Thursday, July 21, 2011

Are you a messy worker ?

Messy Bench

Lest you think dear reader that I operate in some luxury workshop with acres of space and hot and cold running nymphets handing me tools as I work, let me disappoint you.
At the moment, my modelling bench, a 4 ft long section of desktop, is the messiest it has ever been. That's a pretty big statement but sadly, it's true. In fact it's such a mess that I had to take a picture of it.

In the middle is the building area, an A4 cutting mat with only a few tools on top. This sits on an inch thick wooden board which raises the model making area from the surrounding detritus. Without this I wouldn't get anything done and might even be forced to tidy up a bit.

On the left we have a plastic tray containing bits of plastic kit. I have a number of trays like this, some plastic, some cardboard, which I use to keep projects together. Hopefully putting the bits in here stops me loosing anything. Sadly I tend to throw empty sprue's back in so while the kit parts might be in there, they are a bit buried.
 
The box is sitting on top of a big pile of paper towels, for cleaning brushes, and a ceramic soldering slab. In the back corner you can just see my pot of turps.
 
On the right there are tools. Big files gather at the end, little ones under the other stuff. You can tell which I use the most ! There's also a cheapo set of screwdrivers in an open plastic box. I do have good screwdrivers but for must work, such as opening tins of paint, poking down the necks of glue bottles and scrapping at things, these will do.
 
Beside the board are tinlets of paint for the current project. This involves painting stonework so I like to keep the colours I've used to hand as I tend to forget. “Write them down” I hear you cry – I have but you can't be too careful.
 
At the weekend, I will have a tidying up session and get my work area looking spick and span (sort of) but for the minute I'm a bit busy. What's weird is that despite the mess, I'm having no problems getting things done. I can generally find the tool I want, when I want it. OK so the screwdrivers have to be rounded up occasionally but progress is good so does it matter ?
 
So, are you a tidy fiend or prefer to work in a mess ?

5 comments:

Stuart said...

Tidy! Whenever the bench is a mess I can't get motivated

Dana said...

I think every modeller, no matter how large a desk they have, works in a space no larger than 20 square inches!

Gav said...

I wish I had a work bench to make a mess! Right now its the floor in the loft where I do any modeling, so I have to put everything away after use other wise the ladders wont get up, or I wont be able to move around to get stuff! Needless to say this is the resion why very little is getting done at the moment. The other half banned the use of the Dinner table - apparently its for eating at, not building / painting models! What does she know?!

Maybe its time to get that shed out of B&Q, and relocate my Man Cave from the loft to the garden?...

Matt Dawson said...

http://mattgdawson.blogspot.com/2011/08/todays-picture-are-you-messy-worker.html

^ my response!

Anonymous said...

Trust me, that's quite a tidy workbench...