Currently I am beginning my journey into the hobby by starting to assemble the many car kits such as Bowser and Walthers I have accumulated and begin the process of assembling them. I have my computer desk which I can clear to do he basic cutting and using plastic cement, but what could I use for a workbench? A basic plastic folding table with storage options for tools etc.
What do you use for a workbench, and recommend?
Until you have a defined space, I would use a folding table set up near a corner, near a window, or at least near outlets for a good lamp and to plug in a soldering iron, a hair dryer, or something else, maybe a power shaping tool.
You can purchase work stations and assemble them from kits, or just build one out of suitable milled lumber. I have two benches, one inside my partitioned garage train room, and a larger wooden one built by the garage builder years ago. Each has sockets nearby for powering grinders, hand saws, jig saws, spotlights, etc.
You’ll also eventually want shelving and drawers, maybe stackable drawers, for paints, implements, other materials, track elements, and so on.
I bought my hobby room workbench from an unfinished furniture store many many years ago. It measures 48” wide by 30” deep and 1⅛” thick. It is level with my computer workstation at 28” high.
It has two angled 2” x 8” legs and very sturdy. I have a 2½” bench vice mounted at the corner, again very sturdy.
It has worked out very good over the years, I can roll my comfortable computer chair back and forth between my workbench and computer work station.
Mel
Your workspace will evolve to suit your needs. Get lots of little drawers (postal drawers I think they are called) and containers to store things. I also have a power bar with a variable timer on it so I never will have a soldering iron left on for long once I have left the room for the day if I were to forget to turn it off.
I have some big trunk sized tupperware/rubbermade type storage for landscaping supplies.
I find a comfortable chair and a good stereo make for a really enjoyable session in the land of magic. Oh, and I can’t hear the phone from in there which makes it even better.[(-D]
For a place to work while seated, it needs to be comfortable - when I’m involved in a project, there are occasions when I’ll work for 12 hours or more, without pause.
Beyond that, the work surface should be durable, preferably with storage space either on- or under the work surface.
I use an old student desk that I’ve had since I was a student…
…and in an adjacent room, have two built-in workbenches for other work, such as soldering, filing, grinding, etc. This is one of them…
…and here is the other…
It’s the same size as the other, but the paint booth has been moved to a purpose-built room in my garage, which is about 100’ behind the house. This allows painting at any time, day or night (preferably the latter) without disturbing anyone.
The evolution of my work space went from a student desk in the bedroom to the same desk in a basement room, then with the addition of two more benches in an adjacent room, and now another in the garage.
I also have a non-modelling workbench in a basement closet for household repairs and another in a separate room in the garage for bigger jobs.
Wayne
Only an official NMRA sanctioned workbench is permitted! [:D][:D][:D]
Ok, seriously; having worked on numerous stand-in work tables, I’ve found that:
If I had to buy one now, I’d check out Goodwill, the local 2nd-hand store, etc. and buy something that was stable and cheap enough that I wouldn’t fret about scratching it.
Jim
I like stools instead of chairs, and sometimes I stand as I work, so I built a work bench about the same way that I would build layout bench work, at stool height.
Mike.
The auction houses are a great place to get something as well.
Mine was sitting next to a dumpster at RCMP headquarters in Vancouver. They had sent all the old furniture to the government auction and they had one too many desk that could not fit in the 53’ trailer that had come to pick them up. It was cheaper to chuck it out than to send the movers back to get it. So a couple of Mounties threw it in the back of my Government issue P/U truck and I transfered it into my own P/U truck back at the airport and took it home. It is the perfect work table. Apparently it came out of the forensic medical lab so I am sure it is haunted.[(-D]
I’ve had lots of workspaces over the years.
The first I can remember was originally my mother’s dressing table. It had a Formica top, sturdy legs, and there might have been some drawers.
Later, I had a student desk my grandfather built for my aunt. I think it was a kit he got from Sears made of interlocking plywood panels.
I’ve also had periods where I made a drafting table serve double duty - with a large cutting mat on top of it, of course.
My current space is posted on MR’s Facebook page. It’s a hollow core door the previous owners of my home left behind suported on 2x cleats screwed to the wall.
They also left behind a much sturdier workbench in the HVAC room in the basement. It appears to be made from recycled power line crossarms. That’s where I do heavier work, including auto repairs.
Eric
Allow plenty of storage space (*small drawers) for the small parts, pieces that accumulate as you progress in the hobby.
I currently use an old metal government type desk I bought for around $15 when my company was getting rid of them. I have also used old dining room tables, tv tray tables, old roll top desk, and I’m sure a few other things over the years.
The best are those that are sturdy and used only as a hobby work bench. Second, you want lots of drawers - my desk has 6 drawers. I also have a Craftsman 6 drawer rolling tool cart I keep next to the desk for the tools that don’t fit in the desk.
Paul
My recommendation is that you have a very small work bench, because from my observation and experience, the bigger a model railroaders work bench, the Bigger the Mess!! [swg]
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Just before I retired an increasing number of my colleagues were requesting work desks that they could stand to work, versus the traditional office desk. Of course they were in carpeted offices. Standing to work is good, but standing for a long time on a hard floor has its own challenges. Opinions vary on whether workbench areas (or layouts) should be carpeted.
From time to time I do find myself prefering to stand for a given project which in my case means having to clear space on an unscenicked portion of my (rather tall) layot - not ideal.
A workbench has to be sturdy above all. Not shaky like a card table. And it has to be of a nature that you no longer care if the top looks nice because there will be spills, and scratches, and holes, and soldering incidents. Mine is an old desk with a white melamine top, covered with two self healing mats.
More important than what the bench is (since we modelers can adapt to just about anything) - it has to be very well lit. And increasingly I agree with the guy who wrote the article (MR? RMC?) about adding a light UNDER the bench, where all the dropped stuff will end up. Including Kadee coupler springs and no. 77 drill bits.
I am reminded that the late E. L. Moore supposedly built his beautiful scratchbuilt structures on a TV table! He lived in very cramped quarters, perhaps a trailer.
Dave Nelson
I use a student desk that I picked up at a year sale several years ago… I’ve also used a computer desk. I was watching a live rail cam while building a building a structure kit.
I think Brother Lion gets the prize for that.[(-D]
My desk/room goes back to looking like the photo in between each build. I make good time on projects when I know everything is in its place and easy to find.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who does that. I like to stand when I work. As I finish more and more of the layout, I’m having a harder time finding space to work.
Any thing will work. I use my wood shop bench. It is home made from plain lumberyard pine. 4 by 4 legs, 2 by 8 top with a masonite cover, some home made drawers for small tools. Stupid Beast was placed on the bench by hand, and leaped off and fled a few seconds after the picture was taken. She is not a shop hazard.
And we have some paint storage, small tool racks, machinists vice, and the drill press.
You got that right Bear. I couldn’t post a picture of my workbench because I couldn’t find it. It’s got stuff piled so high it’s not usable for a workbench. My task for tomorrow, clean my workbench!!!
Mel
Plan ahead, you will more than likely be building multiple kit’s at once. ( or is it just me ?)
I bought TWO workbenches from Harbor Freight .
The above picture is the first one. I built the second one right next to it.
This gave me An 8 X 3 foot workspace … that now has a 1X1 foot space left for “Actual work” !!! I also have a large trunk that I use as a “Paint booth”.
It’s FULL of kit’s … which is hard to dig around in… when their’s a paint project on top !!!
Then there’s the shelf’s-O- Stuff…
And, I keep it ALL …in this big box .
And even with all this “space” I STILL enrage my wife by piling projects up on her coffie table in the livingroom.
( guess I’m gonna have to find some “space” in the bathroom …)
I would hope that you returned her drawers prior to taking the dresser.