VLOG: Warren’s New Mobile Hobby Station
May 30, 2019 by crew
Before setting sail for the high seas of UKGE Warren took a minute to show off his awesome new mobile hobby station.
First up, Warren has been rebasing not one, not two, not three but FOUR armies. With all that basing experience comes a massive collection of his perfect bases, expertly designed by community member Elessar.
Then we move on to the unveiling of the optimus prime of hobby spaces. A solution to the perennial problems of never finding exactly what you need and being able to hobby wherever you get the time and desire.
We'd love to see your own hobby spaces so head over to the forums and show us what you got!
The only things I would add are – small water pots or containers (jam jars or plastic shot glasses) for cleaning brushes in and some paper towel for drying wet brushes or wiping off paint to dry brush. A portal daylight lamp would be handy. I don’t know what make mine is, think it was from Amazon and about £30. It didn’t have a magnifying glass, and fingers crossed I won’t need one for a wee while yet.
I used to build the odd model in work and would bring my knives, glue, clippers, sanding sticks and files in a Mr Bump cookie box (he was my favourite Mr Man) and a small hobby toolbox. These and the portable daylight lamp fitted in nicely into one of Mantic’s manbags that they gave away and sold when they first started out.
I think a folding deck chair,a cocktail shaker plus ingredients and if you have any space left some tiny little umbrellas
Good to see Warren! I often take my painting stuff with me when visiting the family. I used to have a small toolbox for paints and brushes etc, but have now started using Essential Oils Cases. I was originally pointed to the them by Luke’s APS Youtube channel. They’re the perfect size for Army Painter or Vallejo paints, held in with the included foam, have a pouch for brushes and glues, and are super cheap.
An example can be found here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eurobuy-30-Bottles-Essential-Traveling-Organizer/dp/B07GB2GG5Q/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=essential+oils+case&qid=1559217289&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell
I’d add a basic first aid kit (a couple of bandages, nothing fancy) … because you’ll never know when you make a mistake with a sharp knife.
At a local pound store equivalent they had a pair of magnifying glasses, which definitely helped me when assembling miniatures. However you do get what you pay for with this sort of stuff, because the magnification isn’t perfect.
Latest addition to my hobby space is a fluorescent magnifying lamp that I got from a co-worker who didn’t have a use for it.
Superglue is handy for small cuts!
Very handy indeed. Superglue is a Vietnam Era Military Invention to quickly close cuts in the field wasn’t it?
Blood also works as an accelerate on some types of Superglue if you’re ever in a rush and run out of anything else.
I always thought it was WW2. Water by itself will accelerate superglue as good as any activator. As horrible and as desperate as it sounds, I may have licked models to try and get the superglue to stick and hold. Not a nice feeling on the tongue!
Very good idea.
If I had to add anything maybe just add some newspaper or a sheet to quickly throw over the table you’re working at but even then if you’re in the office that probably isn’t much of an issue.
Do you Hobby with any Music, audiobooks or anything like that?
First off, since I purchased a 3D printer I no longer buy bases for miniatures. The fact that 100mm base is often over $10 to me is ridiculous given how little plastic is required to make it. I also use the wallpaper trick for texture.
My setup consists of a several fishing tackle boxes because they are cheap. Then I use a cart to carry it all. I do not really use it to be mobile, this is for keeping everything stored and out of way because the basement where we game is often a dual purpose space where my wife is prepping for making food for a catering assignment she has. The space has to always be clean so I need to setup and completely cleanup as quickly as possible.
I do have a portable light. It is OttLite Revive LED Desk Lamp. I use a 6500K LED in the light. I also keep a magnifier glass since I am getting old and I have a magnifier light.
My project box is just a plain plastic box that measure 14″ x 12″ X 6″ which I found at a craft store. It is lined with foam. When I am painting a set of figures they stay in the box. This way I have one place to go get what I am working on.
Now, when are we going to see Warren actually use all that stuff?
I’d recommend replacing the liquid green stuff with a tube of Vallejo plastic putty (70.401). It just works much much better in my opinion. Otherwise, I’d say it’s a great mobile hobby carry-it-all solution. It’s not really a hobby station in my opinion.
Completely agree with you on the bases, i think minis look so much better on a round base, and its nice when a mini has a little bit of weight on it.
that’s a great portable paint station @warzan probably no use for your system but I use the tins that the incense sticks come in for transporting brushes an at only a pound cheap.
My hobby station is the furthest thing from mobile. It looks more like a large truck dumped years of hobby materials over a table and then someone shoveled a small clear space for working. 😀 Clearly the hallmark of someone comfortable with ongoing free-roving chaos… 😉 😉 😉
I am impressed by the completeness of all the building tools and supplies you have on hand in your case, the one thing I’d say you’re lacking in that wondrous case is…
Guitar Strings
Guitar strings make amazing cables. They come in various thicknesses, are bendable, can be set in place by pinning them in, and most importantly , they take a drybrush like a dream.
I use 2.5 times magnification spectacles, you could also use jewellers glasses.
That was really interesting to see.
I couldn’t get liquid green stuff to work either, so I gave the old Milliput(yellow / grey) a go and found that I could get that to do what I wanted. I’ve been gap filling on 3d printed parts from printable scenery. (I take small bit from the yellow and grey tubes, and rub them together between finger and thumb until they are the same colour, then cut a small bit off and place it in the gap and press it into roughly the right shape with a chisel tipped colour shaper from hobbycraft, then rub over it with a wet finger to smooth it out. If I need to add in stonework lines again, I can with the shaper tools/. I give it 24 hours to harden, then prime.
I’ve found that rubber thimbles (the ones that you might get from a stationers) are really helpful for protecting the finger I tend to cut towards when cleaning up parts with a knife (especially when I have just put in a new blade)
I find a sheet of blue tac useful as a sheet – that is I can place it flat on the desk and press things into it – typically models being assembled or those all wash pots that always fall over.
I have a small bottle if Isopropanol that I use to clean brushes after they have been rinsed in water.
I have a bottle of Vallejo airbrush cleaner that I use for cleaning up washes and when I get fresh paint in the wrong place on a mini. The formula is gentle enough to remove the wash without removing the dried pain underneath (unless you really scrub at it with the brush) and means I can effectively rub out my mistakes.
Another think I have added to my kit very recently is a hairdryer so that I can dry the paint and immediately get to the next layer without all the usual delay. This should allow me to get more detail into a single mini before I inevitably get bored with it.
These are the things that I would have in my travel kit.