I am about to start building a kit Corsair F4U, and I was wondering, what would be the most straight and level temporary work station available............table top glass, a new hollow door, or.............any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks in advance

A door would be your cheapest alternative

get a picec of ply wood, not the cheap kind, lowes/home depot sells some furnature grade plywood that would work great prob 30 bucks for a 6x4 sheet.
or if you have a pingpong table thats what i use

Back over 40 years ago I lived in an apartment for a few years. I had a 2' X 4' piece of Homasote mounted into a wooden from. This would hold pins and I could use it on the kitchen table, bed, floor, or porch. I still have it and it is still straight.

http://www.homasote.com/products/NCFR-Homasote.aspx

Buy it here
http://www.homasote.com/WhereToBuy/Default.aspx

Go to a local Home Depot or Lowes, etc. and get yourself a celing tile, not the fiberglass type, but the sheetrock style. They stay pretty straight and are pretty easy to put pins into. 2'x4'
Curtis

[color=#FF0099]hollow core doors at Home Depot are about $20-$30 depending on which size you buy...and they are great because you can pin into them. I've got one in my "hanger" set up on two plastic rolling sets of drawers for a workbench. Or as I'm known to do...I use my glass diningroom table. If you are tracing plans, you can put a lamp under the table for backlighting.

Bev

My grand son-in-law uses a door on two fold up saw horses with some Sheet Rock on top for the pins at his small home. It looks like a neat set up. and he can put it all away in a closet if he has too.

[color=#FF0099]hmmm...and I do have a 4x4 piece of sheetrock I was going to toss for bulk pickup this weekend...it's going into the "hanger" instead.. How on earth do I end up with all this stuff anyway???

Bev

Sheet Rock (Or Dry Wall or plaster board to some of you) is rather cheap and you can buy half sheets. It can be scored with a knife and broken almost as accurately as being cut with a saw. If it gets damaged, throw it away and put another piece down.

Thanks fellow modelers for the fantastic response, I am now pointed in the right direction.

If you have a lumber outlet, we have a MR. Seconds here, you can get hollow core doors for $5 and under. The one I got had a 2" diameter hole in on side and I paid $2 for a 28" wide door.

Many Danish model builders use this from Graupner.

http://shop.graupner.de/webuerp/serv...11&language=en

You would like a surface, where you can put in needles.

Baking paper is ideal to put on top of the building board, to prevent the table being destroyed by glue etc. etc.
.. and the glue doesn’t stick to the baking paper.

I use a Luan door and it's portable too,


Bob

So far this has worked well for me, its pretty level 8' x 4' ply, 3 Steel Sawhorses, All bought from lowes for less then $75. Currently I am putting together my Great Planes Escapade and have my Tower on the bench and theres plenty room for both. Hope this gives you more ideas.



Ed




P.S If your looking for a Work/ Tool bench, the Kobalt in the picture was $150 and only took about 3-4 hours to assemble, very solid.

Bob,
What kind of plane is that sitting there on your work bench?? I have an idea but am not sure (Looks like an Sig Astro Hog)

DGUY,


You are correct, it's a Hog, without
the plastic headrest.

Bob

About 30 years ago (whenever Sam's stores first came to Texas) I purchased a 6ft folding leg table. It reminds me of the many tables I've seen in school and church cafeteria often accompanied by folding metal chairs. The main thing is its that presswood covered in formica type top, the legs are steel, and its heavy. Its very stable even though I can fold the legs and stow it away if I wish.

I purchased a newer table last year for my wife that is nice and light with a composite type top and lighter weight legs. It would be fine except the top is very slick and it wobbles due to the light weight, not because anything about it is flimsy.

If you can find one of the former types it makes a wonderful worktable, good and flat, and all you have to do is lay a ceiling tile down on top of it and tape the corners down to the table.

Regards,

Clay

http://www.staples.com/office/suppli...ProductDisplay

I'm building a workbench this weekend that I built once before in a different house. It's basically a 4'x8'x15/32 plywood sheet (smooth on 1 side - $23 at Lowes) cut in two lenghtwise (two pieces 2'6" x 8' and 1'6" x 8'). I frame out the 2'6" x 8' piece with some 1x4 (these need to be straight but you don't need shelf quality). 5 2x4 (40" long) make up the legs (3 on the back side, 2 on the front). On the back of the bench, I mount a piece of pegboard and the leftover 1'6" x 8' piece of plywood is mounted underneath as a shelf. On top of the bench I use a piece of sheetrock cut to fit the workbench which makes a great very flat and pinnable work surface. And as has been mentioned above, when you get glue and dings and too pin holes and cuts on it, you just get a new sheet (for around $6). Add a light duty vice ($30), a working lamp ($10) and maybe an overhead flourescent shop light ($25 or so) and you have a really nice setup for less than $150. If I finish it this weekend, I'll post some pictures

Don, That is a very good and practical working explanation. Please post the pictures when you get it finished.

I've already destryoyed my living room coffee table (didn't like it anyway) with glue drips and CA, and so on, so I just continue to use that...

Recently, however, I bought a piece of 4' x 2' 3/4" finished ply at Home Depot and just lay it on top of the coffee table. It's straight and flat and easily portable. I've sanded down the coffee table top and put some finish on it. It's nice because it's one of those that you pull back on it and the table top rises up to form a higher work table. It's supposed to be used to serve dinner in front of the TV I guess, but i don't use it for that, I use it for building.. (don't tell her, please!! )

CGr.

A few years ago I built a building/assembly table for a buddy. I used one sheet of 96" X 48" X 1" furniture grade plywood cut in half to make a 48" X 48" table. Between the sheets I used some 1-1/2" square aluminum tube. This provided a very stout, straight table, heavy table - perfect for building and assembly for most sport planes.

To build the table up I drilled holes through the aluminum tube for a fastener to pass through, and on the bottom side of the aluminum tube I enlarged the hole for the fastener head to pass through. Running the fastener up through the bottom of the top sheet eliminated any fasteners on the top surface. Next I prepped and spread epoxy on the aluminum tube and then screwed the aluminum tube to the bottom side of the top ply sheet. After that I spread epoxy on the aluminum tube then attached the bottom sheet screwing through it and into the aluminum tube.

This table so far has resisted any sign of wanting to warp or twist, and the weight is enough to keep it in place if any hammering is done on it.

The same principle can be applied by using a thinner piece of plywood and even some angle aluminum stock. Extruded aluminum stock will go a long way in preventing the wood from warping or deforming.

Hogflyer

Bob,
I bet that plane is a blast to fly. I have one that I need to get finished. I talked to a friend that is going to find someone to finish it for me. I am going for the bright yellow with maybe black sunburst. What do you think??
I have an old desk that I got out of an old cotton mill office it is very stout. The sheet rock top is a good idea or maybe ceiling tiles. Dont they sell like a self healing mat at like an office supply or art type store, would that work??

My son is in Baghdad for now, you guys be careful overthere and come on back safely. My prayers are with you.

DGUY,


It's still a work in progress, hope to Maiden
it soooon. Your welcome to Hurry home and help ?

Bob



Semper Fi