I usually buy painted HO locomotives, but have purchased and painted a few unpainted brass locomotives myself. I have painted locomotives up to three separate colours, but usually two, engine black and grey or aluminum for the smokebox.
I have never paid for a professional painter to work on any of my locomotives. I assumed that the going rates were approx $100 to $300 dependent upon the number of colours and amount of piping to be painted a seperate colour than the boiler.
I recently purchased another Van Hobbies CNR 4-6-4 Hudson for my CN Roster. Nice to have three of these engines on the layout, it certainly seems to give the impression of a larger railroad when you have multiples of the same engine.
I purchased this engine from a collection and like so many of a collectors engines this engine had never been used and had been tucked away for many years.
To my surprise there was an invoice in the box noted to be for painting this locomotive and dated as June 6, 1982 for $600.00.
The bill clearly indicates that the $600.00 had been paid for this paintjob.
A check on the internet showed that the hobby shop was no longer operating.
A check on prices for this engine shows it sold for about $400.00 in its unpainted condition.
In 1982 would it seem reasonable to pay $600.00 for a three colour paint job and extensive decals.
The paint job is one of the best I have seen, the locomotive certainly was disassembled completely before being painted.. Whereas I have done some extensive masking it is evident that little masking was done, even the electric motor had been removed during the painting as well as the valve gear and rods which were also individually painted.
But then again perhaps price did not matter to the owner at that time.
Has anyone ever heard of a $600.00 paint job at any pint in time. If so what was the engine that was being painted
don7.....Nice to have three of these engines on the layout.......
Don, you need only two more and you'll have the entire K-5-a class.
One of the first locos brass locos I ever painted for someone else was a CNR K-5-a. The work was done through a local hobby shop for which I was already doing custom painted plastic diesels. It was apparently damaged during shipping and required a lot of work to get it running properly before painting. The bill of sale was in the box, so I was able to contact the owner directly to inform him of the problems, which would likely result in an additional charge above and beyond that for the paint job. It certainly required the superstructure to be removed from the chassis, and the motor out while the many binds were located and rectified. If I recall correctly, I charged $50.00 total for the paint, lettering , and weathering and about 15 hours of mechanical work. I was appalled to learn that the hobby shop doubled that charge when the owner picked it up, and advised the loco's owner to contact me directly next time he needed work done. The upside of that was that the owner of the loco became a very good friend, and remains so more than 30 years later.
While the mechanical work has stood up well, I was never happy with that paint job and have offered many times to strip and re-paint it, at no charge, of course. Over the years, I've painted most of his extensive collection of brass, originally for my shop prices (minus the middleman), but later for the cost of materials only.Wish I could've made $600.00 for a paint job, but the friendship is, like in the commercial, priceless.
Wayne
Yes, I have.
I had a few models regeared, remotored, with headlights installed by David Long at Kelly Creek Backshop in Bozeman, Montana. His work is or was incredible. His white or aluminum striping on steam running boards is arrow straight. His paint finishes are very smooth, satin (if ordered that way) and lint-free--and they don't chip easily (at all).
He used to advertise in MR, but the last time I talked to him he no longer needed to because he received enough business just by word of mouth.
The last price quote he gave me was to do a single Overland Models Alco PA in red warbonnet Santa Fe paint with the illuminated side numberboards, operating mars headlight, etc. etc. This is a very complicated scheme that many painters cheat on by not getting all the stainless (factory plated) areas correct versus the aluminum painted areas of the prototype. You can't just take the plated model, paint the red area and paint the roof and pilot aluminum--there's more tiny areas of aluminum or stainless or both one against the other. That last quote was in the range of $600 for one A unit painted to match the Cinthia Priest book, with the lighting. I was sick in the hospital at the time, 13 years ago, I believe, and opted to pass at that time. He charges by the hour, and the last time I spoke with him his fee was $25 per hour--whether remotoring, regearing or painting, or even illuminating tiny numberboards and marker lights if you want to go there.
With any paint job, the price is determined by the complexity and how much has to be disassembled for proper painting.
I'd still think $600 is on the top end and should include all kinds of lighting, and/or sound and DCC for that price--but it wouldn't be out of line on a highly complex multiple color separation paint job--especially if any mechanical work or tuning is also required. At $30 per hour that's only 20 hours of work--and even the decent custom painters can actually spend 20 hours on one model if they start with stripping lacquer and etching the brass. I had a friend who also did custom painting--and I know he typically spent 20 hours on an engine, but he didn't charge $30 per hour. Today some folks would.
doctorwayne
Yes I guess I did get a bit carried away with these engines. They are very striking with the green and black, as were the 4-8-2's in the same livery.
As I mentioned the only reason I purchased the engine was that it was offered to me at a most reasonable price. It was the last piece of a large collection where the owner has been selling off over the last year and as luck would have it I had contacted the owner on another matter, right place and right time.
Although the invoice does seem to indicate it was for the paint job I just can not believe anyone would pay that much just for a paint job, it must have been for the locomotive and paint job.
It seems that 15 hours you spent on that engine would have been a lot of time for mechanical work, it must have been in really sad shape.
I have had a bit of experience with valve gear and rods binding, but not a lot. The problems I have encountered so far were relatively easy to solve.
That was a nice story how your reaching out to the owner ended up developing into a long time friendship.
A friend of mine routinely spent 40 hours going through some brass steamers to get them running really really well--but it was his own collection.
15 hours is relatively cheap for mechanical work.
You can easily spend 20 hours fine tuning a 1990's Overland diesel if you are a perfectionist about performance. It's a matter of how far you want to go with the operation of the models on the layout.
Don,
Can't speak to older prices, but I do have a friend who does this professionally and his tabs regularly run into the thousands. His jobs are usually O scale and he is usually re-detailing and fixing the locos, installing sound and lights as well as painting. His work is beautiful. He has jobs lined up for the rest of his life if he wants them....
Painting brass is very time consuming if done correctly and it looks bad if done poorly.....I now try to buy well painted brass since I will have to paint the unpainted ones myself...
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I just had a locomotive painted for me in VIA Rail's paint scheme. I had some extra details added and had it weathered very lightly at the cost of 300 dollars. Back in 1982 I could have got a full size car painted for 600 dollars.
Unless you've actually done one yourself, the majority of people just don't realize the amount of time that some projects can consume. I charge $15 an hour for my custom building / painting / DCC service and have had more than a few that have topped $500 in labor alone.
Throw in a big handful of detail parts - that can easily add another $100. Want DCC and sound and full lighting ? - easily add another $200 for all the components and the labor. It adds up fast !
Mark.
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