Taking the Leap (I am not good at this...yet)

[Lysus]

I figured this might be a good place to document my rebirth into the world of model building. Information and help falls so thickly from the tree of knowledge here it would be foolish not to learn from you all and your collected centuries of wisdom. So from time to time I'll leave an update and anyone who has some advice or whatnot can let me know, keep me on the path to success. Future posts will be more terse, but since I'm new here a little background as I go couldn't hurt, I hope.

Clearing the Overgrowth; Preparing the Work-space

I haven't made a serious effort to build a kit since there was a Bush in the White House. No, not him, the other one. For those in the UK right now, think John Major at #10...

I may have bashed together a couple of kits in haste on a free weekend, but other than some tiny figures for some table top games, I have barely lifted a brush that wasn't meant for my teeth. Now, saddled (blessed?) with a wife and two children under two years old, I have suddenly felt the calling to pick up a brush and inhale paint fumes once more.

My father was a skilled painter. He built, customized, and painted brass HO scale engines for himself and others. His weapon of choice was naturally an airbrush, but young me never got near one of my own. I was content to brush cheap paints onto old Revell B-17s and the like, and later I got into Japanese kits (Gundam, etc.). After four years of happy painting I never managed to dip my toes into the airbrush waters, and then girls happened, so that was that.

This time, in some sort of circle-of-life scenario, I've decided that if I'm to do this, then I should dive right in--cushioned with the safety of this forum. This leap is motivated by Paul's 109 build vid on YouTube; I was up all night with an infant and watched the whole series start to finish. Looking at the receipt for some rattle cans I thought I might use to build a kit it dawned on me that over the last decade I've probably sunk enough money into paints for kits I never built to afford an airbrush, and repeating this cycle was only slightly more effective than just setting my money on fire every few months.

Reminding myself of Marko Ramius' motivational speech about Cortez to his crew in The Hunt for Red October, I pulled the trigger... Awash in Christmas money and refusing to set it on fire on more rattle cans, I ordered up an airbrush, compressor, collapsible spray booth, and some other bits and pieces. That's step one done.

Step two, clearing some space in my mail-slot of an office. (Sorry if they're a bit blurry, I only have a cell camera and I was quite ready for some lunch at the time these were taken.)



Not the worst, but certainly not ready for prime time. I do have a considerable backlog built up:



There's some progress, I can see a desk. A little tidying and a lot of dusting to go.



And finally, cleared up. My goodies will arrive (hopefully) tomorrow and I'll get to work setting it all up over the next couple days.



Now I get to wait, peering out the window for the postman...

[wesleye18]

Ooooo nice setup, love the gundam kits btw! Welcome to the forum!

[Avgas]

[wookiee76]

Nice cave and stash, welcome aboard.

[Joker56]

Welcome & Enjoy

[Twokidsnosleep]

Great workspace and a very eclectic stash of kits

[Homerlovesbeer]

Great story, bring on the builds!

[Lysus]

Thanks for all the kind words! It's a new year and my stuff is all here:



Of course I'll need to run out and grab some odds and ends from the local hobby store:



This isn't relevant, I just smile every time I see my grandfather's stapler. The saying "they don't make them like they used to" is so true here; this thing is nearly 60 years old...



Organizing paints and brushes and such; an old flatware organizer from a rummage shop serves as a handy, ad hoc shelving unit for now:



And now for the really fun stuff:



I do love me some manuals:



Collapsible spray booth; not as big as I'd like, but you can get two and put them together. I had to save some pennies somewhere...an upgrade is in my future to be sure:



However, given my tiny space, this is a valuable feature:



No, the compressor won't stay on that box, or ever be used on that box, it's just a placeholder for a little table I need to pick up today.

So that's it for today, I picked up a kit as well to try all this gear out on and hope to get started very soon! If any of you see anything I should know about, something I missed or might need, let me know! For now, the Goomba will patrol my work area until I return and get to work.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Great looking set up, you are off to a good start for 2016

[Novorus]

Loving the set up and looking forward to your builds

[MightyDraw]

I'm jealous of what appears to be a good amount of space! Brilliant use of that drawer sorter, I may steal this idea my paints are are in a box and I have to move them around to find the right one, not ideal!

[Lysus]

I'm jealous of what appears to be a good amount of space! Brilliant use of that drawer sorter, I may steal this idea my paints are are in a box and I have to move them around to find the right one, not ideal!

For sure, I took one look at the old box of paints I had and decided that would simply not do. Due to the configuration of the desk and the window I can't build in simple shelves without making it impossible to open the shutter (if I wanted them on the empty space to the left of the window). Even if you can't find them at a rummage shop (Goodwill, etc.) I'm sure you can find them cheap at a kitchen/housewares supply store. Being able to see them all feels better already and I haven't even started yet!

Edit: a couple words.