My modelling space reached crisis point recently. I'm very lucky in having a whole room that I can retreat to, albeit a small one. Therein lies much of the problem. I can get up from my bench, walk out of the room and close the door, without having to tidy up after every session. As you can guess, the room gradually becomes more and more untidy and it had reached the stage where my workbench had disappeared under a layer of components, tools, paint tins, brushes and assorted other modelling detritus. Rather than enjoying my modelling time I was depressed by all the mess around me. Matters were serious and a ruthless approach was required...
I decided to put a day aside to tidy the room. I know from experience that this type of exercise would also help to re-ignite my enthusiasm for modelling and kick-start my plans for the future.
Stage 1 was to clear my workbench. I'm not the tidiest of modellers but I do have a place for everything. Years ago, I built a simple tray to keep everything organised (in theory!) A 3 foot by 2 foot sheet of MDF sits on top of my desk. It has downward facing lip at the front to prevent it sliding around on the desk and the other three sides have upwards facing lips to hold everything else in place. There is a space down one side where I keep my most commonly used paints and a raised tray at the back for all my modelling tools. Great idea, but I can't seem to maintain a tidy bench for more than about a week!
The MDF tray protects the desk surface from damage and the MDF is in turn protected by a sheet of Art Board (thick cardboard) purchased from my local art shop. The board inevitably gets sliced and cut about over time, absorbing split paint, glue and filler, but the beauty of it is that I can replace it when necessary at minimal expense. I could use one of these cutting mats you often see advertised and I own a couple. However, the good ones are expensive and I prefer to keep them for specific tasks. My rate of production means that a sheet of art board survives for about 18 months to 2 years and can be replaced for less than £5.00.
After about an hour, my paints were back where they belonged, my tools were racked neatly in their tray, all the various components and sub-assemblies of my current project had been collected and placed in a single box rather than being scattered all over the bench. Finally, all those odd scraps of plastic rod, card and sprue had been binned and I could see my bench again! A trip to the art shop provided a new sheet of art board and suddenly I felt I was in control once more.
Stage 2 involved re-organising my reference books. I have shelf upon shelf of books and they are the lifeblood of my hobby. I'd keep my books rather than my models if I had to make the choice. My books are organised in a particular way, partly predicated by the height of the shelves I have available. However, if I'm working on a project I inevitably haul out books from various places and they end up jammed back flat on top of other books, leaning against the side of the desk, piled flat on the floor (or a combination of all three). That means of course that whilst I know I have a particular title, I can't always track it down. Matters aren't helped when I start researching future projects. Instead of one pile of books, I sometimes have three or four of them scattered about the room and the rest of the house. A couple of hours of shelving may not be the most inspiring of tasks, but at least my books were back in a logical order and I had rediscovered several 'lost' titles.
Stage 3 involved my work as IPMS (UK) Magazine Editor. That role means that I am constantly receiving material either through the post or via email – new articles, items for review, returned magazines and other letters. I also have to keep the 'Editor's Magazine Collection' – a single copy of every IPMS (UK) Magazine published (nearly 50 years-worth). It's not even my stuff, but I need to allocate storage space for it. (At least I can pass it on to whoever takes on the role of Editor in the future when I decide to stand down and it'll become their problem!)
Speaking of magazines, have you ever noticed how much space they take up? I used to keep all my old copies of the various magazines I bought, but a few years ago I realised that I had accumulated over a dozen boxes of them (the type you buy multiple reams of A4 printer paper in). I got rid of nearly all of the magazines, keeping only those editions that contained something of direct interest to me. It was an enormous wrench to do so – the 'collector' in me was appalled, but several years on I have never found a need to refer back to any of the ones I scrapped.
I'm now full of renewed enthusiasm for my hobby. My current project is nearly done and I'm working on a new one as we speak. There is one last stage to my modelling tidy-up, but that's a story for next time...
