Welcome to my cave

A popular, reoccuring theme on most miniature painting forums is the thread in which forumites post pictures of their painting retreats. Invariably most are nothing but part-time workstations at the kitchen table or some battered desk tucked away in a cluttered basement. However, there are always those handful that make geeks like myself green with envy. Purpose-built shelves sized perfectly for the peculiar dimensions of the brand of paint they prefer. Peg board from which to hang recently purchased figures rather than having to throw them in a grocery bag under the desk. Ample tabletop on which to paint. Enough lights to make a Hollywood B movie set jealous. Optimally designed photo setup. Etc, etc.

While I hope my darn education will eventually afford me such a posh reclusiam, for now I make do with this setup.
My painting table. That tiny sliver of free space you see in front of the crowd of paint pots is where I do my painting. As you can see, less than optimal. Currently being worked on is the unit of 4 Karnophages that were to be my "quick paintjob" experiment. At least the intentions were good.

Staging area and convenient home for my laptop when IMing Julie while painting.


My ad hoc photography setup. It has actually allowed me to achieve better photos than I ever have before. The addition of another flexible lamp will probably make it even more effective. I'd love to get a diffusion box, but, once again, that's a future purchase.




Though not really part of my painting station, I figured I'd include this pic for completeness' sake. The stack, from bottom to top are:

1. Rubbermaid container filled with misc. sprues from plastic kits.
2. Rubbermaid container filled with unpainted terrain - mostly Armorcast.
3. A stack of perfectly sized foam just waiting to be converted into hills, ruined buildings and other types of terrain.

Another recent revived thread over at is the "How Many Figures Do You Own" question. While organizing my collection, I think I might just have to figure that one out. While I know it's probably far less than at its peak, I think I'm still frightened to find out the truth! :)