Master Your Mancave: Introduction

One of the question that comes up every so often is about how to setup your mancave or work area. Because I'm always 2 pink tequila shots away from redecorating your living room, I can very well help you get the most out of your mancave!  Here. We. Go.

Master Your Mancave

This article originally appeared on Torrent of Fire, and will serve as an introduction to this series, as with time, I will delve into the specifics of building the perfect setup.

The first thing I want you to notice is how everything is compact. This is not because I lack space in my mancave; this is because you want to be able to switch from one thing to another rather quickly and have everything at hand. It’s not because you have a huge space to do your hobby in that you need to space everything out.

Paint rack

Now, I paint 30-ish hours per week, so obviously you don’t need a massive paint rack like mine, but yes, you need some sort of convenient paint rack.

Define convenient.

You want to be able to reach whatever pot you need easily, and you need to know which color is in which pot without having to pick up 3 or 4 shades of the one you’re looking for.

Airbrush setup 

Gun, hose, compressor, paper towels, whatever thinner/cleaner you use.

Permanent.

Don’t put it in a drawer so you have to set everything up when you want to use it; that’s not permanent enough.

Lights

Mine are quite crappy, mostly because I paint during the day and there are huge windows behind me. If you paint at night or early in the morning, invest in two good desk lamps or an overhead fluorescent neon type of deal.

Separate assembly area

This contradicts the prime directive of having everything together and compact.  Assembling models is a messy affair that usually leaves plastic, resin metal and glue residue all over. This does not need to be anything fancy. A box lid or anything that can rest on your lap large enough to catch most of the debris will go a long way.


Basing box

As I previously mentioned, you should do all the bases for your army together, so having this stuff out all the time is pointless and can take valuable space out of your compact setup.

Keep all the stuff you need for basing models (sand, flock, cork, resin bases, PVA glue, tubing, rocks, EVERYTHING ) in this box, and only take it out when you are basing your army.

Bitz box

Now the term “bitz box” usually refers more to some sort of shelf or bookcase where you can unceremoniously dump all of the bitz left over from your models, or in my case, the incomplete kits after I’ve taken 2-3 parts out of it.

As your collection of leftover grows, having only a huge box to dump everything in becomes quite impractical.

You can invest in something like the cabinet below to save space and time. They are usually pretty cheap.

Stack-On DS-60 60 Drawer Storage Cabinet


Over with the intro, head on to part 1: Myth Bustin'
No Excuses, Hobby Like a Champion!