Rocket Building Mobility

Last weekend, a little time was spent in the BlastFromThePast shop in order to build a quick rocket building accessory:

This is a small portable laptop 'workbench' made from a surplus cabinet shelf.

This project was driven by desire to work on model rockets somewhere else around the house apart from the deep, dark, and mysterious basement la-BOR-atory. 

With this device, I can hang out in the living room with the Missus while she's watching her movies/TV shows, work on models while keeping an eye on the football games, or enjoy the outdoors on the back deck.

The 15x18 workspace includes sides and tool compartments made from Home Depot paint stir sticks, a plastic small-parts container, and a removable stop on the front of the panel to keep things from falling off.  The tool holder features a block of hard foam in which to stick frequently used modeling tools.

With this workspace, I've been able to perform many model building operations including fin cutting, model marking and assembly, brush painting, decaling, parachute construction - anything that doesn't require sanding or use of stinky paints/glues, or is otherwise messy.

Gotta keep Mrs. BFTP happy, you know.

Aside from building rockets, the work board has been useful as well for LEGO building and tinkering with other small projects.

It's quite surprising to see how much can be accomplished on such a compact workspace.

The best aspect, though, is the added time for rocket building that the device affords.