Hi all

I was amazed at the responce of my last post, thank you to all who took the time to help me. Your advice was spot on.

Anyway, what I want to know now is how many of you out there model for a living, no not in the NEXT catalogue! Can you make a living out of this. I cannot think of anyhing better. what is working in the industry like?

Kindest regards to all of you out there.

Stuart

I wish.... Then it would be just a j.o.b.

I think there are only a handful of those who do this full time. Even those who are paid professionals do other things as a primary means of employment.

Hi,
I think that when you do it as a job....deadlines etc. it becomes that...a job.
As a hobby you can build what suits your interests which usually has you excited throughout the whole built. As a job, you build what ever you are told.
This answer may sound a bit cynical? Hope not. I truly think building models for a full time job would be cool...if I could pick and choose the models

Cheers,
Charles

I wouldn't want this to be my job. I enjoy it to much as a diversion from life to have it be my career.

My model room is my sanctuary. I would hate it to be the place I felt I had to go to everyday. I love keeping my work life separate from my home life.

But thats just me.

Jeff

G'day Stuart,
I work part time in a hobby shop and supplement my income with commision job's. I have talked with the wife about just working from home making kits, but the time it takes to build then paint a figure or AFV out weighs what I ask for payment. And I could not think of anything worse then a deadline. That makes me work faster and the work suffers.
But if you can get a good balance of speed and accuracy and money, then go for it.

Cheers Jason

Hi all

Just as I thought. I guess it would be great as a job if you had no deadlines and could work on whatever projects you like. I love going into a model shop or on-line and choosing my next piece. Not that I'll be doing that for a while with all the kits I got at Christmas!

Thank you all for your comments, they were as ever honest and wise.

I agree with Charles. When you have deadlines, kits you "have" to build but are not interested in and have to document your builds with words and photos, it stops being fun and starts becoming work.

I build what I want, when I want and how I want to. It helps me relax and I get enjoyment out of my hobby.

Same here. Modelling is my escape from work and the stresses of life. I wouldn´t really want deadlines and pressures, nor having to build what somebody else wanted me to build!
Even documenting your build for publishing online (or even magazines) can be stressfull and become a chore.

What I have found in building many, many kits for others on a commission basis, that when you actually price the work by the hour, there are times that I might be making 20 pence. I feel that work would suffer if I had to run to deadlines and it might actually make me less inclined to build.
I want to keep my modelling as an escape from the stresses of life and accept that any money I make for others as extra spending money, for things like kits, tools or even some extra for holiday expenses.

John

I agree with all that's been said. I've sold a couple kits but at to low a price to be profitable considering the time I put into them.

After 4 years, I also chose not to renew my membrship in a Civil War reenactment unit. There were too many "mandatory" events that made it feel like work. The proverbial straw was the annoucement in early December that there'd be a full day outdoor drill some time in December. Response was so underwhelming it was moved to 20 January. Turns out the weather is expected to max out below freezing with significant wind. That just doesn't sound like to me.

Im my last job, I helped design some injection molds for some simplistic kits for figures. Thats the closet I have come.

While I was a poor student I put some of my completed kits and dioramas up for sale with limited success. I think its difficult to get people to buy what you wanted to build. Also as mentioned-the money you get considering the effort invested just isn't worth making it your only income.

It would always be great to be paid to do your hobby, as long as it stayed just that, a hobby. When the pressure starts mounting the fun disapears.

James

I make my living building models and it can be a real pain. Sometimes I will have to build several models of the same truck for one customer. Most of my work is scratch built. It gets boring after a while building the same thing over and over again. But it beats actually "working" for a living. The research sometimes can be very hard. Most of my work is from the customers photos of the vehicle that he served on or the info may be no more than info supplied to me from the customers memory. Biggest problem with this is hoping that yo can duplicate what the customer wants to see. So I wish that sometimes that I had never got into the business end of it. I still enjoy building something straight out of the box just for the pure joy of building something. Not even caring how accurate it is but for the fun of building only.

I once built a radio controlled model of an ocean going tugboat for a solicitor who lived locally.The kit had in excess of 2500 parts the decks needed replacing and the build took approx eight months.When I wasn`t working I was building the boat.When it was finished he got a fully functional model.Then he pulled his face when I asked him for £125.

I enjoyed working on the kit, but some people do not realise the time and the effort required to do a good job.I always thought that I would like to build models for a living ,but it`s just too much hassle.

I'm an at-home parent, so my only source of income right now is from the odd article I write or proceeds from master building. I haven't tried the completed model selling yet. So I suppose it's my current job . I'm lucky in that I can get away with subjects I'm interested in, at my own pace, and this is only a little supplement to my Wife's income. I think that to actually make a living out of it would be tough, even an article a month (which means a kit a month) plus master model work would mean long days, which would certainly take away from the hobby/relaxation part of it.
I tend to be a perfectionist in that I strive for accuracy with the master pattern, and having a deadline would compromise this.

Cheers,
Jim

That's what I was scared you'd all say. Funny thing is that it makes me want to do it even more. I will be submitting my first article soon on Weathering techniques on a forum. hope you all have a look and comment. I would like a little help with the writing side of things.

Thank you all.

Regards

Stu