Pricing a build

[cliffm]

A firend of mine finally corraled me into building a skyhawk for him. He asks every time he sees me and I finally told him to bring it over. Some of the wood is a little flaky and a little warped,but nothing I have'nt used in a guillows kit before. I don't want to give it to him for nothing, he would be affronted by this,so what would be a friendly fair price for a nicely done build.Thanks.

[Arlo DiPasquale]

Skyhawk, I was never even aware Guillow's produced an A-4 kit at any time!!

[Bill Gaylord]

...and a good bit more than that, for the masking and painting the box scheme on the plane.
I see I'm not the only one who replicated the box scheme. This really is a lovely kit and good flyer. I'm not sure why it seems to be so seldom built.

[BillParker]

Guys are always asking me to build and sell em one of my monster projects...

I tell em... 160 hours at $500 bucks an hour... You choose the paint scheme... Or... I choose and I can give it to you for nothing when I'm done with it...

Guess what they choose? (they don't know it, but they're doing me the favor, taking it off my hands...)

It boils down to what is your time worth... It seems to take most of us about a month to do a project, so 160 hours is reasonable...

[cliffm]

Thanks for the replies. I guess my thinking isn't too far out of the realm. It's just that I would never pay anybody that much,and on the other hand $150-200 is a bargain for all the time spent in the diligent construction of one of these birds. I'll prob'ly tell the guy give me $50 for incedentals and that'll do. I was going to get this model anyway as I have flown in them a bit and for those interested this is a nice build. Later

[Bill Gaylord]

That's pretty much it, as you give them away as something lasting that has more than just dollar value. If you added up the hours even at minimum wage, most folks would still fall over backwards at the cost. Folks also don't understand that while two models may look identical, one may have an entirely different level of workmanship put in, including good flying abilities. I would have a hard time even charging anything, as I see the dilemma as the amount they would give me being inadequate, while they would never pay what it's really worth in terms of hours. Sometimes it's better to give something away for free, than to be insulted at the low offer a person will make. I may even try to locate several museums to donate to, as that way numerous folks can enjoy models, and it's certainly not possible or practical for them to have a full scale rendition of every plane. I've given away $$ in planes and gear, much of it at no charge.

Appreciation is another issue. I've given away almost all my rc foamies, as they don't fit well in a collection of hand built scratch and kit built aircraft, and I have more than enough good flying hand built models now. One of the guys who has received a number of them, asks about the hand built balsa models. No offense intended, but he simply does not appreciate them enough for me to consider donating one. We treasure these works, whether static or flying. I told him the other day that a crash to him is 5 minutes of epoxy setting time on the foam. To me, crashing a hand built model even once is unthinkable. It may happen, but they are not disposable. I would want someone to respect the model, as if I gave them a $100,000 Mercedes Benz.

[SteveM]

Very few people can make a living building models, so it's more of a question of if this would be a gift, charge just enough to cover materials, or enough for materials and a little for your time.

I read one fella's post about models that he gave away for little or nothing. The models often turned up on eBay or given or sold for little to a 3rd party with little appreciate for its true value. He found that charging a modest sum resulted in a greater respect for the model and they tended to stay with the person that purchased it.