Welcome back Jason -
Without speaking to specific models, I have a story to relate that may help with your space concerns. I have build .049 to 10-foot wingspan sailplanes from boxes full of balsa, so I do have a little experience in this realm.
Some years ago my wife and I owned a small 19' motor home, on a Toyota truck frame, called a Dolphin. On one of our trips, I took along a balsa buildup model of a Cessna 182, .20 sized. While we camped for 2 weeks in a small RV park, next to the lake, I worked on that model every day, usually while I sat at the wooden picnic bench at our RV site, provided by the park. It provided more than enough room to work as CA glues are really fast, and I usually just left everything at one end of the bench while we ate meals at the other end.
I'll bet that building a .40 sized model will not take much more space than that for you. [8D]