I looked. And looked. And I couldn't find a thread or topic pertaining to the Most Venerable Workbench!
I am in the process of building the perfect modeling workbench by my own standards. I figured some of you might have the same high standards when it comes to your workplace and I was hoping you'd all share a picture of your "holy place" so I can steal the best of your ideas and make them mine!
I, in turn, will keep everybody posted on the progress I am making on my own W.B.

This is my first post where there is NO modeling medium highlighted and I hope to get everybody in Armorama to chime in on tool placement, drawers and shelves and those indispensable 30 drawer and 50 drawer boxes, clamps and jigs and all the other stuff in the 3 sq ft you cherish!

This could be cool,
Cuhail

He Cuhai,
If you go to /www.aircraftresourcecenter.com and choose the tools n tips their are a number of people showing their workbench.
Enjoy

These were taken during Inital construction.....



I'll have to take some new ones tonight...... of the refinement's i've made

i've got a 6' arm span and 95% of my stuff is within reach. I have a basic U shape, construction on the two sides and painting on the bottom.
I glue right in my construction area, no special place for it.

Well, i just bought this house...sooo im working on a card table right now...heh. Getting pretty cramped too, so Cuhail, I am glad you brought up this topic since I am about to build myself a little workbench in the garage.....not like we keep the cars there or anything so might as well be put to use. So I am interested to see all of yous guys pics of workbenches too....and like Cuhail, I will probly be stealin some of the best ideas

MATT- I think I can speak for most of the members on this site when I say: "I Hate You."

Just Kidding! Of course, I DO envy you all of that space. Right now I'm working off of a drafting Table, With References in Hanging files to the left, Old Mil. field desk filled w/paints, brushes, casting supplies.etc. on the right. Current project on desk w/in prog. refs tacked to wall, along w/wooden rack for in work paints/putties. Only drawback is that I have to completely clear my table when I want to Draft/paint/cast/model. Looking to move a 13'x10' shed into the backyard(which will then need plumbing/electrical/heat runto it ). Until then- the things we do for a little 'relaxation'!

I used to have a closet..... Literally a 4' wide 10'long walk in as my space...... Pics here

So Matt- is your life easier now that you're "out of the closet'? :-) :-) :-) .I see you're from NY- wouldn't happen to be the SOHO/ south villiage area, would it?!? :-) :-) :-)
(Sorry, you REALLY set me up for that one... )

Very cool gentlemen, but I need to see more!

Matt- Nice! Everything in it's place! Do the flourescent lights bug your eyes out or shimmy at times? I'm contemplating either those or track lighting with spotlights.

Slod-meister - Is that a cardboard box spraybooth? I knew that silly warning about fumes was nonsense!
I like the "wrap-around" setup. It's practical.

I hope more of you send in your "spot shots"! So, far I like what I've seen.

Cuhail

OK, here is the place where I glue, as you can see the most important item is my fancy home made computer for inspiration. Modeling for me is a mental state where mood has to be perfect, to set myself in that mood I jus imagine like I'm the commander of a Tiger I runnig through the middle of Tunisia, and I try to imagine what it may sound like.....enough of that, this is my workbench. there is my compressor and my kits, thats the academy Pz. IV which is a pain in the backside.
I try to keep it small or else it looks too messy
This is my beloved computer, where some of my inspiration comes from, you can see all the gadgets for a cool flight simulator experience including the joystick and the 5.1 sorround sound system, this is where i play battlefield 1942 and all of the cool war games. of course that harddrive is filled with 3,000+ reference pictures
this is my library lol, most of the books I read are at the city library, I am too poor to buy more books but I do what I can.

This is me, dressed in black from head to toe to help set the mood

I hope you like my workbench.

Now, did that work? aahhh yes!
I'd like to introduce you all to Part 1 of my new workbench.
The base cabinets were taken out of two bathrooms at a remodel job I did. They are butt-ugly, but I like what they do. The 1 footers have a drawer and a cabinet with a shelf while the 3 footers have two drawers and a two door cabinet.
The worktop was hastily thrown together when I realized that I would have to have a SOLID surface to do metalwork on. I started with 7-2"X3" boards and glued and pegged them side by side. I then sanded the hell out of one side till it was flat and level. 2 coats of "natural" and 2 coats of "cherry" later and it was 4 thick coats of polyurethane to top that baby off.
Part 2 of the project will see a cubby hole shelf unit that will span 5 feet of the overall 7-1/2 feet of benchtop. It will have shelves for plastic and metal sheet, slide out silverware organizers with rod, tube, and strip plastic and metal, and future plans see a airsource for an AB rig and a vacuum built in too.
I still want to see more of your workspaces too, though. I will post some better shots of mine soon.


Cuhail

hehe.... NOPE I'm about as far away from NYC as you can get in this State.......

I know how you feel Matt, I do my best to stay out of Chicago. Too many people, too much ickies, I love the suburbs!

Cuhail
P.S.- Matt, you said something about updated photos of your impressive workspace?
Hint, hint, nudge, nudge...

so much paint!
so many tools!
and so many models that need to be built!
i have a nice little bench my dad built me when we moved in( he didnt want me painting and thinning in my bedroom:P) i have a little shelf were my paint does and i stock my models boxes in my room.
i cant beleive how much stuff you guys have! all i have now is a cheapo 30 dollar airbrush( the "good one" broke down) 4 bottles of tamiya acrylics, 2 bottles of models master enamels, and a few testors bottles with some old acrylic paints i inherited from my grandmother...i dont even have any kits left( iam waiting to buy my new airbrush, prob an aztek 470) but i have one good thing...a big big big compressor my dad uses for car painting, with an pressure regulator, oil filter, moisture trap etc, all you can think of...

hope me good luck in having decent materials! Frank

O.K. guys, I was really hoping for some more pictures and bragging about your workbenches. I figure that, if anything, this is the ONE thing that we all have in common whether we model armor, airplanes, ships or sci-fi. It is the place where we claim (by being on this website at all) to be the most comfortable and productive.
What kind of chair do you park it in when your cutting and gluing?
What is that one thing on your workbench that you use so often that it's right there in front where you can always find it?
I'm really curious because I spend a lot of time figuring out the perfect setup to make my favorite passtime the most comfortable thing I do.

Chime in guys, I still think this thread could help out all of us with our own modeling and maybe see what we surround ourselves with while we build the works of art I see on this site everyday!

Keep 'em coming!
Cuhail

Well, this would be where the gluing-together of the little metal and plastic pieces takes place. The desk is an old childs study and is just terrific for easy access to all the hand tools, various goops, decals, stuff...



while this is where the little metal pieces are made.





The parts are made in the shop downstairs and then all globbered together upstairs.

Cody

Here are a couple of shots of my workspace. Tools and equipment in easy reach, or hanging overhead. The monstrosity in the corner of the second picture is a homemade painting booth, consisting of a range-top, some folded aluminum sheet, and a frame to support both. It is vented directly outside.





Cheers,
Mike

A couple of pics from my workspace, I have the 'small' bedroom of a 100+yr old Vt farm house so I deal with the slanted ceiling as well.

Me at the bench I built. I'm taller than the average bear, so the table it extra high, I like being able to sit and work at mid-chest level, not reaching down.


Behind the workbench is a 6 ft folding table used as a storage bench, fluids, airbrush, cleaning supplies, aftermarket goodies.
Here my son Justin is working painting an old Tamiya AA crew fig "army man green"


The space in the background where the trashcan is now has a 3ft folding cardtable for partial builts and in progress kits.

The entire 8ft long wall behind the photographer is all unbuilt/partial build kits on a homemade shelving unit 7 ft high. To the photographers left is another of the jelly cabinets the previous owners did not want to move and left us, also full of built up kits, and on the other side of that is a 5x4 ft kitchen rolling shelf unit full of DML figures.

More pics later.

Mike

Here are the main places where I do my model building. Storage area is not shown because it is a clutter!! ( Worse than the workbenches if you can believe that).I built one workbench under my basement steps and I have another bench in my garage using an old desk. I also use my kitchen table. I try to remain mobile so I can keep an eye on my kids (3 and 5) when the wife is at work. The basement is where I do the most and keep kits and supplies stored. The room down there is 8 x 15. There is more shelving than anything down there to hold my model railroad equipment until I finish the basement off. The photo of the basement workbench shows some of the projects for my railroad that are starting to accumulate.

Edit: The garage work bench is now closed for the season. Too @#* cold.

O.K. Finally got a pic of my work area-
3"x4" Oak drafting Table, Surplus( no, really!) field desk (adhesives, paints, casting supplies inside), References in Perspex slots bolted to wall, Pathetic little stash under table, "in use" paints etc. in small cubby on wall. The overly bright cube is my greatest find- A TrueColor image viewing center. Overhead & backlit with full-spectrum flourescents, and the sdes & worksurface are photgraphically neutral. And it really was a "find"- guy down the street picked it up in a storage center auction & threw it away without even opening it! Knucklehead
Well, the whole space could probably fit on one of Matt's shelves, but we gotta get it where we can, eh!

Heres somes shots of the bunker in the basement. 2 rooms and a bathroom.

I almost always try to glue between the parts though sometimes i miss and glue my fingers together....



and just built me a permant workbench in the living room closet.. 4 feet by about 3 and 1/2 feet ... but its my first permanat place.. beats a tray or card table

Murph....
The best part of my bench is I built it from scrap 2x4s etc. from construction site scrap piles and the rest of the odds/ends cost me less than $50.00! I do not have a digi-cam so bear with me while I try to describe the bench I built.
It is 11 feet long by 32 inches deep with a 14 foot shelf 32 inches above the bench. The shelf has 28 inches clearance below the ceiling (it has maybe room for 3 or 4 more kits, current count is 102) and lights are attached to the bottom. I also built 3 cabinets below the work-top, 2 feet wide each. The first cab. has my compressor and airbrushes and the other two are divided with a shelf for hand/power tool storage etc. I custom built a rack that has 7 shelves to hold my paint bottles that forms the extreme right side.
I put a cork board below the shelf to hold the instructions and refrence photos. All my hobby tools/brushes are stored in a custom built wood stand 36" long x 4" wide that sits on the back side of the work-top so I can have them at hand. The bench, refrigerator and water heater take up the rear wall of my garage. I am lucky that the Naval Base had a wood shop, that's where most of the pre-fabrication took place. There is enough space on the right side for 2 bar stools so both my son and I can build together. Cheers!

Guys, you are all great! I have seen some great work spaces. And I have come to an odd conclusion...
...Either I am a complete neatnik, or you're all slobs! :-)

Just Kidding y'all!
I am so happy you guys responded to this thread, keep 'em coming!

Cuhail