Cleaning up the hobby bench

This weekend I completed my ACW cavalry project.  I want to set up some of my terrain to get some good pics for the final (part 3) for this project.  I realized my space has become a bit of a mess with multiple back to back projects recently.  I needed to do some organization before I could get the terrain out as it was packed away under my work bench.

As I started moving stuff around to get to the boxes that house the terrain  I decided to go all out and get my hobby bench organized the way I always wanted with everything grouped together neatly.  I purchased organizer drawers several years ago, now I have properly labeled them so I can find what I need.

Looking in from the back room

Several hours later and a garbage bag full I finally finished and am pretty pleased with the results.  I have a clean work surface (for now).  More importantly I purged a lot of old stuff that was either no good or did not really belong in this area and needed to be moved back to the main work bench in the garage.  It is always good to find lost tools.

Additionally, I found several items I had forgotten about tucked away in drawers or on a shelf that will make for some nice upcoming projects without buying anything new.  I also found a few nice items that I no longer have a use for that will go in the sell pile to fund future projects.

Work Beck surface (Small 10mm ACW project on the left)

Just for clarification my work bench is not as big as it may appear.  It occupies an in between area between a back room in the basement (my game room/man cave) and the downstairs laundry/bathroom.  It really is just a walkway where the circuit box resides so I am not taking taking any other usable living space. The previous home owner had a lathe and traditional work bench here,  The only thing this space would really be good for is storage which I basically what I am doing for the majority of my gaming minis under the bench.

Storage under the work surface

When I first claimed this area and built the work surface it was for my N scale model railroad which originally occupied what is now the game room and ran through the wall into this area.  This allowed me to stage trains and do a turn around.  That was short lived though as the layout when through several transitions before being scraped altogether.  The bench was built chest high so it is perfect for standing and working or sitting on a high stool.

Some of my Mini collection in the bags ready to go under the bench

My laptop with a large monitor also resides here which works great to watch videos while I am working and most importantly to look up references for modeling/painting projects.

Now that it is cleaned and organized we will see how long it lasts.

Next the rest of the game room.......