me and my dad went to a hobby store that does custom fabrication, anda 4x8 table coust $350 and track work and everything esle is $50 and hour good deal or no?
Depends on the table. The hourly rate seems okay to me. I would make sure you have a top notch plan that fits how you will model as you grow into the hobby. That’s a lot to spend if you just take what they have to offer.
To me, half the fun is learning how to do new things, and developing the skills you need to keep going with your railroad. Yes, those are pretty reasonable prices, assuming that he works at a reasonable pace and doesn’t tell you it takes an hour to do a foot of track, that will be fifty dollars please.
There is a lot of satisfaction in saying, “I did it myself.”
I would get at least a ballpark figure for the number of hours, so it’s not a matter of “give the razor away and charge an arm and a leg for the blades.”
I would get at least a ballpark figure for the number of hours, so it’s not a matter of “give the razor away and charge an arm and a leg for the blades.”
A good deal? pricewise its not bad, but the bad deal is that you are not getting to build it yourself. Thats all part of the model railroading process in my opinion and half the fun as well.
I agree that half uhhh 80%, of the the fun is building it. But that’s me (and some others above), and everyone is different. If the benchwork and track-laying isn’t fun for you, sounds like a good way to go!
NOT GOOD, WHY? If you build you can fix it. If they build it who fixes it?
There is more to this than train and track. BUT when the train does not go around the track THAT IS A PROBLEM.
There are shake and bake layouts from Woodland scenes and getting the Atlas layout book it gives you the shopiing list for track. All these are better than having it done for you.
Just my #.02[:D]
Ya I would invest in a couple of Kalmbach books on building a small / medium sized layout, and on benchwork. Kato, Bachmann and Atlas all make “World Greatest Hobby” trackpacks, some of which I think come with the WGH video/DVD showing how the layout was built. Why not start with that - or at least pick up the video/DVD and watch it??
To me, paying someone to build a layout for me would be like paying someone to get my wife pregnant - it saves me some work, but I couldn’t help but feel I was missing something.[:-^]
If you want to buy a layout pre-built, there are lots of builders. Pre-builts are a matter of getting what you pay for or less. Look at a lot of thier finished products to make sure it is what you are after.
Really, I agree with the rest, this is a hobby of building, not having. If you learn from the start, your third layout will be better than the first.
Union Rail,
The guys above have some valid points about building it your self. It can be fun and a great step to doing your own layout. But if you are too busy, or do not have the resources to do it, (such as space or tools) then haveing something built is a great way to go. You will have your hands full soon enough running trains, scenery, and operations.
As a person who owns a shop that does custom fabrication for a living, I deal with prices all the time. (I work on 4x4’s, not trains[;)]) When it comes to custom work, you have to be careful. Some places have a bad habit of blowing the original estimate out of the water. Sometimes they are just trying to stick you for more cahs, or sometimes the job really does turn out to be more of hassel then originally thought.
When I give a quote, I always come in with 10-15% of the original estimate. if it goes over budget, I eat since its my job to know what I am doing.
Ask them how firm they are on the quote, point blank and make sure they arent danceing around the number.
If you have a bad vibe, then ask these questions:
Ask for a written estimate, with materails, parts, and labor divided.
Ask if they have done any other jobs like yours and what they cost.
Mayeb ask for pictures or shown examples of other work they have done.
Good luck with it. Sounds like you are off to a good start.
I agree with the others, I would not think of having someone else build my railroad. I enjoy building it every bit as much as running it (if not more) I statred my first layout a little over 6 months ago, and sinse busisnell has been slow and I work from home, I find myself in the train room many many hours a day, just looking for a place that might need more scenery or something. So I’ll say take your time,READ, and mostly have fun. Most people I think will agree with me, it’s all about haveng fun. Mike
Heck, I’ll do it for $20 an hour! Building a layout is sometimes more fun than having a layout!
If you really want them to do the work, I would nail them down to an estimate of the “total” cost. If these guys are professional and very good at layout buiding, there shouldn’t be a problem with at least an amount within 10-15% of an estimate. Once they now exactly what you want they should be able to tell you. I specialize in custom kitchen/ bath remodel, wouldn’t I like to have cart blanche on every job. Even though 90% of my work is time and material, I give the customer a reasonable estimate of total costs excluding the unforseen of coarse.
I truely think that 90% of enjoyment is building it yourself. It becomes a piece of art like a sculpture. You start with basically pieces and create you own masterpiece to be proud of.
Bob K.
Very well put
I agree with this too! If this is what they do then tell them to give you a price to do it. There are a lot of hours in a month[8D]. Then if you want to make changes at least you know where ur at?
ME I say jump in and build it the nice thing about this hobby is you can just jump in and work on it all the time or just do a little here and there.
I was laying roadbed today, I told my dad, dad i’m not doing this, next layout is true-track, and he said, this is a hobby boy, get used to it.
if you want a train fix, clear off the dining room table, get a trainset with a powerpack from bachmann spectrum, and run loops
Thanks for the advice guys, trust me i would lonve nothing better then to buli this layout on my own i have all the tolls including th WGH dvd, i just dont have time or space to do it, i have to back in GA by the end of the mounth so i can go back to school.
the jury is still out on this one though
thanks again