From workshop to studio

Today, I’m sharing with you a major transformation that has taken place in my world – the reorganisation of my workshop into a model-making studio.

I’m a bit of a tool nerd and a sucker for tools, as my Amazon account and wife can testify.

My workshop was a testament to this tool obsession, filled to the brim with every tool imaginable.

Whether it’s a vintage tool from yesteryear I’ve collected over 20+ years of model making, an upgrade of one I already have (such as when I found a new set of screwdrivers), or a modern incarnation that promises an easier, faster, model making I have to have it. As a result, my workshop is overflowing with every manner of blade, saw, hammer, screwdriver, clamp, file, and scribing tool.

However, it was becoming a mess and, the chaos was becoming a creative barrier.

By nature, I jump from intense spells of intense creativity when my workbenches are a jumble of tools and models to periods of planning, contemplation, and research when it’s neat tidy, and organised. My Jekyll and Hyde moments of model making. But recently, with so many tools, Hyde has ruled and my workbench is buried under tools more often than not.

But as a result of selling more of my handmade models and structures, I needed to get more organised and disciplined, with a workspace that is easier to maintain, clean, and keep dust-free in which I can create the precision models. A reorg was long overdue.

Here’s what I did to make my studio much cleaner and more productive.

Designing my new creative workspace

My workspace is a log cabin with the traditional four sides and a door and window along the front wall.

The desk, strategically positioned along the front wall, functions as the centre of my creativity…, where I design, construct and perfect my models. From here, I enjoy having a peaceful view of the garden, further enhanced by the option to open the doorway, bringing in soothing sounds of birds and the pond during summer days. (In the winter months, I have a WiFi speaker with a Spotify playlist streaming from the house).

I want my most commonly accessed tools within easy reach from here. These are Swann and Morton scalpels, blades, needle files, tweezers, rulers, squares, scribing and sculpting tools. But how to store these?

For these most commonly reached for tools, I went with a tool holder that I’d not seen before.

This is a 36cm by 7cm oblong piece of plywood, with raised edges divided horizontally into four sections so the assorted tools can rest without falling out all over the desk.

Mounted at an angle and directly in front of me, the tools are easily visible and accessible. The whole unit is then secured to the wall below the window with a hinge allowing it to be lifted up giving access to weights and a mini anvil stored underneath.

Illuminating precision: setting the stage for detailed work and safety

Flanking this setup, pull-out extendable LED lamps radiate light ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 Kelvin LED lamps and an adjustable arm magnifying glass focal length allowing work on the models without crunching over them.

For meticulous work, an electronic microscope is available to the left. This combines with an armrest to steady my hand for when I’m working on really microscopic detail pieces.

Within arm’s reach, a dedicated shelf stands ready, stocked with essential first-aid materials for immediate access in case of an injury. When dealing with a deep cut and blood is flowing, that’s hardly the moment to fumble through boxes!

In front of all these is the desk surface sitting on anti-vibration pads. I don’t get much vibration but even the slightest tremor from a lorry passing along a nearby street can be frustrating when working on milli-meter and below detailing. On the desk surface, large cutting mats provide the worktop. A shatterproof glass sheet (from an old shelving unit) can be placed on this for working with polymer clay and resin molds.

Sitting in the corner between this desk area and the left-hand desk is a mini desktop 12-drawer unit for clamps, low grit nail files, rulers, micrometre and other frequently reached-for tools.  These drawers are labelled to enable easy location of the tools within them but also, as Adam Savage once said, the drawers are where tools go to die.

Sitting on top of this is a monitor that’s connected to the microscope but can also be used with a mobile phone for watching reference videos while working or showing camera footage if I’m creating a tutorial for the Model Railway Engineer website. Above this, are a Proxxon slow-speed electric drill and hot air gun and rack for scissors.

Beneath the desk lies a fridge, a small haven for creature comforts, alongside a storage unit filled with essential health and safety gear. This includes eye protectors and gloves—of which I go through hundreds—and a respirator to protect my lungs. It also safeguards the indispensable electrical components essential for breathing life into models, like the outhouse with swinging door; this means wires, meticulously sorted by colour and gauge, as well as LEDs, servos, and more. Additionally, this space safeguards my selection of polymer clays, ensuring everything I need is within easy reach.

How it was, it worked by wasn’t well organised.

Half through the reorganisation. Notice the new long shelf on the left and the angled tool rack on the right.

Storing paints

Transitioning from construction to painting, the left-hand desk is where I do most of the painting and is my second common workspace. Here I needed all my paints and brushes.

Previously, I had my paint storage arranged in a two by two grid of paint racks but this didn’t work instead they are arranged in two long rows that run the length of the wall. This now holds my Citadel, Vallejo, Tamiya, MIG, etc. paints, pigment powders and texture paints. I haven’t yet decided on an ordering system for my paints. (I’d love to hear how you sort yours, by colour, type, make or finish?). But at least I now have easy and quick access to the paints.

Below these paint racks is a deeper long shelf on which I can place taller or larger items, spray cans, IPA, thinners, various bottles of Cyanoacrylate and MEK with different applicators, other glues, modelling putties and fillers.  I’ve learnt from experience and the glue section of this shelf has a foil tray in it to catch any leakage. Under this shelf sits, fixed to the wall, a paper towel dispenser.

On the desk below these are a Vortex paint mixer, an indispensable tool to have when painting and bottles for water, white spirit and thinners. To the end of this is also a spray booth for airbrushing with the compressor under the desk.

Under this left-hand desk, next to the compressor, is a mechanics tool drawer cabinet in which I keep commonly used electric and hand-power tools: static grass applicators, Dremel, and Antex soldering iron, etc plus tools for carving wood; clay sculpting.

Being quite large, one of the drawers is also used for storage of larger materials, foamboard sheet and the like. Storage of larger materials has been an ongoing problem so I’m pleased to finally have somewhere to put them.

A nook for inspiration and reference

At the end of the left-hand desk, not visible in the photos, is a floor-to-ceiling bookcase for reference books and notepads where I keep recipes of paint mixes for various finishes.

This bookcase was an old unit I reclaimed from the house when we first moved in. It’s not ideal and at some point, I’ll replace it with something more practical but it’ll do for now. Additionally, it’s tall enough to hold the larger format of model reference books I’ve collected over the years, such as Marijn Van Gils Dioramas FAQ 1.3 Extension: Storytelling, Composition & Planning, Rob Ferreira’s Airbrush & Weathering Techniques, Marcel Ackle’s Das Natur-Talent and Great Western Infrastructure series and old copies of Lightmoor Press Railway Archive, that are great for reference line side reference photos.

This bookcase is also big enough to house a storage unit of thin drawers in which I now store different sheets of plasticard.

Managing dust and health risks with power tools

Behind me is the power tool area. This holds a Proxxon hotwire foam cutter, my ageing Mars 3D printer, precision digital scales, clock and thermometer, and a trusty desktop sander.

For models of the scale I work in, 1/76th, 1/64th and 1/12th, dust and air-born particulate matter will spoil surface finishes so staying on top of dust is paramount. And that’s to say nothing of the health risks when working with photopolymer and epoxy resins and casting rubber. To combat this, I’ve ordered an extractor fan with a long flexible tube to suck out the fumes, filter them and feed them out through a hole in the wall. The tube from this DIY extractor unit is long enough to reach each tool and the spray booth, mentioned above.

The only tool I haven’t been able to fit in is a drill press but as this isn’t used much I can live with that.

Mounted on the wall above these is a new peg board and magnetic racks on which are stored screw drivers, razor, scroll, coping and piecing saws, model-making hammers, and some larger clamps and vice grips.

Train layout and photography space

All the world’s a stage, and the final desk, to the right, is where I keep my current model railway layout – a 4mm scale, 009 branch line – on which I can test, check my and photograph my models before shipping them off to their new homes. There’s also a lightbox for photographing the models. You can see the results of first photographs of this on my eBay page.

Security

While no single item in my new reorganised studio is of significant value, it’s my little world, some of the tools have considerable sentimental value or have been difficult to find, and I’d be lost if anything happened to them. Some of these I’ve had since I was a child and it would feel like losing an old friend, so I’ve upgraded the security with PIR lighting and cameras and improved locks and alarms with both fire smoke and movement sensors. My garden is fenced off on all four sides and I’ve probably gone overboard but working in cyber security has taught me to always consider risks and employ mitigations where possible.

Lastly, what’s a studio without a bit of personal touch, right? I’ve adorned the walls with some of old sci-fi movie posters (George Pal’s Time Machine, Blade Runner, etc., and Thunderbirds) to keep the creative juices flowing.

This reorganization has not just transformed my shed; it has revolutionized the way I work on my models. Everything feels more streamlined, and I find myself enjoying the process even more if that is even possible.