Scale Soaring UK

Hello all

After a lot of setbacks, red tape etc my wife and I take possession of our new house next week. The attached 6m by 10m garage will be home to one car, lots of sporting equipment such as mountain bikes and kayaks and of course include a space solely for the crafting of model aircraft.

The space put aside for this is 6 by 2 m. Originally I was going to wall this off but that would cut out too much natural light. The window is 2.4m so a main bench will go under it.

That however is as far as I've come in design solutions so far. I would love to hear ideas from others. What works or doesn't. We won't actually live there full time for a couple of years so I've got time to get it right. All thoughts gratefully received. Callum.

Callum

The best advice I can give you is ....Leave the car outside, wall off the 6 x 2m area and cram all the other stuff into this area leaving a nice 10 x 6m area to build your models.

Simples.

AEB

Hi Callum, I feel 6m by 2m is too small for a work shop for modelling. I built a model room 18ft ×10ft a few years ago and it is too small and my overflow is the double garage for storage , which is shared with a vintage car. My advice is leave the car outside your garage and convert it into a proper fully insulated workshop. Regards John.

Callum. Forget the garage! Garages are cold, drafty, unwelcoming spaces suitable only for garden tools and other detritus. Build yourself a custom workshop in the garden and enjoy your modelling in comfort. My garage houses my little classic car, the garden tools and a multitude of c**p belonging my other half.
On the other hand my workshop, which is 14ft by 8ft, is fully lined and insulated, has 10 electrical points, has an 10ft bench and a 6ft bench, has good lighting and heating, a radio and a coffee maker, a comfy swivel seat from which to contemplate your work and also currently houses 17 models on racks. There is ample room to make large (5.50 metre) models and a good lock on the inside of the door repels any unwanted interference from the aforesaid other half. Most importantly, leave room for the all important sweeping brush, a dustpan and a large dustbin.
Brian.

Wot, no vacuum (with two on stand-by)?

Definitely leave the car out of the garage, I keep mine in a car port along with my motorcycle, lawnmower, log splitter etc. which have all been removed from what is now my man cave. I have a fully insulated 6M x 3.5M space with both electric and bottled gas heating to cope with the Hungarian winter. I have a 2.2M x 60cm workbench along one wall with two 1.5M x 60cm benches forming a "T" to give me a semi-wraparound work space which can be adjusted to suit model size/number of projects being worked on. One of the benches is mounted on castors, all the benches have shelves for storage of materials, adhesives and tools are on shelves and racks above the worktop. Lighting is provided by overhead fluorescent stripligts and localised LED spotlights.

Smaller models are hung from the ceiling fully rigged, larger models (of which I don't currently have many) are stored on wall mounted shelves. If I ever get to the number of airframes Brian has got I'll be looking to commandeer space in the house

I don't have a coffee maker or kettle in the workshop but I do have a large wine cave which also houses beer supplies. I also have a "walkie talkie" to radio for refreshments

Further to my previous post, I took a few pictures of my workshop today. Usually when I take photos for a build I crop them so that the rest of my workshop doesn't appear in shot. So for the first time ever, in full Technicolour, Brian's Workshop (and refuge!).
It's not all that large (you might describe it as bijou) but it is large enough for my needs. I constructed it specifically to be a timber, pent roof workshop (as opposed to a garden shed) with heavy duty materials. The walls and roof are lined with 100mm Kingspan insulation board and then finished with 12.5mm MDF board (yes I know, but I did wear a mask) and finally painted. The floor was insulated and then tiled. The workshop is heated by an electric oil fired radiator with thermostatic settings. I usually keep the place at around 10 deg C then increase it when I am working out there. This keeps the epoxy bottles fairly usable. A couple of fluo tubes light the place plus the window of course. Of course I cant fully assemble a really big model in there, 1/4 scale is about as big as the workshop can expand to. All of my bigger planes need to go into the house for final assembly and balancing. I hope you enjoy the photos. They take to from the door clockwise round the workshop.

Very tidy Brian, I see the sweeping brush is strategically placed

I like the look of those wing bags, are they homemade? Any problems with the cold up there or does being near to the coast protect you from the more severe weather? We saw -19C here the winter before last

Yes Stephen, the brush is always at the ready. The wing bags are home made from "Wicks" radiator heat reflective bubble wrap. It is silver foil on one side and plain plastic on the other. Seams welded with an old solarfilm iron and finished with silver gaffer tape. Some of mine are now 10 years old.
Yes it does get cold up here, recently it was -7 C at lunchtime, today only -1C when I flew from the garden in the afternoon. The worst we have suffered was -14 a couple of years ago .
Brian.

I find my garage to be a good workshop but the car stays outside and its well insulated. On the concrete floor I have laid 3mm silver backed insulation (same type used for laying laminate flooring) and used plastic link together tiles. I have an insulated electric roller shutter door and have installed a central heating radiator. During a past house extension the outer wall was pushed out 600mm and has been rebuilt with thermal blocks and cavity insulation.
In cold weather it still gets a bit cold but a few minutes with a fan heater and all toastie again. I have also scooted around with expanding foam spray, making good any gaps in the brick work, which also keeps the spiders down!