Building a Better Bat Cave

In the basement, there's a 7'x10' alcove, which I finally decided is where the workbench should go. The bench is U-shaped, lining the three walls of the alcove, 31" off the floor - a little higher than the typical table/desk height, but I like to be close to my work. Even if you don't have a nice big alcove for a hobby shop, this style of model bench can be put in just about anywhere. All you need are 2x4s for ledger boards and 30"-wide hollow-core interior doors for the surface. The ledgers are nailed/screwed/anchored to the walls. The doors are cut to fit and screwed to the ledgers.

Day 1: Demolition

Removed most of the shelving lining the walls (rented a "Sawzall"); removed the hideous, "70s" carpet and scraped up the padding. Sneezed a lot because of all the mold and mildew in the carpet and padding. Decided that, for now, I'd settle for just getting the padding off the floor under the worksurfaces.
Removal of the carpet has a practical purpose too. First, tiny model parts yearning for their freedom love to leap through the air, burrow into carpet and hide. Second, if you spill it on a solid floor, it's a lot easier to clean up.

Day 2: Construction

Put up the ledger boards. The side walls used 8'-long 2x4s, trimmed to fit; the center wall used a 10' 2x4. Mark your height and use a level to position the ledgers. The center and right walls of the alcove had drywall on them, so these ledgers would be attached to the studs with 3" nails & screws. The left wall is solid concrete block. This ledger is attached with 4" expanding anchor bolts. Make sure the 2x4s for the ledgers aren't bowed or twisted. (i.e., don't buy 'em at Menards; mine were from Home Depot)

Day 3: More Construction

The door for the left worksurface didn't need to be trimmed. It rests atop the ledger and is secured with screws. Then I put in the right surface. This door needed a few inches trimmed off - use a circular saw fitted with a veneer/plywood blade. Make your cut on the bottom side of the door, so the blade splinters the veneer on the bottom of your worksurface. When the door's trimmed, you'll have a open end - and you'll see why these are called hollow-core doors. I glued a 1"-wide piece of wood into the gap between the veneers so there'd be something solid to screw through. Then this surface got screwed into place.
Finally, time for the center surface. Pray and sacrifice to Ortho, God of Levelness. Lay the door across the space where it will go, fit one end against the left worksurface and mark a line along the underside, using the right worksurface as a guide. Turn it over & cut. Fill the hollow core with another 1"-wide piece. Attach one end of an angle iron to the ends of the bottom front surface. The other end of the iron will attach to underside of the left & right surfaces.
Flip the door over. Hold it so the back edge rests on the ledger and the front edge is underneath the left & right surfaces. Raise it until the angle irons meet the undersides of the L & R surfaces. Bang whap thud the section into place. Screw the back edge to the ledger and screw the angle iron to the undersides of the L & R surfaces. The center section is in place. Stand back and admire the worksurface, imagining all the kit work you'll be able to get done now. No, really, I promise, I will!

Day 4: (one week later)

Added a wrap-around shelf and pegboard. The 1x8 is nailed to the wall; a 1x4 rests atop it. I nailed 1x2 furring strips to the wall and attached the pegboard panels to the strips. Finally, finished off the overhead shelving, which is either 1x12 or two 1x8s joined together. A 2x2 on the front of the bottom center shelf provides added support.