I was wondering about getting a custom nscale sd44r and wanted to know how much one would cost.
Hello SP,
You’ll have to do a bit of research and seek out modelers that perform custom work for other modelers, just as you are doing here.
Find out if you have any model railroad clubs in your town and area. Most club groups that I’ve interacted with always had that “one guy” that specialilzed in kitbashing and/or detailing units. Keep in mind that there’s always a risk involved (model damaged, the person taking a very long time, model stolen, high prices, mistakes made on your unit by the person, etc).
If there are no clubs in your area then you may have to go online and do a general search. The N-scale Yahoo forums may be a good starting point as there are some decent people there that have “connections”.
Give it a go and let us know what happens. One plus going for you is that the starting point for your unit would be a standard SD45, which has been on the market for some years now. [;)]
If my experience is anything to go by, it’s expensive.
Because the intricacies of a particular engine shed interior were beyond my meager talents to replicate I commisioned a “professional” model builder to make for me. The builder did a good job & I was pleased with the result. The cost to build was around $200.00. But it was either paying that or not having a unique model of an engine shed that was an important feafture in a railroad town that influences my era, location & road specific modeling.
Dusty
I was wondering if you ever did anything with the advice that I gave you on almost the same thread from 2 months ago. I guess I now know the answer!
Just do it yourself…it ain’t hard. You can save a ton of money too!
It looks like no one answered his question about the cost of custom painting back in August, so now he is asking the question once again.
Rich
Probably like the yacht salesman said to the customer, " If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it." Unless you are looking for someone to do it from this forum.
I guess part of the question is how custom do you want your model? There used to be a fellow that did excellent work, but wanted to do it at least 90% prototypical, it cost, but it was good. If you are looking for a custom paint job on a mass produced loco there are folks that do that. One fellow at many of the shows around here does very nice paint work on rolling stock, can’t remember if he does locos or not, but I think so. Go to a show and ask questions, there might be someone not too far away.
Good luck,
Richard