Dream job

[Black Sheep 1]

Sorry, just your statement makes it sound like you are coming down on them because of what they do.

Nope, not at all.

But I will say this about building models for a living......I don't think I would do it.
Right now it's a hobby and I enjoy it as much as the next guy/girl.
Having to do it for a living becomes work, a job, an obligation that I have to do every day and, to me, that takes the fun out of it.
I hope I'm making sense with this.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Sorry, just your statement makes it sound like you are coming down on them because of what they do.

Nope, not at all.

But I will say this about building models for a living......I don't think I would do it.
Right now it's a hobby and I enjoy it as much as the next guy/girl.
Having to do it for a living becomes work, a job, an obligation that I have to do every day and, to me, that takes the fun out of it.
I hope I'm making sense with this.

Oh yeah, my hats off to those that can do it and make money at it. Friend of mine does 1/16 tank crew figures in the UK, because apparently 1/16 RC tanks are all the rage, but they either don't come with a crew, or the crew is more toy like GI Joe type. He gets about $100 per figure, mind you he uses very nice resin figures to start with, but can knock out about 3-4 figures a week. Sounds like he is working too fast, but the results speak for themselves.

Another friend has been doing commission work for quite some time. I thought about doing it, and asked him how you figure out what to charge with everything that goes into it. He told me to nevermind trying to figure out how much $$ in paint and glue you use, it is more or less the kit price (and any add on stuff the customer wants), and your time, and how he figures out a ball park dollar amount is to take the cost of the kit and any update sets (metal barrel, metal tracks, PE, etc, etc) and multiply it by 20. So a $100 kit would cost $2000 for him to do a commission build....and he gets it, again, his work speaks for itself and is worth every penny to those that can afford it. I thought he was crazy asking those prices, but he then asked me, "how much is your time worth?", and he has a very valid point. Sure you can take a $70 armor kit, build it for someone and charge say $250-$300, but how many hours so you have into it? And in the end you are working for $2/hr or something like that. None of us would do that, so why would we bother.

My problem is I don't build fast enough to be able to do something like that, plus run the shop the way it should be run, nevermind the rest of the house chores, or the fact that I don't think my work is good enough to command those type of prices.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

But I like to think building models for a living is fiction.
Like unicorns, the Easter bunny or. Good answer to 'do I look fat in this'. Just does not exist.

Nope, it's nothing like those things at all.

I know more people in this industry than I can count on my hands and toes who make a living building models. They regularly get anywhere from $3,000-$4500 for a single piece.

Not to mention getting all expenses paid trips to shows to give demos, paid trips to places to film instructional DVD's, sit at their benches creating masters for casting companies, write magazine articles, special interest/how to books...

It's no different than playing the guitar or playing tennis. If you are skilled enough, and your work attracts attention, there's plenty of those who will pay, and pay well for it.

 

[Cave_Dweller]

But I like to think building models for a living is fiction.
Like unicorns, the Easter bunny or. Good answer to 'do I look fat in this'. Just does not exist.

Nope, it's nothing like those things at all.

I know more people in this industry than I can count on my hands and toes who make a living building models. They regularly get anywhere from $3,000-$4500 for a single piece.

Not to mention getting all expenses paid trips to shows to give demos, paid trips to places to film instructional DVD's, sit at their benches creating masters for casting companies, write magazine articles, special interest/how to books...

It's no different than playing the guitar or playing tennis. If you are skilled enough, and your work attracts attention, there's plenty of those who will pay, and pay well for it.

That's very interesting, I had no idea you could do that well. I know there is a fairly thriving commission scene for warhammer 40k and other wargames, but I don't think you're gonna make a ton of money doing it. Maybe I'm wrong. I would be a nice side-job.

I'm kind of with Black Sheep here, always thought doing it for money and under deadlines would take the passion out of it for me.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

That's very interesting, I had no idea you could do that well. I know there is a fairly thriving commission scene for warhammer 40k and other wargames, but I don't think you're gonna make a ton of money doing it. Maybe I'm wrong. I would be a nice side-job.

I'm kind of with Black Sheep here, always thought doing it for money and under deadlines would take the passion out of it for me.

Yup, I know of quite a few Warhammer and other game type painters, a couple guys who do it full time and a bunch who do it part time. I'm not sure they are making the same kind of money as mentioned above, but I have seen small figure vignettes by well known painters go for pretty big bucks.

*One thing to remember, if these guys/gals have spouses who make a really good living, it isn't that hard to make ends meet for the family budget.

As for what you mention about deadlines and possible loss of ambition due to this, it's a real possibility and has happened to lots of guys in the trade more than once. It depends on the person and varies greatly depending on their situation.

For some people, doing it for a living fuels the passion, for others it may distinguish that flame.

 

[Cave_Dweller]

That's very interesting, I had no idea you could do that well. I know there is a fairly thriving commission scene for warhammer 40k and other wargames, but I don't think you're gonna make a ton of money doing it. Maybe I'm wrong. I would be a nice side-job.

I'm kind of with Black Sheep here, always thought doing it for money and under deadlines would take the passion out of it for me.

Yup, I know of quite a few Warhammer and other game type painters, a couple guys who do it full time and a bunch who do it part time. I'm not sure they are making the same kind of money as mentioned above, but I have seen small figure vignettes by well known painters go for pretty big bucks.

*One thing to remember, if these guys/gals have spouses who make a really good living, it isn't that hard to make ends meet for the family budget.

As for what you mention about deadlines and possible loss of ambition due to this, it's a real possibility and has happened to lots of guys in the trade more than once. It depends on the person and varies greatly depending on their situation.

For some people, doing it for a living fuels the passion, for others it may distinguish that flame.

Good points there Ken. I suppose a $3000 dollar commission would definitely stoke my fire!

 

[Quaralane]

I stopped doing commission work because it took the fun out of building, especially when the guy was telling me how to build one of my own trek-bashes for him.

 

[Drpepeprz]

HEY HEY! STILL ALIVE!!

Little update on the "dream job", well, I still haven't touched any scale models yet beacause...i was to busy working on thr real thing!!! ZOMG I LOVE THIS JOB!!!!

I helped restoring that avenger, my specific job was cutting and applying the decals on it
















I truly appreciate the opportunity given to me there and am discovering a pation for aircraft i didn,t know was in me, I even got me a 1/32 Swordfish on order ;D

And for those who are worried that i will loose the fun of the hobby, don't worry it' only temporary until i'm out of the military

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Nice, they have done alot of work on it since I was there in April.

That was the I think that was the 3rd to last Avenger we had here in Fredericton that was once converted from a torp. bomber to a Spruce Budworm spray plane to a Forest Fire bomber, and now it has come full circle back to a torp. bomber.

2nd to last went to the Canadian Aviation Museum in Hamilton (they are also converting theirs back to a Torp. bomber), and I believe the very last one went to somewhere in Florida if I am not mistaken.

 

[Drpepeprz]

Yep that's the one

 

[Junkie]

Congrats. That's super cool.

 

[the Baron]

Congratulations on the restoration! Is she airworthy, or a static display? If she's airworthy, I hope she make the circuit of airshows some day. It'd be cool to see an RCN Avenger (or is it a Tarpon?) on the ramp at Reading.

 

[Drpepeprz]

Congratulations on the restoration! Is she airworthy, or a static display? If she's airworthy, I hope she make the circuit of airshows some day. It'd be cool to see an RCN Avenger (or is it a Tarpon?) on the ramp at Reading.

It's an avenger and she's airworthy! doing the runups on her tomorrow....we also got an air worthy Firefly MK1

 

[the Baron]

Congratulations on the restoration! Is she airworthy, or a static display? If she's airworthy, I hope she make the circuit of airshows some day. It'd be cool to see an RCN Avenger (or is it a Tarpon?) on the ramp at Reading.

It's an avenger and she's airworthy! doing the runups on her tomorrow....we also got an air worthy Firefly MK1

You mean, like Serenity?

 

[Drpepeprz]

LOL i wish!

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Most of the aircraft at the Shearwater Museum are what would be considered "airworthy" but once they are parked in the museum, they tend to never fly again, which is a shame.

The Firefly was finished for the last airshow that was at the Shearwater base (about 4yrs ago) and they were supposed to fly it one time only at that show (museum is just down the hill from the runways), but the winds were fairly high that weekend, and it never flew.

And as far as I know, has never flown since. While I get that it is costly to keep those birds flying, to me it is like having a garage full of classic/sports cars and never driving them....kinda pointless.

 

[Drpepeprz]

They are still planning to fly the firefly,wich would make it the only fly worthy mk1 in the world ATM... problem is that the CAF has to be involved and that never fast or easy...
That one shaver comes from New Brunswick and was owned by the province, G.W.Bush flew it on a visit and then signed the fuselage

 

[the Baron]

That's too bad, if they don't fly them regularly. The MAAM flies their airworthy planes pretty regularly, I think. They're restoring a P-61 now, and their goal is to have it flying in another 5 years.