A contact wants an Italeri 1/72 C-47 built. No base or case, no interior details or open hatches, no panel line details, no weathering, and no P-E. Just D-day invasion colors and painted stripes. What’s a good price to charge for a non-pro like me? Someone rec’d 10x the cost of the kit used to be the builder’s guidelines, but that was before some brands got tres expensive. Any suggestions?
I always charged 4X the cost of the kit , paints used and any P.E. used.
Scratch built stuff I always charged $35 an hour
I have NEVER charged for waiting for the paint to dry. (somtimes 6 or 7 days.)
It is possable to loose your shirt this way…
I once built a steam crane (kit cost $28) and took me 100 hours to build. I kept adding stuff to it to look mor “used and lived in”
But theres NO WAY I felt like charging what I should have so i just said $100.
Sometimes the build just has to be the reward.
Interesting topic. I never thought of the “cost of the kit times…” formula, but 10x the cost?..ouch!. I consider myself an average modeler at best so I usually try to come up with a fair price. In my case, it usually starts with someone approaching me with interest in a particular subject. I used to jokingly say “300 for fighters and 500 for bombers” but I always ended up settling for much much less. Lets face it, built scale models aren’t exactly in high demand, so its wise to be negotiable and affordable, unless your a master class modeler (for I am not). I’ve even seen the models done by the masters sit idle on Ebay forever.
Nowadays, if I’m lucky enough to get a “client”, I just factor in how involved the subject is and what extras were added. I like to recoup what I put into it and then maybe a little gravy on top to buy more kits. For example, about 5 years ago, I built an out of the box Mongram A-6 Intruder for a friend’s Dad who worked on them back in the day. He was a struggling college student working part time so I only charged a little over twice the cost of the $30.00 kit. I recently sold my heavily reworked Academy P-47 N with a resin pit, wheels and guns to the original pilot’s nephew. He saw the WIP thread on here, sent me a PM and then we worked out a price that was fair. I do get satisfaction, especially in the case of the P-47N, knowing that something I created will be seen by others outside of my lair.
FYI…all of my work is for sale at a fair price. Shop…I mean…browse my work in progress threads in here freely…lol.
Joe
Unless you are in it as a business, I then consider the building aspect the satisfaction part of the project. Money comes in handy too but I see outrageous prices for some models on Ebay, and sometimes they do sell. IMO, an out of the box build with no complications, X2 the price of the kit + materials looks like a fair deal.
You mean you can get paid to build one!? I usually get paid to not build something. Not that I would ever expect to get a commission build - until much more skilled…The 2x guideline seems about right with any extra materials covered.
Oddly enough, when I finished my room and was telling a friend at work who is a quilter, she brought me a bag of parts and asked if I could reassemble them. it was a small plastic / wood treadle sewing machine that was her mother’s. So, that was my first build and I did not get pictures!
OK, so lets say someone asks me to build a 1/48 P-51D. If it is a Revell kit it will cost about $8. If it is a Tamiya it will cost about $30. Both kits can build into a good model; but that Revell kit will be more painful and take twice as long to build. At 2x that woud be $16!
Shipwreck, SOLD!
You must have missed the part about “an out of the box build with no complications”. Difficult or problematic projects is a different story. The 2X is merely a suggestion and starting point.
Special prices for Seniors, for this month only: DOUBLE!
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I have charged £200 for a model, it was a commission build for an Airfix 1/24 Spitfire. The kit was about £60, to be honest I think it’s important not to sell yourself short as building a model to a high standard is not something that many people can do generally speaking. I do love the craft and get great satisfaction from completing the build, but if it’s something that someones asking you to build then I think it’s only right that you charge what could be considered appropriate, for instance even if you charged minimum wage per hour of the build it’s still going to cost quite a lot and considering that this kind of skilled work could charge much higher; I think that 2-4 times the cost of the kit seems a fair deal or you could charge by the hour. Either way you will make a profit. Personally I prefer to consider to myself how difficult the kit in question is rather than what brand, as a cheaper kit will take longer and therefore cost more. I usually work out a price and then if they agree I build it. I will say this, some collectors can get very irritating, I remember getting constant phone calls from one when I was building the kit asking how far along it was, and this is after I asked him at the very start if there was any rush for it, or any deadline, to which he replied no, then proceeded to phone constantly to the point I ignored calls. I am not saying it was bad but considering the actual speed with which I built that awful kit with extra detail to the engine I should have charged more, so just make sure you don’t sell yourself short, otherwise people can, in cases take advantage of your good nature.
Mate…for a 1/72 multi, I always charged between $100 to $150. I never went above $100 for a 1/144 airliner - because of the smaller scale, plus the normally high quality, high gloss finish.
I’ve worked dozens of contract builds, and those prices have always meant continued business.
Good luck, brother…imagine - getting PAID to do a hobby!!! LOL…awesome.
What is this?
I thought that everyone knew .O.O.B. kits get built and sold to the commissioner for the kit plus x2 .Now on scratch builds (remember I am a ship modeler ) I get $ 65.00 An inch ! For anything over three feet I get $i20.00 an inch plus an hourly base . You may say ,wow , that’s exorbitant .Have you any idea what kind of detail can be packed into a linear inch on a 1/96 scale ship ? I am currently working on my last commissions .When they are done it’s official , Minshipco will no longer be out there scouting for commissions . I think 44 years is long enough . No , I never made thousands a month . No , it didn’t make me well known , except where it counted . What it did do was finance my love of modeling and all the PLANES ,cars , ships and other models I wanted and subsequent supplies .
Did , I love it .You bet your sweet Bippy I did . Seeing the look on folks faces as they studied the finished piece and you could see the sheer joy in their faces as they walked down memory lane . I took that to a different bank that deals in intangibles (my mind and heart ) It’s , just time for me to finish MY battle group .
I used to get asked by one of our local hobby shops to build OTB models for display in the shop. I would usually just ask for a second free kit for myself as compensation.
I’ve been asked a couple of times to do commission builds, but have always declined because I didn’t want to turn my hobby into a job.
Mark
[:O]All valid points above.
I’ve also been asked to finish a kit for the LHS, but since I build sloow, I said, let me finish something, bring it in & then decide![:^)]
I once bought a rare kit for a mate (1/25th Batmobile, old version) & said to the recipient get someone to build it, I haven’t the time, but is was such a bad job, a clumsy 6-year old could have done better… [:'(]
A friend of mine started doing commission builds through his brother’s graphic design website.
When they set it up,he posted a set of requirements for customers,to weed out the non serious,and to let the customer know what it is they are paying for.
Google chrome is causing me problems getting to it.