Paint Station Alpha

The initial plan for the desk was that it would be a two seater desk with enough additional work space to handle either large projects such as scenery or a potential third person.  Because of the size of the attic and the fact that we already have a sizable gaming Table in there I opted for an L shape.  This would mean building a false wall in the attic against which the desk would be built and on which shelves could be mounted.  And so step one was building that wall – and buying a mitre saw because what self respecting bloke doesn’t want more power tools right?

I apologise for my brother’s bricky’s arse.

TOP TIP – Get yourself a mitre saw.  Sure, you could do all the cutting with good old elbow grease but these tools definitely pay their way in terms of time saving.  And don’t worry, you will still get a work out assembling everything.  And also Mitre Saws are cool.  Did I mention that?

With the false wall in place I could start building the desk.  The idea was to have a fixed desk that was fastened to the false wall and could not be moved.  To facilitate this I built a the back edges of the desk onto a frame which was fastened to both the brick wall and the false wall and built legs for the front edges.  I also used a very thick beam to build the frame so I didn’t need to build as many legs.  The longest edge will happily support my fat arse sitting in it and doesn’t even creak.  I wouldn’t want to try standing on it but then again it’s not designed to be stood on either.  It’s incredibly sturdy and more than strong enough to cope with the rigours of miniature painting.

TOP TIP – When working with soft wood such as pine, it’s worth drilling guide holes for screws.  Even the smallest screw can cause the wood to split.

With the main desk complete it was time to start considering storage.  I had considered drawers but ultimately I decided I preferred shelves for storing paint.  I like being able to look up and just see the paint in front of me and reach for the one I need rather than having to rummage through drawers.  And with all that wall space something would need to live there.

The shelves were constructed using some of the timber spars fastened together in an L shape.  This creates a two tier shelf, which is great for storing different shades on a single shelf or, as I will probably do, storing a backup for each shade.

In addition to the paint shelves I made a small storage shelf just above the desk.  This is for storing WIPs, drinks and anything else that I might want close by but allows me to keep the workspace clear.  It also, as a secondary benefit, will provide a means of keeping wires and cables tidy on the desk;  two hobbyists are likely to have a number of electrical devices including lamps, phone chargers hobby drills, you name it and the last thing we want is trailing wires everywhere.  I also thought that the additional shelf looked quite nice.

Finally I added some additional boarding to the wall at the end of the desk.  The intention here is to have a wall mounted tidy system for storing assorted equipment and supplies, chiefly bases, basing supplies and tools.

Top Tip – if, like me, you are doing the shelves a different colour to the rest of the desk, paintbthe shelves before you mount them.  I didn’t and I really wish I had.

No, it wasn’t my hand or my brother.  It was my trusty brush.  I was being uncharacteristically tidy whilst working and making sure I swept the attic at the end of every work session.  I literally worked the brush to death.

With the desk assembled it was time to give it a coat of paint.  I didn’t really do anything fantastic for this, favouring practicality over style because the desk is likely to take some punishment (it’s for building stuff, not just painting).

I used simple fence paint for the most part and painted the shelves and other surfaces with a one coat gloss.  Which as always ended up needing two coats.

Once everything was dry it was a simple case of moving in!  To aid visibility I added some Ikea wall lights over the top of the desk area.  These have a very cool, white light which helps counter the warmth of the rest of the lights in the attic.

On the end wall I also added two additional wooden shelves for storing basing materials and other large bottles and I also added a tool tidy system.  The red tubs contain bases of all shapes and sizes, the blue, for the most part contain scenic pieces for terrain building and the yellow contain hobby tools.

I have been playing around with the project for a few weeks before I published it and somehow this still escaped my notice.  Some of the images in the Image Galleries have incorrect thumbnails and/or link to incorrect images.  This appears to be a technical issue with the site and I have posted it in the tech support forums.

Before we go any further with this, in the project description you might remember I said I wasn’t a qualified electrician and this bit is really. Wiring up a socket is actually really easy once you know what the difference between live and neutral is (and in the UK, earth).  However wiring something and wiring something legally really aren’t the same thing and this is definitely a case of do not try this at home.  Unless of course you are a qualified electrician or you can get one to come and help you.  Unlike amateur joinery, amateur wiring has the potential to kill people or burn down houses.

With the desk itself finished and indeed usable it was time to add some finishing touches.  Prior to this step all the lights were being run off an extension lead which simply isn’t practical.  What I really wanted was dedicated mains supplies built into the desk.  So we hired an electrician to run a dedicated mains supply into the attic, which cost us about £100.  I then got my dad – a retired electrician – to go through some ideas I had to make sure that they were sound and indeed safe and legal.  What I had in mind was mostly OK and with a few tweaks became workable.  He told me what I would need to ensure that the wiring was safe and complied with building regulations.  Any cabling that is in the area of activity is encased in plastic trunking to protect it.  The cable is then fastened to the back of the false wall using cable clips. I drilling three small holes through the wooden panels where I wanted the sockets to be and threaded the cable through those.  I also added some additional lights to the back of the desk because that area is still being used for general household storage.

Next step was to wire up the two double sockets;  in today’s modern age I opted for double sockets with built in USB ports as this allows phones and tablets to be placed on charge and used for music etc whilst working.

The last step was my dad’s idea.  I was actually going to build a single socket on the back of the wall to plug the overhead lights into as they are mains powered.  However he suggested a better option would be a switched, fused spur with the lighting transformer wired directly into it.  He explained how that worked and I agreed that was a much better option as it allowed us to have a proper light switch on the desk without having loads of cable clipped onto the front of the desk for the switch (which is actually built onto the mains adaptor cable).  A fused spur is wired in exactly the same way as anything else so it wasn’t overly complicated, All I had to do was remove the plug from the power adapter and strip back the cable, but without my dad’s expertise I wouldn’t have come up with that idea.   We also down-rated the fuse from 13A to 3A because it’s only running a set of LED lights and 13A wouldn’t really offer any protection at all for them.  This is the same fuse that the plug contained.

And that was that.  The desk was fully finished.  It comfortably seats two painters with enough space for a third if ever needed.  The space for the third painter can also be used to build larger projects and scenery.

I have to say it’s been a real pleasure working on the desk.  I’ve learned some new skills along the way and I have even been inspired to start studying basic electrics.  I doubt I will ever become a qualified electrician however I would like to be able to manage domestic repairs and maintenance myself.

Well, that pretty much concludes the project.  It’s been a great experience for me and I have learned lots of new skills, but it’s also been hard work and although I could probably think of loads of other things to add and tweak, I am going to call this job done and start using it as it was intended – painting me some miniatures. So thanks for reading and for any recommendations, I didn’t really expect to get many and certainly not for tutoring!