New workbench and tool box

I’m a member of the MFH Builds group on Facebook, and fellow builder Rudi Lenaerts always has great photos of his work in progress. Often he poses parts on a 1/12 pallet, and has recreated the box of his Sauber C9 in miniature, complete with instructions and bubble wrap. It adds an extra layer of interest to his photos, and has made me think about how to better photograph my work. I wanted to do something similar, without directly copying him, and landed on the idea of a workbench and toolbox. Luckily 1/12 is a popular doll’s house scale, so there’s quite a choice. I bought a small workbench kit from www.janeharrop.co.uk .

The kit comprises a set of parts made from a nice soft wood, which I assume is pine. There’s also a small plastic sheet with the outline of the part needed for the vice to be cut out, and a small shaft, beads and turned wooden part to make the vice bar. All the parts in my kit were very accurately cut, making it very easy to assemble nice and ‘square’. I used Humbrol Balsa glue for it’s quick drying properties.

When it was assembled I stained it with some Ronseal stain, and then added a coat of True Earth Wood effects for extra depth. As usual, a quick coat of Tamiya Flat Clear brings everything together.

Here you can see the finished bench, along with a toolbox and tools I got from Severn Models. This comes a very sturdy photo etched brass sheet, and while definitely fiddly it’s so well designed and manufactured that, with a little patience, it builds up in to a fully working cantilever toolbox. I decided that I’d paint it up like Mazda enthusiast might do, and decorate it with some spare decals from the 1/24 build I did. I’m not bothered by the mis-masked areas, I think it gives a nice impression of a quick project our enthusiast might have done on a quiet Sunday, to use up some spare paint and stickers.