago I went to a store that sold new and used office furniture. I bought an old wooden oak office desk, it was 3 ft by 5 ft. The desk was going t o be stripped down and refinished. It was still painted gray with a gray linoleum type material glued to the top of the desk. I got the desk for $25. I stripped it down and refinished it myself. I put a formica top on the desk. This desk is about 95 years old.
The drawer storage is nice, and the pull outs shelves are real handy. I have 2 swing arm lights on the desk. There are several storage type parts cabinets and a big tool box with sliding drawers for the small tools to be kept in.
Every time we move (5 times) I have brought this desk along.
I started out building models on a students desk in my bedroom, where my eldest brother had built many models before going off to the Air Force during the Korean War. I inherited his bedroom and the desk when he moved out, the summer before he joined up. I got seriously in model railroading (age 13) after we moved to the city, and built many structures (to scale), plus a caboose, out of Birdseye Foods postersfor my American Flyer trains--on that same desk. Then my next eldest brother and my dad built a 2x8' workbench in the basement, where I happily built a lot of HO models and my first O scale steam loco. I spent many happy hours in that basement workshop and I still heave a big sigh every time I think about it.
Years later, when I moved back from Colorado, where I worked on the kitchen table of the cabin I lived in, I moved into my folks' summer cottage, where I set up shop on a small table in the corner of the living room. Like some of the guys whose photos show them, I made a of hutch to sit on the back of this 24x36" table, supported on one end by the three plastic parts cabinets inherited when my eldest brother and mentor died at the young age of 36. The reason for this rambling account, tied to douglast's Quote, is that when we added a room onto the 3-room L-shaped cabin, filling in the Ell, my folks arranged with a relative to bring up the big old oak knee-hole desk the number three driver on my racing team had donated to our racing garage.
Like douglast, I loved that old "workbench." It was double pedestal, of course, with lo-o-ong drawers that would hold 20" pieces of stripwood and sheetwood and all the other supplies needed for an active model-builder. That old "hutch" still bridged the back of the work surface, with my #2 Moto-Tool in the old-style Dremel drill press standing next to it. And, also like douglast, I discovered the pullout work surfaces! People, these are the answer to that age-old "twelve-inch-square-work-area" we always eventually end up with! Granted, I still lost tools and parts in the mess (I swear tools scuttle off under the debris and hide!), but the pullouts (I used the left one, pulling out the right one only to hold my can of Coke while working) are perfect for modeling. I used that handy old desk/workbench for 16 years in the hairy wilds of Rhinelander, WI, then up here in Duluth, in the spare bedroom workshop/computer room, for another six years.
I had to give it away (sob!) when I moved into this upholstered cliff swallow's nest (three rooms and bath--18x19', less the thickness of the walls and the two closets, etc.). I was still recovering from a "T-bone" car crash--I was the victim-- when I moved in here, but by the end of that first part-year, I'd built a workbench (a framed piece of 24x48" one-inch plywood on Steel City legs)--with a pullout work surface on the left side of the knee-hole! It's a 5/8x12x24" commercial shelf board in brackets (very strongly framed at the front, for ruggedness), and I'm just now ready to buy a new one, having turned it over and flipped it end-for-end until it's scuffed pretty badly. If at all possible, I highly recommend installing one on your workbench; it'll save your sanity, particularly if you buy or make a tool caddy and assign places for tool storage and train yourself to put away any tool if you won't need it within the next few minutes. It can be done! I did it after being in the hobby for more than 40 years with the same slipshod habits as anyone.
I recommend a Pana-vise or equivalent as your main vise, but I've also equipped myself with a clamp-on all-position vise, a regular old-fashioned small clamp-on vise, and a jewelers hand vise. If I had the room I'd also have a regular big ol' swivel bench vise for heavy duty jobs, but since my Cozy Nook is in the 3x5' pantry closet, across from the sink and next to my computer desk, that's only one of many dreams. I early on bought a 3-and-2 arm lamp, a big old thing and very handy, but due to aging eyes replaced it with a 3X magnifying arm lamp, the kind with the circular fluorescent tube. If you scratchbuild and have or need multi-drawer parts cabinets, get them! And label every drawer you use. I use Avery labels, printed using free templates, printed by computer. Organize the cabinets first, then label--but don't be afraid to reorganize and re-label as needed. Wal-Mart carries Avery labels in smaller quantities than the office supply stores (they get $15-17 per package at Office Max--for enough labels to last you two or three lifetimes!).
I used to lament the loss of my old oak desk/workbench--and that cozy basement workshop I had as a youth--but though tiny, my Cozy Nook is extremely handy and efficient. I have to keep my micro lathe under a shelf in the living room (a whole ten feet away!) and I'd dearly love to have more parts cabinets (O scale parts are BIG!), but I've pretty much maxxed out the available room in the workshop.
Happy modeling!
I use a roll top desk as a work station, For most projects it has just enough room to work and My tools are all close by.
Capt. Grimek wrote:Is it common to have a workbench under one's layout? I have a computer desk that I'm thinking of fitting under a 55 inch high section of the layout, hoping I can fit my big head between joists on an L girder bench.I'm a tick under 6' so this seems like it'll work and hopefully I can even keep my head out away from under the bench edge. If not, a smaller chair/stool should do it. Anyone have pics of their under the bench work work bench? (Can ya say that 5 times fast? :-)
Capt
I'm in a similar position. To maximize my space, the workbench needs to go under the layout. I measured the top of my head at 55" when sitting up straight (I'm 5'10"). Next mockup before final construction is to put appropriate depth bookshelves at 30" and 60" height, respectively, and see how I like/feel working at the shelf underneath. The extra couple of inches are to allow me to put in bench/task lighting, and to keep me from feeling like I'm going to bang my head on the underside of the shelf.
The drawback is that 60" is a higher than desired layout height for me, and means using a step to work on any deeper portions. Also, 60" may be too high to see cars on spurs in back of the main, and similar sight line issues.
A thinner construction tecnique than L-girder is probably going to be necessary. Adding layers of 2" foam on top of a frame is not going to work any better. Foam might be OK if set inside the frame. So far, 1/4" ply laminated to 1" foam, set inside a frame looks the most promising for keeping overall benchwork depth minimized, while still leaving room for vertical variability in the terrain.
Again, I'm making maximum use of shelves on vertical tracks to mock up the situation before committing.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
Heartland YOU WIN! My vote goes to your workbench. Your work room looks more like an office. That chair looks comfy too.
Heres my under the layout workbench. Its not usually this messy, but I was ballasting and doing some scenery work.
Robby P. wrote: Heres a shot of my workbench. Its a mess and its normally like that.
I think I have the same brand of clock! Honestly, guys, you'd be surprised at the hominess you get from a common clock above your workbench. I always had an old-fashioned electric (Westclox, I think) alarm clock on the shelf above that roomy workbench in my folks' basement, when I was a kid, since I was Down in the Depths, with the furnace, water heater, washing machine, and fruit cellar (Mom was an inveterate canner). A few years ago I was looking over a favorite John Page article, from the early '50s, "Savaging Sheet Metal From Oil Cans (any of you older guys do that?)" and noticed a common electric kitchen clock hanging above his pegboard. I went out to Wal-Mart, laid down about five bucks for a battery-operated kitchen clock (batteries not included, of course), and propped it up above my "back bar."
Now I no longer have to back out of my closet workshop to check the time; I just tilt my head and look up. (Incidentally, I put my wrist watch in my sock drawer when I came home--early--from the last day of operation of my final job and haven't worn one since. I bought a battery-operated pocket watch--now that they no longer put watch pockets in pants. I bought a clip-on card case, had a shoe repair shop stitch up the open side, and I clip it inside my waistband whenever I need to keep track of the time. AND I TAKE IT OFF THE MINUTE I WALK IN MY APARTMENT DOOR!) I no longer get wrapped up in a project and suddenly discover it's after 7PM and I haven't prepared supper yet. And like I said, it somehow makes my Cozy Nook seem cozier.
The workbench was under the layout when I first built my n-scale setup a few years ago, and it worked well--put the layout about eye level. The workbench was a solid wood top on set of cabinets. I used legs to raise the front of the layout, and used cleats along the back and one side to secure to the wall.
Bump here guys
I was going to start a thread on what your guys workbench looks like ( I enjoy seeing others work spaces for ideas ) and found this older thread so heres a pic of mine. Look forward to seeing a few. Mines not the tidiest but does the trick for me.
I'm a custom builder/painter and my workspace has kind of grown organicly from a 3x7 area to a whole 12x16 room over a period of 25 years and still only have 2 18"x24" work spaces. It is also an "organized" mess. What you see is only what's on or above the workbenches, there's more stuff underneath them.
In addition to all the parts bins, additional parts are in drawers like these:
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
Good Grief, Garry... now I'm Green in Georgia.... green with envy that is!
Jarrell
Heartland Division CB&Q Here's my work area. My work bench is two office type folding tables. I have home made cabinets and shelves to keep my stuff in or on. Once I was a complete mess-aholic. I reformed. It save ions of time keeping stuff where it belongs. The cabinets to the right of the tables have tools, trains, parts, and paints. The large cabinets to the left side have mostly buildings and building kits. The also have materials for scratch building. The shelves include MR, books and other reference items. The other group of shelves is my model railroad museum. The black hulk high on the top shelf is the remains of a steam locomotive built my grandfather around 1925. There is a scratch build O guage engine built by my dad in the 1940's. My dad traveled to Japan when I was young and brought me some Tenshodo stuff. The oldest is a NYC Hudson he gave to me 51 years ago.
Here's my work area. My work bench is two office type folding tables. I have home made cabinets and shelves to keep my stuff in or on.
Once I was a complete mess-aholic. I reformed. It save ions of time keeping stuff where it belongs.
The cabinets to the right of the tables have tools, trains, parts, and paints. The large cabinets to the left side have mostly buildings and building kits. The also have materials for scratch building.
The shelves include MR, books and other reference items. The other group of shelves is my model railroad museum. The black hulk high on the top shelf is the remains of a steam locomotive built my grandfather around 1925. There is a scratch build O guage engine built by my dad in the 1940's. My dad traveled to Japan when I was young and brought me some Tenshodo stuff. The oldest is a NYC Hudson he gave to me 51 years ago.