Demand is important, you have to find the people who want a custom loco. Few people are willing to pay more for something exact, so you have to locate the buyers first. Once you find them though they want something well, just the way they want it. That's why they are willing to pay for custom. Many custom painters work off a photo of a specific prototype, right down to the numbers. That way they can show the photo with the model and "prove" it's perfect. They expect all the road specific details to be there, which is why they are willing to pay for a custom job. Go to Feather River Train Shop and click on "Custom Shop". You'll see some Charlie examples. You'll see the prices vary with how complex the job is and how many details he had to add. Looks like $150-$240 is the range of what is up there right now. These seem to sell at an ok pace, I don't think they are flying off the shelves but when I check every few months there seems to be plenty of new stuff there... I've only ever bought one. A CSX SD80MAC. Conrail only bought 30 of them, CSX got 15, two were wrecked, they now have 13 which have since been mothballed. Kato made the Conrail, but never the NS or CSX paint jobs and given how few were in real life I decided no one probably ever would. That brings up an important factor, do people think if they wait a year or two a major manufacturer will make the same thing at RTR prices.
Leo, Kato did both the NS and CSX YN2 versions of the SD80MAC's. Just thought you would like to know... I've done custom patch jobs for both CSX and NS with Conrail colors and also a few YN3 versions. Those normally go in the $110-$125 range on the bay. Brian
Yes and with a little of Brian's help and others, I have all of the NS SD-80's currently on the roster. Now to just get the original Kato releases detailed...... I can vouch for the quality of Brian's work. I think I have about a dozen or so of his custom painted and patched units. I do not remember what I paid for each locomotive, all I know is that I really enjoy seeing them on the rails, and that is worth whatever prices I paid. I also have custom units from Charles Hopkins, Scott Holwick, and Hein Nuygen. They always go in the higher range of costs, but Brains work is as good as theirs. The problem with the custom units, they make all of the regular production units look bad..........
Jeff, you did an outstanding job for the price you charged me. In no way am I knocking your work. IT IS WAY better than the 5 Steel Rail and Dream Designs locos I own. I've been to shows and seen the same locos painted in the same scheme as the ones I had you do for me, and they were asking $150 to $200 and they didn't even come close to your work. You're the exception to the rule. Mike
Brian, do you do custom orders or just sell what your were in the mood to do? I looked on eBay too see if you currently had anything for sell, but didn’t see anything.
Although I believe your proposed price is in the range I would guess, the above would also be my answer. Boxcab E50
I do custom orders. My only criteria is that someone makes the decals or the requester has had them made. That's the one capability I'm still lacking. Here's the link to some of the work I've done in the past: Custom Gallery Someone on the board just snatched up the pair of C44-9W's I had up...hmmm, who could that have been.... Brian
to be honest.... not more than $80. reasons : - no lift rings - no windshield wipers - no blma etched fans - no grab irons (at least you did not mention these added details)
Just took a look at your gallery and all I can say is how about a little fun and a pair of Southern SD-90MAC's to go with the Dash 9 units there! Let my bank account recover from our new baby and I would be game.......
I can certainly do that. Now to find a pair of SD90's... The Dash 9's were for a guy on the East Coast. I didn't actually get to keep those. Thanks, Brian
right. you asked for opinions. and i stated mine. i did/do quite some custom painting myself. times are really tough. detailing, painting, decaling, weathering sometimes brings a few bucks only. it is extremely difficult to earn $100 from a custom paint job.
Wow, I am amazed at how little people are willing to value the work others put into a model. My neighbor repaints and details locos all the time, in fact he just finished 30+ ACe's for different people at $350 a piece. He does put the full compliment of details on, colors are correct, and the shell has been modified as required for each model, but he gets top dollar for his work. I think that most of the people who do their own painting and detailing would have an easier time discounting the work of others, but there are plenty of people out their who would much rather spend a couple extra hours a week trading stocks or doing an extra tummy tuck a week, and hand that cash over for a couple custom locos of their favorite road. For them it's only 2 hours work, where they get a loco that has 10 hours work invested. $80? Sheesh!
I sold a couple of HO locos I built and painted for someone a number of years ago (ATSF GP60M's before Athearn made 'em), but that was it for me in that dept. I found I didn't like selling my work. All the effort that goes into a custom job, including all the blood, sweat & tears (literally...at least the blood anyway), makes it seem worth more than you can typically sell it for. I am speaking of models that have been modified and detailed in addition to being painted. A loco that just has a custom paint job and nothing else? Maybe. Unless the paint job came out really good. Russ
