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Humbrol Workstation Humbrol An untidy or disorganised work area is the bane of modellers everywhere, although judging from some of the pictures I’ve seen on Britmodeller, it’s quite a common affliction! Now Humbrol have come to the rescue with a rather excellent workstation. The workstation is made from a single piece of injection moulded black plastic. The plastic is nice and thick and the whole thing has a reassuring weight and sturdiness to it. Make no mistake; this piece of kit will last for years. The upper surface is taken up by a large, flat recess designed to fit Humbrol’s own A4 cutting mat (reviewed here). As you can see from the picture below, the cutting mat fits like a glove and doesn’t move at all once in place. On either side of this recess are two shallow indentations designed to hold your tools. At the back are two large recesses designed to hold Humbrol’s larger bottles or alternatively your own jars of water or thinners. There are also nine recesses at the back which are designed to hold standard 14ml enamel paint tins or 12ml Humbrol acrylic pots, or alternatively the small 3ml Humbrol acrylic pots which are supplied with gift set kits. There are a number of small, circular holes designed to hold your paint brushes too. Last but not least is a thin slit at the very back, designed to hold your instructions. If you flip the workstation over, you’ll find that it is reinforced with a contoured grid, designed to fit snugly on your lap. I’ve sat with it on my lap for an hour with a laptop on top of it, and have found it to be surprisingly comfortable. If you don’t want to sit with it on your lap, however, it is fitted with four non-slip rubber feet for use on a table surface. There is a small cut out on either side so you can pick it up easily too. Conclusion I have to say I’ve been mightily impressed with this handy item since it arrived on Monday. With its clever design and sturdy construction, I can seem myself using it an awful lot and it should last for a lifetime. The general layout is good too. From a personal point of view, it’s a shame that the smaller recesses are too small to hold a jar of Tamiya or Gunze acrylic paint, but given that this is a Humbrol product one can hardly deduct points for that. Overall this is a well-designed, intelligently thought out and durable product. It will be particularly useful for me as I tend to model in the drawing room in the evening, but because we have a nipper running around the house, have to tidy my kit away at the end of every session. This will allow me to simply lift my kit, paint and tools in one go and put it safely away, ready for my next modelling session. So, if you are wondering what to put in your letter to Father Christmas this year and can’t justify requesting yet another kit, you could do a lot worse than ask for one of these. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of