Engine painting service
- Thread starter BNSF9374
- Start date
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
Well, I'm sorry, but, it does matter on this forum. If we have to go thru your parents to get something returned it is almost impossible. Not saying that would ever happen in your case. All of us on here that have been on this forum for any amount of years will tell you different about the age making a difference in doing business. I alone have had many dealings w/underage teens & none of them were good.
We need to hear from your parents if we are going to send our work to you & have it guaranteed to be to the upmost of excellence. Can you guarantee the items you are going to paint? Do you have the money to buy all of the supplies & do you have your parents permission?
I always ask the age of a person that is going to undercut the guys that do it for a living because I know if you are still in High School you have no overhead or living expenses to deal with.
Just my 10 cents worth.
bigford
loco junkie
i have a custom painted/detailed NS C44-9w that is around $200.00
that includes the loco new high headlights paint grab irons.
it's a real nice unit but i will never pay to have another one made
its just not worth it to me. The guy that painted it is a graphic artist
or something along those lines
that includes the loco new high headlights paint grab irons.
it's a real nice unit but i will never pay to have another one made
its just not worth it to me. The guy that painted it is a graphic artist
or something along those lines
Nice work. As you can see though, people can be tough to please. You also have to be careful, as the best way to ruin a perfectly good hobby is to turn it into a business. I do custom painting, and limit how much work I take in.
It's really important that everyone (you and the customer) be on the same page as far as what's expected, how long it will take, what happens if the customer is not satisfied (it happens) and how payment will be handled. It's also good to start locally and be able to offer references, as people might get nervous about shipping expensive hardware off to someone they don't know from Adam.
As a rule, good custom painters are like good handymen. They don't advertise... because they don't have to.
Good luck though.
It's really important that everyone (you and the customer) be on the same page as far as what's expected, how long it will take, what happens if the customer is not satisfied (it happens) and how payment will be handled. It's also good to start locally and be able to offer references, as people might get nervous about shipping expensive hardware off to someone they don't know from Adam.
As a rule, good custom painters are like good handymen. They don't advertise... because they don't have to.
Good luck though.
LOL! No problem Charlie. I don't advertise for business on this forum. My business is 95% steam locos, 99% brass models, and 100% word of mouth networking. My prices would make most on this forum pass out, as I generally charge 10 times what you are asking for to paint a model, and have a 6-9 month waiting list.
In any case, it's good to see a youngster interested in doing this, so good luck with your painting service!
jbaakko
Diesel Detail Freak
My basic prices don't earn me anything, $35 one color, $40 two, $45 three, $50 four-six colors, $5 to strip a pre-painted item (I NEVER paint over old paint!). They include return shipping.
If you're intending to make a little $$, I suggest charging a little more, as I said, I really do not earn anything.
If you're intending to make a little $$, I suggest charging a little more, as I said, I really do not earn anything.
chadmichaels
Member
Josh,
How are my two units coming along?
Chad
How are my two units coming along?
Chad
Littlefoot14
Active Member
Not the shul4 that got banned a few months ago right?
Ive seen your videos, if i had to guess me and you are about the same age at 15? Your skills are far better than mine. Ill wish you the best of luck with your business. Most people here are really cool with kids, i cant tell you how many people have been anxious to help me out or teach me something. Ive only run into one example where someone wasnt willing to work with someone who wasnt an adult, and i understand this completely. I doubt Larry was calling you or your idea stupid, but understand where hes coming from. He said he hasnt been happy with deals hes made with teens in the past. Also, i havent seen any other posts from you (although i havent been looking), but you basically came here to sell a service, which is frowned upon in lots of forums, not so much here, but if you had contributed for awhile, then pitched your service, im sure you wouldve had more responsive people.
wheeler1963
Aurora & Portland Owner
Charlie, using you SW7 as an example. Here's as honest a critique as I can give.
The areas circled in yellow you have ghosting. Where the decals never completely settled down before sealing.
The areas circled in red have noticeable paint flaws. The largest one being that the black line towards the cab does not follow straight back, it curves up towards the hood. Others areas are mis-matched either in color or texture to match the rest of the surrounding color.
I applaud your efforts and your skill level at such a young age!! With continued trial and error, your paint jobs will continue to improve. Your graffiti picture is most impressive. I'm assuming you did that free hand?? The human eye is one of the hardest things to draw for most people. I think you did an outstanding job myself. Much better than I could do that's for sure.
Please post more projects for us as you do them. We always like seeing new members work and helping out if we can.bikingmike
New Member
A couple of points to note...
Hi there, good on ya for giving this a go; you never know where it might lead to.
I did see website the other night where some guy was charging about $80USD for painting and decalling - I dunno if those prices are still current.
First thing is, learn how to take excellent photographs of your work - I'm not trying to be funny or be mean, but the sample photo's you posted were very underexposed and grainy and it was hard to see how good the paintwork really is. If you're going to showcase your work a good photograph speaks volumes. Look at photos in different publications and get a feel for how they are set up and composed. It will be a learning curve, but worth it.
Secondly, make it very clear to the client (and that's exactly what they are) what they can expect and make sure you know what they are wanting - there's nothing worse than having to re-do something because of miscommunication. Even if you set up a standard form to fill out and email or mail to you with basic and specific details - road name and number, is it to be weathered, etc.
As you start making some money from painting, invest some of it back into good equipment - a decent airbrush and compressor, lighting etc - all of these will help improve the next job you do.
Always be critical of your own work and see what areas you can improve on. You've gotta be satisfied that you've done the best you can (within the constrainst of time and bbudget of course!)
Be realistic with your turnaround times - real life has a habit of intruding into activities like these; people get a bit grumpy when their order is delayed.
OK, that's all from me - best of luck with giving it a go. I wouldn't worry too much about your age, so long as you have all your bases covered adequately.
Best regards from NZ
Mike A
Hi there, good on ya for giving this a go; you never know where it might lead to.
I did see website the other night where some guy was charging about $80USD for painting and decalling - I dunno if those prices are still current.
First thing is, learn how to take excellent photographs of your work - I'm not trying to be funny or be mean, but the sample photo's you posted were very underexposed and grainy and it was hard to see how good the paintwork really is. If you're going to showcase your work a good photograph speaks volumes. Look at photos in different publications and get a feel for how they are set up and composed. It will be a learning curve, but worth it.
Secondly, make it very clear to the client (and that's exactly what they are) what they can expect and make sure you know what they are wanting - there's nothing worse than having to re-do something because of miscommunication. Even if you set up a standard form to fill out and email or mail to you with basic and specific details - road name and number, is it to be weathered, etc.
As you start making some money from painting, invest some of it back into good equipment - a decent airbrush and compressor, lighting etc - all of these will help improve the next job you do.
Always be critical of your own work and see what areas you can improve on. You've gotta be satisfied that you've done the best you can (within the constrainst of time and bbudget of course!)
Be realistic with your turnaround times - real life has a habit of intruding into activities like these; people get a bit grumpy when their order is delayed.
OK, that's all from me - best of luck with giving it a go. I wouldn't worry too much about your age, so long as you have all your bases covered adequately.
Best regards from NZ
Mike A
thank you for showing me what I did wrong. I did notice those mistakes (not making excuses or anything) but the guy gave me those decals and I think he printed them off onto testors decal paper and I tried using solvaset but they didn't set like microscale decals. It was a former BN engine and he told me to just tape it off at the line between the green and black. I tried my hardest and I do understand that this wasn't the greatest example, but I do need practice like you said but until I have the chance to paint more, I will not be able to show more pictures. The eye graffiti is free hand done with chalk pencils. I saw a picture of that graffiti on a BNSF swoosh grain car and decided I had to draw it. I like how it turned out. Thank you
bikingmike
New Member
To help eliminate silvering on decals, make sure you apply them over as glossy a surface as possible. You can then spray a mat coat over top if necessary.
Decal setting solutions are great, but will always be limited by the amount of preparation on the surface you're applying them to.
Decal setting solutions are great, but will always be limited by the amount of preparation on the surface you're applying them to.
I am sorry for the horrible image quality. My camera is kinda a piece of junk and I am going to be getting a nicer one in the future, but until then, these are the best close-up photos I can take with every imaginable setting adjusted on my camera. I always do the best I can do with my models and will hopefully get better as I paint more. here is another example of one I painted from Great Northern to BNSF.
