The Shed: Photos of Your Workshop, Work Bench/Table, RC Garage, Tools, etc.

[Mechanic AH 581]

Is it an odd request to see photos? Curious to see what people's RC workspaces (or work tables) look like. And how do you display, showcase, or store your RC vehicles? Trying to imagine someone with over 30 vehicles and how they manage (I live in the city and I don't think I can even fathom storing close to that number).

Have you built your workshop for your hobby or do you just use some makeshift space at home? Do you ever run out of storage and how do you organize your RC gear? Oh and what cool tools do you use?

It would be interesting to see the range of RC work benches (I hope this is not an intrusive request). Thanks!

[87lc2 2663]

I posted mine a few weeks ago after re-organizing, see here - 

 

Exactly 30 vehicles in there if you look close enough   The cleaner, lesser run vehicles get to stay in the house.  

As far as part storage I try to organize them in bins/boxes according to make or type of part, and I can still never find anything I'm looking for.  Tools are in the box under the bench and are my dedicated RC tools.  A nice set of hex drivers is an absolute must have, along with JIS drivers for Tamiya, body tools, Dremel, cordless 1/4 impact, solder station, etc.  All of the kit boxes are either in the house or in the loft above the garage.  I do wish I had a good place to display nicer vehicles or even the boxes, but they're just stashed away at this point.  I thought about cutting the fronts from the boxes and framing the box-art, but for some reason I feel weird cutting them up...

 

 

 

[markbt73 5316]

I have the day off tomorrow, I plan on doing some organizing in my workshop. I'll take some pictures when I'm done.

[toyolien 4680]

5 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I have the day off tomorrow, I plan on doing some organizing in my workshop. I'll take some pictures when I'm done.

Me too. You really wouldn't want to see it as it is now...

[mtbkym01 4008]

Did a rebuild earlier this year, during early Covid days

[Mad Ax 9312]

I keep meaning to do a full tidy-up of my entire workshop and then do a full photo album of it, but it's likely to take 2-3 days that I just don't have (or at least can't justify spending on tidying a workshop).  So here's some photos that I snapped this morning.

This is the studio where I display my cars.  I sometimes use the little bench under the window for electrical or 'clean' work so I can watch TV on the screen.  It's also where I prop my models when I'm debugging Arduino projects or Beier setups from the laptop.

Originally this was supposed to be "my" creative space, with the far end being a lounge area with some recliners I made out of car bucket seats, a model display behind glass doors and some mood lighting, so I could relax and read and listen to music.  However my wife decided she wanted a warm creative space too, so we converted it into her studio.  She is now starting her creative crafts business from here:

This is the main workbench.  Here I have the majority of my hand tools as well as multiple drawers full of sundries and other stuff.  As you can see from the tools this is also for automotive and DIY purposes, it's not a pure RC workbench.

Next along is the paint bench.  Halogen lamps help to keep it warm for spraying in winter and shower curtains keep the dust in.  Currently used for storage as I'm running out of space elsewhere.

 

[Mad Ax 9312]

Next is a new addition.  We put this in a few weeks ago so we could have a workbench close to the log burner for those long winter creative days during potential future lockdowns.  The bandsaw is a recent acquisition and is brilliant for cutting alu sheet.  Currently it is storing Christmas drinks and supplies, since every knows that people need 3x the usual amount of food and drink during Christmas week.

This is the log burner and wood storage area.  This thing can burn through £30 worth of heat logs in a single day.  Currently used for storing Christmas drinks because, well, you know...

Finally, this is opposite the paint and bandsaw benches and attached to the interior wall of the studio.  The wood lathe belongs to my wife, but the next bench along has a drill press, scroll saw and bench grinder/polisher, which I use a lot.

[OldSchoolRC1 983]

Love workshop threads! Fantastic to see amazing rooms that are dedicated to RC! We hope to move within the next 5 years, and a dedicated RC area is going to be a must have. But for now, we have a small house, and I don't have a room to work in, so I get the nasty basement. I'm very thankful for it though, blessed to have a supportive spouse who doesn't mind my madness. In any case, here's my main workbench after a fair cleaning:

Secondary bench and "photobooth" - usually it's covered in projects, as it is now. 

Drafting table for ...well, drafting. Currently covered in a few vehicles awaiting paint. 

Parts storage V1. Various projects are tucked in wherever I have room... 

Parts storage V2.I keep bins and group parts together, sometimes by manufacturer, sometimes by kit - whatever makes sense and fits best. I have an enormous bin for Tamiya random parts for example, but have several bins dedicated to a single chassis if I have enough specific parts for it. - CC01, CR01, etc. Sometimes I group them by fitment - I keep all my Wild willy, TL01, Konghead etc. parts in a single bin since many of the parts are interchangeable. 

Fabrication bench. No 3D printers for me, saws, files, sanders, occasional cuts and abrasions. 

Vehicle storage... it's a mess. Touring on top, crawlers/scalers in the middle, projects towards the back. Pretty much put stuff wherever I can find room. I'm very due for a cleaning/reorganization.... I forget what's even back there. I know there's a few falcons, a Bearhawk, King Cab and a few old nitros back there somewhere. I have several cars in random locations around the house on display also, and the gas cars stay out in the garage.  

More storage...mostly buggies and offroad. 

I'm hoping this Spring for a rebuild of the benches and some painting of the walls and floors. Something I should have done long ago before the mess took over. 

[Nwc100 462]

I feel completely unworthy in this company but anyway, this is car corner, what I'll do if we add another car to the corner I've no idea.

Big bits of spares kept in the takeaway containers and then all the tiny bits kept in the little sauce pots that come with it, sadly/luckily I don't eat much takeaway so tiny bits are a little mixed up currently!

I've been thinking of getting some Kallax bookcases from IKEA and creating some parking garages out of that and light them all up with some LEDS! I think a lot and do a lot less, I only got back into Tamiya again this summer after a 22 year ish break since my Sonic Fighter, which sadly is no longer with us!

[ACCEL 2014]

First i have to find my garage, it's hidden beneath all the tools

[Busdriver 6209]

The above are all one room. There are other display cabinets in there but for static stuff

This is on the landing. I move stuff to this every month or so to get variety

The wardrobes in the spare bedroom

[markbt73 5316]

3 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I think it's a rule that you have to have an unused steering wheel hanging on the wall, isn't it? I actually wrote a little piece about mine:

https://drivetribe.com/p/the-abandoned-momo-steering-wheel-LCZxq8CrQziaI1IjRLRd6w?iid=Gmu0P6P0TxGw8s8mqDkLsQ

[El Gecko 1344]

6 hours ago, toyolien said:

You really wouldn't want to see it as it is now...

Yep same here, just a 2m x 1m table covered in RC detritus

[KEV THE REV 2319]

This a pic of one of my hobby rooms . This is all RC storage and work bench area - a nice retreat - especially now

[Mad Ax 9312]

1 hour ago, markbt73 said:

I think it's a rule that you have to have an unused steering wheel hanging on the wall, isn't it? I actually wrote a little piece about mine:

https://drivetribe.com/p/the-abandoned-momo-steering-wheel-LCZxq8CrQziaI1IjRLRd6w?iid=Gmu0P6P0TxGw8s8mqDkLsQ

Absolutely

I bought that one at a car meet at Castle Combe race circuit (which isn't far from where I live) way back in the mid-00s when my daily driver was a Nissan Primera GT.  I loved that car to bits but never like the big clunky airbag wheels on modern cars, so I got this one cheap.  It's very similar to your Momo (as you can see) but unbranded.  I love the contours on it though, it feels really nice in the hand.

I fitted it with a quick-release assembly but had trouble with the horn push, so I drilled a hole and added a little red button for the horn.  I had later intended to fit a NOS system and use the red button as the trigger, but my NOS kit was second-hand and very well used and I never found the courage to install it.

That wheel stayed with me for a few cars.  After the clutch failed in the Primera I bought an FTO GPX.  The standard wheel was OK (no airbag either) but I still preferred my special wheel, so that went in.  That got rear-ended and written off (in retrospect I should have spent the insurance money having it straightened, it was a very clean car and easily the nicest-condition car I've ever owned and way more practical than it had any right to be) so I bought an NB model MX5 (Miata to you guys).  That was a great car and I'd have another in a shot if I had space for an impractical second car, but ultimately it was too small for anything but country blasts (although I did to a road trip to Spain in it).  So the wheel went in there for quite a while.

After that I had a sleeper Mondeo V6, and it had a load of stereo and cruise controls on the wheel so I didn't bother to replace it.  Now my daily is a Nissan Elgrand camper, which has a butt-ugly steering wheel and no wheel controls, so it would be an ideal conversion, but as in your blog, it feels wrong to throw such a nice wheel onto the camper without spending a heap of time and money on the ugly 90s Japanese dashboard.  Actually I have considered using an Arduino or an old laptop running a cut-down OS to make a whole new virtual dashboard, but with all these RC projects I just haven't had the time or inclination to get started.

I've still got a couple of big boxes full up with old tuning parts, including 2 sets of water temp / oil temp / oil pressure gauges.  I have a thing about gauges, but always had trouble actually getting sensible readings out of them.  Again, if I could translate the signals from the ECU I could hook the gauges up to the stock sensors via an Arduino, but again, it's a lot of effort for basically just a gimmick.

Anyway, I'm digressing, as usual 

[markbt73 5316]

Ok, here's a quick pictorial tour of my workshop/study.

Photo 1 - this is my main display shelf. Holds my vintage cars that are more or less shelfers, some re-res that don't get run much, a few boxed RC models, and the odd-sized-box kits from my static model collection.

 

Photo 2 - The other display shelf. Home to all the "standard" size model kits, my scratch-built Land Rover, the chassis that will become its Toyota Land Cruiser counterpart, and two Monogram 1/8 scale Chevy Camaro model kits, both out of their boxes (boxes were too damaged to save). Also note the on-road cars hanging on the wall, and a special edition metal-box model kit of Ed Roth's "Mysterion" on the shelf above.

 

Photo 3 - Between those two display areas is this antique rocking chair that has been in my family for well over 100 years. I wish I had a better place to put it, but I don't. Makes a comfy spot to sit and noodle around on the guitar, however, which is why the Les Paul and the little tube amp also live in that corner.

 

Photo 4 - The shelves above the workbench. Home to a couple of common runners, all my radio gear and batteries, and a few other boxes full of parts/projects. Made out of an old shiping crate they were going to throw out at work. Also notice the small shelf above, home to my handful of finished models.

 

Photo 5 - The main workbench. This was built by me a year or two ago, entirely out of scrap and leftover lumber from home improvement projects. It has a replaceable MDF top and is securely bolted to the wall.

 

Photo 6 - The secondary workbench, an old IKEA table top that's attached to the desk and sits atop those plastic drawer thingies. Not very sturdy, but mostly used as an overflow catch-all area when I need to spread a project out.

 

Photo 7- My desk. This big corner monstrosity takes up way too much of the room, but it's so chock-full of stuff I can't get rid of that I can't replace it with anything smaller. Houses two Macs, a small bookshelf stereo, a USB turntable (for ripping vintage vinyl to mp3), and an original Mego 2XL robot. I still have a bunch of the 8-tracks for it somewhere, too. Next to that is my overstuffed bookshelf, containing lots of sci-fi, D&D books, and repair/service manuals. Shelf above the desk is new, and immediately got filled up with overflow from the model kit collection.

[Mechanic AH 581]

This is quite amazing, I wasn't expecting this many photos and details! All your spaces look incredible and inspiring. I really appreciate that even @Nwc100 posted his space. Blown away by some of the amount of RCs! Definitely, can see the enthusiasts in everyone. I feel like I want to dissect/analyze each room because it seems everyone has their own personality in their workspaces. It's also intimidating for someone like me who's starting out and I envious of the collection and actual space you all have. I even spot a couple RC10s,  and a 870c I think! Oh yeah, and @markbt73 I also noticed the steering wheel on @Mad Ax wall Haha!—and as a compliment your space reminds me of a tinkerer's shop. I hope others will keep posting.

[toyolien 4680]

Here's my work space. 

[ACCEL 2014]

Double tap, opps!

 

[ACCEL 2014]

5 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Ok, here's a quick pictorial tour of my workshop/study.

Without music nothing i do would be possible, Strum till they're numb.

Could you possibly be the Jukebox hero?

[Re-Bugged 10140]

I’ve commandeered the spare bedroom that was only ever a dumping ground really.

I bought a Strip Beechwood worktop for $100 and a couple of legs, fixed it across the window for as much natural light as I could get and job done.

This is when it was tidy before buying a 1/14 Knight Hauler then spreading it out from here to next year..

 

The black shelf unit is temporarily permanent until I sort out something better, probably to match the worktop. 

[Wez-li 1790]

Errr, electronic kit box? 

[KEV THE REV 2319]

Wez-li , I think you should fit the Sport tuned into something - or send it to me and I'll fit it into something

 

[Wez-li 1790]

41 minutes ago, KEV THE REV said:

Wez-li , I think you should fit the Sport tuned into something - or send it to me and I'll fit it into something

 

Which one, I've got about 3 

It will need wiring up, but you can have one if you need it. 

[KEV THE REV 2319]

PM sent