Model Boat Mayhem

Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => Other Technical Questions... => Topic started by: soulfiremage on August 09, 2006, 09:22:30 am

Title: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 09, 2006, 09:22:30 am
Hi guys,

I'm not a model builder myself-I don't have the skill or space to do it. However, I'm after a scale model of my 1977 Powles 46. I've had a quote of £850 per foot from one company already. Can anyone here recommend any other sources for this work at all? Would anyone here be interested in the work themselves? My total budget for this was going to be a maximum of £800. Just a sturdy nice display model is what I'm after rather than R/C. If this is the wrong place for this query I apologise in advance.

Regards
Richard
"Dream Finder"

http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dfpowles46web7ch.jpg

Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: Doc on August 09, 2006, 03:00:11 pm
Richard,
"£850 per foot"?!  Did you tell them you wanted a model of your boat, not a full sized one?  I have a lot of trouble believing anyone would have the nerve to make a quote like that.  Even more trouble believing anyone would take them up on it!  If I weren't afraid you'd take me up on it. I'd offer to build it for half that price and hand deliver it (no one is that silly, I hope!).
 - 'Doc

I'm starting to believe I've led a very sheltered life...
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: kayem on August 09, 2006, 04:23:14 pm
Don't understand that quote at all, maybe they didn't want the job and were trying to get rid of you. A decent one foot model at that price would be very cheap indeed from a professional model maker, much too cheap for the price to be believable, but a two foot model or even a three foot model would be no quicker or easier or even much more expensive to build. I reckon they'd be making a modest profit at about two foot six, assuming the model was to a reasonable standard.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 09, 2006, 04:36:11 pm
Thanks guys, any suggestions as to who could do it for me at a reasonable price? Looking for 2 foot after discussions with partner.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: kayem on August 09, 2006, 06:23:02 pm
I don't want to come over all discouraging, but in a case like this, it's difficult not to. At the very least, we're talking about several hundred hours of highly skilled work. How much would you expect to pay a really good craftsman per hour? I expect you know what kind of hourly rates franchised car dealers charge for servicing, well over £100 an hour in many cases, and without wanting to denigrate car mechanics, I don't think their skills compare with those of a model maker who is good enough to earn his living that way, though admittedly a car dealer's overheads are probably in a different league. An additional problem is that most good professional modelmakers are booked up for a long time ahead, several years in some cases. Sorry I can't be more positive, but the best of luck all the same.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 09, 2006, 10:00:11 pm
I have no problem with paying a going rate for the job. I would like to know the real going rate for the work involved if possible. I was looking to budget about £800 for a two foot model. A sturdy decent display model -not r/c etc which adds way too much on top. If it has to be thousands for a 2 foot model yet under a £1000 for 1 foot, I find that peculiar.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: Adzam on August 09, 2006, 11:23:19 pm
I don't want to come over all discouraging, but in a case like this, it's difficult not to. At the very least, we're talking about several hundred hours of highly skilled work. How much would you expect to pay a really good craftsman per hour? I expect you know what kind of hourly rates franchised car dealers charge for servicing, well over £100 an hour in many cases, and without wanting to denigrate car mechanics, I don't think their skills compare with those of a model maker who is good enough to earn his living that way, though admittedly a car dealer's overheads are probably in a different league. An additional problem is that most good professional modelmakers are booked up for a long time ahead, several years in some cases. Sorry I can't be more positive, but the best of luck all the same.

To digress kayem  :o

i am both a motor mechanic in a franchised dealership, and a ( self admitting) model maker. although the garage may charge over £100 per hour for labour, you`ll find the mechanic will get aprox £9-£10 per hour for his work ,So maybe  not the best comparison, but i do understand what your saying, hundreds of hours as you will no doubtly know goes into some of these models. so charging by the hour isn`t really feasible, al charge ( or fee) over and above materials used which reflects time spent building has to be achieved.and that is down to the builder, you cant take a price quoted by one and throw it at another builder and expect him to beat it, he may even charge more, the model maybe finnished diferently, use different materials etc etc etc .


ideally though, some pics of the modellors previous work ( if you find one thats suitable for you) or even personal viewings, as long as your happy as the customer, i think you could be looking at a fair bit of outlay. but something unique to sit in the office or home. In the end i think it comes down to how much you value having the end product.

 
if you have no luck here, another angle maybe even to try the static scale model type of forums, just a thought.

 
anyway, good luck in your quest for a reproduction of your boat, and a fine looking boat she is too !
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: kayem on August 09, 2006, 11:41:33 pm
If you have another look at my post Adzam, you'll see that I did mention that a car dealer would have big overheads. I never suggested that mechanics earned over £100 an hour, but if they're doing it to make a living, modelmakers have to charge enough to cover their overheads too of course. I can't see any competent professional modeller charging less than about £15 an hour these days, more if he had significant overheads. To go back to the last post from soulfireimage, £800 divided by £15 works out at just over fifty hours. Be sensible here. If you were making models for a living, do you think you could research and build a decent two foot long scale model of a modern cruiser from scratch in just over one week's work?
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 10, 2006, 05:32:33 am
Well the quote started at £850+vat for one foot so they think they can do it at what £20 per hour or something? However disappointingly they want to double up the whole cost just to double the length.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: Adzam on August 10, 2006, 10:01:23 am
If you have another look at my post Adzam, you'll see that I did mention that a car dealer would have big overheads. I never suggested that mechanics earned over £100 an hour, but if they're doing it to make a living, modelmakers have to charge enough to cover their overheads too of course. I can't see any competent professional modeller charging less than about £15 an hour these days, more if he had significant overheads. To go back to the last post from soulfireimage, £800 divided by £15 works out at just over fifty hours. Be sensible here. If you were making models for a living, do you think you could research and build a decent two foot long scale model of a modern cruiser from scratch in just over one week's work?

 i did get the jist of your point of view there kayem, no worries ;)

soulfire, was this a set in stone price or a guide depending on the project ?
it does same strange how they could charge that amount for a boat like yours with little deck detail on it , and the same for the likes of an oil or gas transporter
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 10, 2006, 10:10:54 am
It was presented to me on a spreadsheet and I had the impression that was the *price* pretty much. I've emailed them back telling them what my budget was but I have not had any response to this yet.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 11, 2006, 04:49:56 am
I would still like if anyone has such, suggestions of who else I could try for this model? Please?
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: Shipmate60 on August 13, 2006, 11:57:46 am
When a full size ship is built the builders supply a model of her, we have several models at about 3 feet long, cost 8 Grand!!!


Bob
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: soulfiremage on August 13, 2006, 12:37:07 pm
That seems an awful lot of cash!

I'm surprised that no-one has any suggestions as to who would be best to go to for this. I've a suspicion it's either fork out £2k for a 2' model or quit on the idea me thinks.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: kayem on August 13, 2006, 02:08:19 pm
Why not search for a method of turning base metal into gold, or even more improbable, a peace plan for the Middle East, you might have rather more success. There is no answer to your query, it's an impossible quest. You aren't looking for someone to throw an Airfix kit together, you're looking for a highly skilled craftsman who's prepared to put in several hundred hours work for next to no reward, and a man like that just doesn't exist. If there is, please can he come and work for me.
Title: Re: Powles 46 model-help/suggestions please-newbie to forum here.
Post by: barriew on August 13, 2006, 06:27:01 pm
Try this web site

Barrie

http://www.shipmodels.com.ua/eng/order/index.htm