BlrwestSiR

Thanks! Here's the paint I'm using for the green: It's AK Real Color RC 047.

Grabbed a quick break and hit the rest of the road wheels and lower hull with Dunkelgelb. One nice thing about some of the late war tanks is the lack of rubber rims. Saves on masking and painting.

The new bench needs a new build. So I took this out of the stash. It's going to be OOB, which should hopefully make it straight forward. We shall see... The kit looks fairly uncomplicated with a minimum of PE bits, those mostly relegated to the engine screens. So first step was the bogie arms. The arms are keyed to make sure they go in the right spot. Takom gives you a jig to make sure the arms are all aligned and you don't get a wobbly tank. I got the rest of the arms on as well as the rear idler arm and the drive housing. I then started painting the road wheels. So things are moving along nicely.

Looking good there Harv. We've got rain for the next few days too. Carl

Really nice looking build Ernie. Might just have to get one. Carl

Ernie's getting Buffed! And I thought my idea of the paper model B-52 in 1/33 was crazy.

I like the individual instruments. That way you don't have to worry about matching the panel colour to the rest of the cockpit. I'm glad to see this back on your bench. Carl

I'm wondering if it's a running change they're making because they not in the instructions that way either.

Oddly, on the Symphony set the tool organizer also has slotted openings and not just holes. Here's the holder from the Symphony, note the slots on the right side. This it the Opera module that's otherwise identical. I hadn't noticed the difference at first. It want until I started putting my tools away that it came to my attention. The slot is handy for razor saws and larger files. The shipping was definitely not cheap but it arrived in less then a week. I would have preferred the free surface shipping but our cat was creating a but too much havoc on the bench and add in my boys working on it too I felt it was the best option.

Thanks Jeff! The new bench top is 78" wide. It's an inch narrower though. But the extra length helps as the boys have taken over half of it. The one I bought is a single unit called the Symphony. You can get modular ones though called Opera. The ones on the far right are Opera units. They use dowels to lock together rather than magnets. The Opera units are actually the same size as the Hobby Zone ones. I looked at the Hobby Zone ones too (my existing organizers were made by them) but they no longer ship to Canada. One thing I didn't like about my Hobby Zone organizers was the size of the holes for the tools. Many didn't fit including the tweezers and nippers. Same for the paint racks. Hope that helps.

Thanks Harv and Ryan!

I then added the back panels. They're glued in place and I'm glad they're there so bits don't fall through the back. There's two shelves where the boxes go. You glue an attachment on top to make a lip. I found that it was best to sand the inside edge slightly so that the boxes can open without snagging it. One thing I like about the Arttystation stuff is the paint racks can be customized. They give you inserts that are designed to hold specific shaped/sized paint bottles. From top to bottom: - Tamiya/Gunze/ AK Real Color 14ml bottles - Tamiya enamel bottles (great paint but almost impossible to find outside Asia) - Vallejo style bottles - generic one that holds any size/shape You can switch them out at any time depending on what you use the most without having to get new racks. I especially like the generic style which I bought extras of. I then assembled the add on units I bought into their column. There are dowels to hold them together. Harv told me to watch the size of the dowels as some are a bit off. Thankfully I only had one that way but they give you extras. Here's the final setup as I start to put away all my random tools and supplies.

Thanks Harv!

Here's just about all the drawers done. Ok, onto the main unit. I had the left side already built before I started taking pics so here's that side. This side has the glue organizer and nipper/tweezer holder at the base, drawer above that and a paint racks at the top. The other side has a general tool holder at the bottom, same as the standalone one I built. Everything pretty much slots together. And finished next to the other side. Time to add the base and then the sprue organizer in the middle. Above that goes the instruction holder. Then the right side attaches to the base. Here's what it would look like OOB with the paint mixing tray bit on the right.

There are a bunch of drawers of various sizes so I made.those. If you have ever built a Fisher Model, you'll feel right at home with all the parts coming wrapped in tissue paper. Here are the drawer parts unwrapped. The base: The sides. Some boxes have reliefs cut into the front edge and some don't. Here's the sides on. For adhesive, I'm using Gorilla Glue wood glue since I've got it handy from all my woodworking. One drawer done, 22 more to go.

Ok, on the right side of the organizer, there's an area for paint trays and a brush rest. I decided to remove that bit to creat some more room on my bench. This is a standalone unit that has the same tray area. I bought one of these as well and did the same mod. For want of a better term, the prongs at the front needed to be cut off the two side panels. I did this with a table saw to ensure a straight cut. I then started the assembly. On some of the corners, I needed to give them a quick sand to remove a bit of material for a better fit. This way I didn't need to force anything together. Mostly they needed a single pass with a file. You can see the nub that needed sanding in the pic below. Here's the finished unit. I assembled the tray part that I cut off since my boys could use it.

Thankfully there's no flash or ejector.pin marks. The surface detail is a bit... plain. Nice and smooth though. Great for a NMF. Thankfully no signs of the Trumpy Mad Riveter. There is a small bit of cleanup on some parts due to the way they're cut out. A quick pass with a file is all it took

After seeing and talking to Harv of his build up and overall review of the Arttystation Orchestra workbench organizer, I decided to pick up one of their smaller sets called the Symphony. One of the reasons to get this was to replace a couple existing Hobby Zone organizers I had. They were getting too crammed and our new cat had knocked one over a couple times. I didn't want to find him skewered with tools. So I ordered the Symphony and some additional modules to expand it a bit. Here's a pic of what it looks like. It's 90 cm across or about 3 ft and 64cm high or 2 ft. One thing I'm going to change is I'm going to remove the small tray on the right side. I don't think I'll use it and by taking it off, I'll he able to free up some bench space.

Nice looking bunch of parts. Can't wait to see them come together. Carl

Phil, I'll see what I can do but I've already started assembly. I'm also going to be modifying one module so that may be worth documenting. Also, Harv did a WiP which is what convinced me to get this. Carl

After looking at Harv's setup, I finally ordered the Arttystation bench organizer. I debated between it and the Hobby Zone ones. Having a couple Hobby Zone units already, I decided to try the Arttystation. It arrived earlier this week. The change led to a completely new workbench as I was able to get a new table for free. It's about 6" longer than the existing one but with having to share the bench with my boys now, that could make a slight difference to how much more room I have to clutter up. Carl

Fantastic pair of B-24s. Carl

That's just the Tamiya, Gunze and AK. I have the Vallejo paints to my boys. Less chance if spills I figure. Well, the Corsair is my favourite prop plane... ...followed by the Spitfire.

I think they saw what the test shot looked like so they decided to call it a day before the rivet counters found out. I'm not sure if the figure is supposed to Von Richtofen or Jay Leno.