Over that time however, I've kept a hand in by perusing the model making magazines and even buying the occasional kit for "when I get back into it."  My model kits even followed me from Lynnfield, Massachusetts to Washington, DC, to Atlanta, Georgia and then here to San Diego, California.

At some point in 2001 I discovered that my company had thrown away a "return" table that was designed for a office cubical system.  The table top was nicely finished with a speckled gray formica/ plastic and it had support arms designed to hook into slotted strips on the cube walls.  Well, the guys installing that "return" table had screwed those support arms into the table's finished surface instead of its underside and thereby "ruined" the piece.  So they threw it out.  Well, ruined for them and useful for me are two different things.  I simply threw the thing in the back of my pickup truck and off I went.

A brief trip to the hardware store and I had my own set of slotted strips and in short order I had that table installed in the front bedroom of my house.  It was just the perfect size and location for me to have my own separate workspace to make my models at.  The only problem I faced was that there was no power outlet available on that side of the room.  My house is an old one and the level of electrical "service" within it is rather poor by modern standards.  The only plug in the entire room was already maxed out providing power to my PC.  So, something else must needs be done.  Late in 2001 I did just that something.

I went out and bought a length of power line and two plugs.  I drilled through the wall between the living room and the front bedroom.  Ran the power line, attached the plugs, and then plugged the line into an under used outlet in the living room.  Presto!  I now had a fully grounded (I checked that first) electrical power outlet for my model making activities.  I hooked the other end into a power strip and screwed that into the wall under the workbench.  I also put up the two work lamps I got from work as well.  One of these is a combo large magnifying lens and fluorescent lamp which will be very handy for doing detail work.

Upon having all the facilities in place, I then got around to bringing in all my models from their storage spots in the garage.  Some of these kits had not seen the light of day for well over a decade.  It was like opening a time capsule.  It also brought back a lot of memories.  And there they sat.  In their boxes, piled all over my workbench.  For months.

Until I finally got around to getting around to making the time to deal with them.  I cleared off enough space to have some space and I began unpacking some of the smaller kits.  There were two in particular that I wanted to have at hand as I plan on starting back into things with those.  In the same box with them were a bunch of other, finished kits.

These were small model army vehicles.  Tanks, a jeep, an artillery piece, and some soldier figures.  All nicely packed and largely ready to go.  On the early morning of April 1st 2002 (very early morning - it was after Midnight) I unlimbered all this and set it up on my desk.  Then I took some pictures.  The results are below.
 
 

Here it is, my pride and joy.  My model making workbench.  Freshly installed and being used as the next best place to pile my "stuff." Way too much stuff. That big green limp thing near the center of the picture is actually a rather unique piece of memorabilia.  It is part of the promotional material that was distributed with the release of the "Memphis Belle" movie in the early 80's.  I saw that film up in LA when I was visiting a friend of mine, Taylor.  As fictionalized accounts of real world things go, that film wasn't too bad.  It didn't do too well at the box office but that was the early 90's and the military had yet to come back so fully into vogue. That orange bit of artwork on the box immediately behind the inflatable Memphis Belle is actually a model kit in its own right.  That is the box for the Glencoe re-release of their Mars Liner kit. I'm looking forward to making that one.  Glencoe got the rights & the molds to this kit of a science fiction spaceship from the 1950's.  As such it has a great retro look to it and is just begging to be adapted.  As my skills improve, I'll do just that. There is also a lot of stuff from my company in this photo.  Some of it, like the lamp and boxes of Windows software there on the floor to the left, I bought at a company auction.  I think those were all part of a haul I made of a whole bunch of computers, monitors, and the like.  All for $28.50. The chair and table I plucked out of the trash!

Twenty Years of Wrapping Here is a view of things as I started up in April.  I have just freshly unpacked things out of one of the boxes I've lugged with me from one corner of this country to the next.  That blue box on the right is it.

Packed by Pros! That lump of tissue paper there is one of my little models that I made back in the late 70's.  I had already unpacked that M-60 tank behind it.  Now it was this one's turn.

Yards and yards of toilet paper did its job.  I was rather surprised at how well these kits fared over the years.  The packing helped this a lot.

Safe after twenty years! This is a 1/96 scale model of a US Army W.W.II Halftrack. This particular variant is configured as a mobile anti-aircraft gun platform.  That stuff in the back of it is a quad fifty caliber machine gun mount.  This was a very effective thing to have back then.

The Halftrack Close up. This is a really small kit.  The actual length of this little thing is about two inches!  The detailing of the kit is impressive especially for something so small. That quad fifty mount turns and the guns elevate.

The Arsenal Here it all is. I had some fun putting all this out and arranging it all. My modeling tastes run with a distinctive military, aircraft, and science fiction theme.

There is a lot going on in the image so to see the details, click on it to make it bigger!

 

This is how I spent a good chunk on my Father's Day - Getting Organized!  I knew I would want a better layout than that which I started with back in April.  But I also knew I would want some experience doing actual model making before I tried laying out my workbench to any greater degree.  I'm not saying what I did today is "it" but it is a better idea of what "it" could be than I had in April.  Over the past week I made a couple of runs off to Home Depot and Lowe's hardware stores and picked myself up some inexpensive small parts holders.  Two racks of opentop bins, one tiltopen rack, and one small pullout chest.  I also took down the Whyte Board above my workbench as I essentially hadn't used it for too long.  I figure the new cork board will be more useful.  Here is all of this explained in detail.

I've already mentioned just how much stuff I've scored from the trash bins or at auction from where I work.  I've got them labeled in this picture so as to make it wee bit clearer.  I've also got the two kits I currently working on labeled as well.  I started up on the P-51B kit just to give myself something else to do whilst my Space Cruiser dried and give myself something different to do as well.  The Mustang is an old Monogram kit and I'm just fartin' around with it. Underneath my workbench you can also see some of the unbuilt kits which I've lugged around for lo these many years.  You can see them more clearly in this image:

An original issue Viper and Raider share the pile with Darth's T.I.E fighter, a Britannia II from the Lensman anime and an EDF battleship from Starblazers.  There are other kits stuffed into the larger boxes on the bottom there too.  Those bottles of Coffeemate creamer aren't there for won't of my having adequate storage space in my kitchen nor due to any addiction to that powdery substance.  No, a while back I discovered these bottles and liked their shape.  They served as an inspiration for me to think up a neat scratch build model.  That'll come in a bit though.  First I have to finish off the stuff that's atop the desk first!

In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed your "stay" at this site.  Check back again to see what new images I have added.  Until then, stay well, play hard, play safe, and have fun!

Madoc