To skip to the Hobby Tray in all its glory click here. Otherwise read on from here for a little update from me.

So I’ve got in a few games and I’m gradually getting back into the hobby after what seems like a very long time away from it all. It’s taken a lot of mental effort to get me here. Hobby had become, and still is, somewhat of a black cloud for me. I wanted to do hobby but it became what seemed like a huge chore to do anything. Enter the humble Hobby Tray, an upgrade from the Rapid Deployment Paint Station.

I’d forgotten where I was at with certain models; I’d half built models, half painted models, half built terrain, the list goes on. It became easier to work and watch TV than face the mounting pile of incomplete plastic crack.

I’ve been freelancing for Toptal.com since September for 40 hours a week – which is just like a normal job. But I still had my own little business to run so the hours were a lot more and work just sort of stacked up and hobby got forgotten along with my Facebook page, Twitter account and blogging. Side note – if you’re a developer check out Toptal.com, it is superb. It requires interviews and tests to be listed but the clients are great, lots of jobs and good pay too. Just don’t blame me when your hobby suffers! :-)

Less about me moaning. To ease myself into hobby I’m doing a side project first that’s related to hobby. One issue I have is that I have no dedicated hobby space. Most of my WIPs, paints, tools, etc are in a wooden chest in the lounge. While unbuilt models, model cases and vehicles are all in the attic. To ease the pain of restarting a model in terms of finding things and getting into the right headspace I created a hobby tray. Wow, I know you must be blown away! Feel free to completely zone out now.

Hobby Tray

Hobby Chest – also a seat

The below picture shows the lower level of the chest. The only tall thing is the airbrush compressor on the right. The only other item worth noting here is the black Feldherr case on the left. This holds all my tools and 32 minis in a nice padded little case.

Chest Contents – Lower Level, no Hobby Tray in place

My plan as executed below was a single piece of hardboard that fits into the chest flat. I’ve attached two handles so it can pulled up and out without being tilted. Strips of wood have been used to stiffen it at the edges. The same strips have been used elsewhere to create ridges to hold paint brushes (top left), an area to house my paint rack from Charlie Victor Products and perhaps some other useful things. Ideas are welcome, please, its still a Work in Progress!

The Charlie Victor rack is really handy, turns out it also holds these paints too! All Vallejo paints, Humbrol, Revell and older Citadel paints. It also has holes in the top section that you can easily pierce to hold brushes in up right – although that doesn’t work for me in storage. But during painting its handy.

Chest Upper Level – Hobby Tray in place

So now I can pluck out this hobby tray complete with paint rack, take out the Feldherr case, take out my models, grab a mug of water and paint!

Granted there is a lot of wasted space now, because the chest is not packed to the brim, but now at least its useful and I can quickly pick up and go with my paints. Rather than rummaging and searching through all manner of nonsense. It just meant I have to clear out some unbuilt Land Speeders into the loft to make some extra space.

Finally some more pics…..

Hobby Tray in Action!

Hobby Tray Close Up

Completed Guardsmen – hot off the hobby tray

Love the Charlie Victor Packaging :-)

Happy hobby-ing people :-)