My wife and I share a workshop which was created by converting about 70% of the length of our garage. The end nearest the up and over door is used for storing a few large boat boxes, a couple of Workmates, the lawnmower and a few garden tools. We normally use this end space for painting models, either with the door open or closed.

At the moment Elizabeth is restoring a 10 rater for a chap in Derby. The hull is just under 6 feet long and too big to paint in the end of the garage. It was primed outside a few weeks ago but working outside is very weather dependent, needing a calm warm day, which seem to be few and far between, particularly in winter.

The workshop would be big enough but we don't want paint drifting everywhere. This is a recurring problem and we have been considering various options ranging from extending the garage to buying a gazebo. However another idea occurred to me couple of weeks ago and I went out and bought a couple of heavy duty dust sheets from Screwfix. These have been hung from the ceiling using large screw hooks at 3 foot intervals, in conjunction with eyelets in the dust sheets.

The system has had its first trial tonight and seems to work very well. The sheets are hung behind the lights so the illumination is good and even. One of the problems of working in the end of the garage in daylight is the contrast between the inside facing and outside facing parts of a model, especially in bright sunlight. At the moment ventilation is only by opening the internal and up and over doors but I plan to improvise something using the dust extractor we use for the scroll saw and disc sander. Here are a few pictures of the paint shop in action.

The 'Workmate' in use is the JCB variety and comes in very useful for jobs like this because it can be set to a wide range of working heights.

Gareth

The paintshop has been tried out three times now with Elizabeth's 10 rater project getting a coat of white, followed by a coat of blue and today some lacquer. After the first trial which was without any forced ventilation we have run the dust extractor with the suction hose poking out into the spray area and it is reasonably effective. The lighting was good but spraying the lacquer was less successful as it was difficult to see how much was applied with the result that there were a few runs. Prior to lacquering the yachts name was added using Crafty Computer paper's clear transfer paper, printed using Word and an inkjet printer. Here are a couple of pictures showing the result, the first is directly after applying the navy blue to the hull bottom.

The second is after the hull had been rubbed down and the name applied, prior to lacquering.

Conclusions so far are that the curtain idea is a viable option and there is minimal drifting of paint behind the hanging dust sheets. However lighting could be better, and I am not sure what I can do about that other than a radical change to the workshop lighting. Ventilation is tolerable with the dust extractor going and the door open for a quick escape afterwards. Elizabeth says she is never doing another yacht this big as a restoration project for someone else.

Gareth