Attention serious modelers....

[AggroJones]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NevinW

I have seen some detailed weathered locomotives that were being sold at model railroad meets like the Great Scale Train Show at Timonium. Based on what I saw, I think that there might be a market for extremely well done weathered diesels. - Nevin

I've seen someone like that selling heavily weathered modern diesels and freight cars from Athearn, MDC, and Accurail at a GATS in Sacramento. They seemed , at least to me, a bit overpriced.

[AggroJones]

Here's a little more.

[sparkingbolt]

Long story short, I was hired to power and weather an O scale crane for an O scale modeller. It was a success story. I wouldn't have paid someone to do this for me, cuz like so many of us here, I'd rather do it myself. But the point is someone was willing to pay. You don't need a majority response to succeed in your venture, just enough to keep you as busy as you hope to be. The real trick is how to advertise and show your capabilities, I suppose. Some of the above suggestions seem pretty worth while.

I'd think there are people who want quality work done who have the money but not the time, and for the same reason aren't on this forum.

I could have done more work for that O scaler but quite frankly, I didn't want to feel obligated to any more projects. I was glad to get that crane out of my hair. I decided when the creative juices flow I'll do my own stuff, not have to feel compelled by a certain deadline. Just something to take into considderation. Dan

[Anonymous]

I think it would rock. I have purchased several custom painted/weathered items on ebay over the years. They always command a premium and typically have heated bidding.

Those of us with busy lives who have trouble getting time to walk into the train room let alone paint something would love to be able to buy cars/locos pre-weathered. I see bachmann is doing teh 2-8-0 weathered but i'd be willing to bet your version would look much better.

[AggroJones]

My original objective was to sell stuff on ebay. The trouble with that is purchasing locomoitves at low enough price so I could resell them with reasonable profit. No dice.

As for the doing work directly for others via Fedex or whatever, sorry. This is one of those things that never came to pass. Sorry TEFFY & twhite. I don't want to pass away while still in possesion of someone else's $$$ model. [:(]

But I can give instructions and tips. Feel free to email me.

[Jetrock]

Dang.

That is some NICE, NICE WORK.

Admittedly, I probably wouldn't pay you to paint my locos, but now I know what kind of level of detail I'm shooting for. Kudos to your artistry, though--and if someone asks me if I know a custom loco painter I'll know who to refer them to!

[Anonymous]

Fabulous!

[bow] AggroJones [bow]

I'll use you as a guide line for future projects.

[dano99a]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

My original objective was to sell stuff on ebay. The trouble with that is purchasing locomoitves at low enough price so I could resell them with reasonable profit. No dice.

As for the doing work directly for others via Fedex or whatever, sorry. This is one of those things that never came to pass. Sorry TEFFY & twhite. I don't want to pass away while still in possesion of someone else's $$$ model. [:(]

But I can give instructions and tips. Feel free to email me.

One thing I have done in the recent past is work with a seller who sells mass quanitities on ebay, he buys the locomotives (gets em' pretty darn cheap too. I bought 2 proto C&O SW9's for $20 each), I weathered them. He'd sell them, I'd get a portion of the sell price. Worked out well. I still do it from time to time, but being a new dad kinda cut into my time to do it. Now I think he has some other guy workin with him.

[Anonymous]

Aggro,
Nice work indeed! Where in California are you? I am in Fresno. Your original idea could work if you could get the models at dealer's cost. This should not bee too hard to do if you can get the right connections. I own Pine Canyon Scale Models.com and would be willing to give you a page on our site to help, if you would like. We can use the pics you just posted and have your phone number and email address so people could contact you for details and deal with you dirrect. I will charge nothing or receive no proffit from your endever. Just want to help. That is what some of us crazy modelers do. On another note, Last year, I found a nasty weathered PFM loco on ebay that I purchased thinking it would be a good candidate for re-paint. I was after a little 2-10-0 for peddler freight on my layout. It turned out to be one of Jim Findley's locos. He used it to operate on John Allen's layout. I had to buy another for my re-paint project. Can't destroy a treasure. Point being that people did not want that dirty loco. I love them dirty. If you want to set up the web page, contact me at [e-mail] You can then point ebay people to your page for more pics and details. We use ebay for advertising just that way. Later, if you have your own web site, you can transfer the info to your site.
Happy railroading, Keith http://www.pinecanyonscalemodels.com

[Anonymous]

Hi

I provide a weathering service in the UK; have done since autumn (fall) of last year. Has been successful, with a lot of customers coming back for more. I would definately say go for it - you have a talent, so use it. The North American market must be many times larger than the UK, so if I can do it, so can you. Would you be the only person offering such a service in the US? That would be a great position to be in.

Most of my customers are serious modellers; many from model railway clubs, one is a consultant for Bachmann.

Factory weathering is becoming more common. I offer a similar level (which is only £10), plus an intermediate level and a detailed level. I don't think the levels relate to the amount of grime. A lot of grime can be appied quickly with an airbrush. The more costly option involves faded paint, body damage, rust, lime staining, etc. Some of my best weathering actually involves little grime - weathering is, after all, the effect of water, mainly, on materials such as paint and steel.

You can see sample of my work here:

www.pbase.com/craigasquith

Good luck

Spiff (Craig Asquith)

[grandeman]

I think you can sell them on ebay.

As for me, I don't consider myself to serious a modeler, but I'd rather do my own weathering.

[Anonymous]

Forgot to add that, as somone else said, Ebay is a good place to promote your service. You won't get top dollar (unless you can get stock at trade/reseller rates - see listings by UK trader Making Tracks), but it is relatively cheap advertising. Within a listing include a link to a gallery of your work (which itself will include your contact details). Some people don't have internet access, so an add in a national model magazine won't hurt either.

My Ebay ID is makeamap (odd name for a model train weatherer, I know - my main business is cartography) - I have some stuff listed at the moment.

All the best

Spiff

[AggroJones]

I need to start taking pictures of my steam outside. Mabey the intense lighting will show what they look like more accurately. Cause the pictures I have now are okay, but DON'T do my fleet proper justice.

[Anonymous]

Aggro,

You do fantastic work, but I have to agree with some of the posts. Serious modelers will do their own weathering. The modelers without experience or time would be the market to go after, in my thinking.

I have weathered some of my own rolling stock and sold it on Ebay, barely recovered the cost of the model, let alone the time I put in on the weathering. True, they weren't "professional" quality like yours, but they looked pretty darn good.

My suggestion would be try a couple and see what happens. I did see some "professionally" weathered models on Ebay for awhile, but I don't think that he sold many. His starting prices were about $20 above the retail for the plain model.

[Anonymous]

Aggro, your stuff is pure art. I would love to own one of your weathered engines but on my budget I will be lucky to ever buy a decent locomotive from an online discounter. That said have you ever thought about doing some rolling stock? I might be able to swing a freight car that you weathered. Good luck in whatever path you take.

My only suggestion would be to start small. Use your profits to grow your operation. Stop as soon as it quits being fun. Again, good luck.

[electrolove]

Aggro:

The best thing you can do is to weather a couple of trains and cars and just see where it takes you. You are really good so why not? And eBay is a great place for this.

[Anonymous]

Aggro

Don't be discouraged by some of the comments from experienced/serious modellers. Sure, they won't send thier stuff to you if they can do it themselves to a standard they are happy with. But there are many more modellers out there who have little confidence in their ability to weather thier won stock (and most of them do not join boards like this - you need to find them). Try it, and see just how many people come to you, and how many give you positive feedback - it's a great feeling to do a great job, but even better when someone REALLY appreciates it. Ebay and model magazines was the key to my reaching my market.

Photography outside is a must for me - pics taken inside need too much manipulation with photo software to look true.