2023 Respray and Weathering Services

[DJ Dangerous]

I was unable to post this in the correct section, so maybe a mod would be kind enough to move it here for me:

https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/forum/36-services/

As of 2023, who is offering respray services?

I'm only aware of Chris Dyer / Tony Mirolo, and the forum's own Chris @Dempsey.

I've been chatting with a few forum members behind the scenes, and there's definitely a demand for resprays, but it's also possible that customers would have unrealistic expectations on price vs. quality.

Personally, if it were to cost me €300 to have one of my locos resprayed to a professional level, I'd pay it - just look what second-hand NIR 111's go for.

Regarding weathering, I think that Chris @Dempsey may be the only one offering this service?

I'm lucky to enough to have a few special commissions in my collection, notably from @murphaph and @Noel, but these were one-offs.

Apologies if I have forgotten anybody, but it's unintentional and that's why I'm posting this publicly.

 

[Noel]

If this was 40 years ago it might probably have been a service offered by model shops (ie when we had about 25 retailers covering model railways), now we only have one left with 3 outlets.

I cannot see how it could be economically viable for anybody to make a living out of it or even generate supplemental income that is proportionate to the hours of effort involved. Most that have done it seem to be motivated more by the love of doing it then the true economic cost.

What might be fun is to organise some training workshops to help spread the knowledge to others. WMRC did this a few years ago, focused on weathering stock. But its not a massive effort to set up an airbrush in a club room with some samples and literally show folks how to do it from a practical point of view. There's no better way of learning than doing and having a go, but getting a starting steer is a great help. Richie O'Hanrahan ran a number of free training demos years ago, and that's where I got my kick start for which I was grateful. It helped me overcome the fear barrier, and convinced me to risk having a go. It would be interesting to know how others got started. Having said that Youtube has been the best modelling university  for most folks, every thing from resprays, to weathering, track laying, scenics, etc.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Noel

[Past-Avenue]

I would agree with Noel as I was the very same till I took the first step and never looked back.  YouTube was my go to for everything and just progressed from there.  I would encourage anyone to have a go on something small and inexpensive or old and you'll also get the rewards for achieving it yourself. Don't forget that it's a hobby and not a competition and it's what you get from it is what counts. 

[DJ Dangerous]

I'd say that it's a bit reductionist to imply that it's solely a confidence / experience issue.

There are likely to be several other factors in play, varying from individual to individual.

YouTube is great, as are communities like this.

Even though I've almost never lifted a rattle can, I know quite a bit about what to do and not do, thanks to forum members and YouTube.

 

[Blaine]

17 hours ago, Noel said:

I cannot see how it could be economically viable for anybody to make a living out of it or even generate supplemental income that is proportionate to the hours of effort involved. Most that have done it seem to be motivated more by the love of doing it then the true economic cost.

Thats untrue. Can you find something else to chastise please, your whole 'oh thats lovely but I dont like it and neither should you' charade is getting boring and repetitive now

[Dempsey]

I think it would be hard to make a living solely off weathering or repaints. The time invested say for a full repaint if you were to apply the minimum wage rate to the time invested then you would charge extrusion amount for the work.

For my part and my service it is done solely in my free time, as a labour of love and a want to help others get the weathering effect they want or the livery they want which may not be available. 

When I started weathering it was sharing what I had done with my own models and a few on here thought it was to a standard that they would pay for and asked me to do work for them. Something which I am grateful for.

[DJ Dangerous]

How about somebody earning themselves free holiday accommodation in exchange for throwing their compressor and airbrush into their suitcase?

Go back four, five, six years ago, I did not fully appreciate what goes into weathering and repainting. It's only from chatting with forum members like @Dempsey, @Georgeconna and @murphaph that I have gained a better understanding.

It really does need to be a labour of love as opposed to your bread and butter.

[murphaph]

Yeah there is no way you can even earn minimum wage doing resprays to a decent standard unless the livery is exceptionally simple. Not many people are going to be prepared to pay the hourly rate required to "properly" respray stuff. As soon as you have to start masking, the time required goes through the roof. Weathering is different. There you can make money I think but people still assume that it "only takes a few minutes" to do everything, neglecting the set up and cleanup time. 

[Dempsey]

Masking is the big time killer. Livery dependant of course. 

Weathering is the easier of the two but still requires the same level of planning in terms of layering colours and effects.

If your working off a picture, you have to break that down then into when you apply paint, powders or washes.

[Rob]

I am just so grateful we have those that provide these services and to such a high standard too