I'm sure custom painters ponder this matter over many sleepless nights, I know I do! What is it that paying customers want?

Please drop YOUR comments here. What would make you break out the wallet!

My own nagging question that I want answered is this:

Do you want your new body to have painted rollbar hoop and pipes?

These are tricky areas to mask and cut, but really set add detail to a job, but do YOU really want them?

Thanks!

DaveC

If the body has them molded in, then painting them makes it look better then without it. But if they are not there it would be more of a prefence of if you want them or not.

^ plus 1

Proline Bodies
1x 3150-00. Hummer H2
1x 3159-00. Silverado Hd
1x 3187-00. Crowd Plezer
1x 3184-00. Nissan Titan

Hpi Bodies
1x 7177. El Camino
1x 7178. Dodge Ram
1x 7184. Dodge Charger

Traxxas Bodies
1x Revo
2x T-maxx Disruptors
1x Jato

Parma Body
1x10209 X-citer

LMK if your intersed in Painting aany of them

painted roll bar for sure

my biggest fear, is what if the customer hated it...
situation A: they said do what ever design you want and maybe a few colors of thier choice...

situation B: they provided a sample to copy from...

none of want this to happen, but as a painter, im sure it will happen to all of us at some point. i had one that i had painted, and i specifically told the guy exactly what colors to use and if he didnt have them, id send them to him, as his colors wenrt flouresent and more drab...while i was happy with the work he did... the colors were all wrong...

It's a tough thing, customer satisfaction. I'm taking the approach that if I don't feel it turned out as I set expectations I'll do what it takes to make the paying client happy. I brain-farted on one job (you know who you are) and the body didn't have the design elements we had discussed. I told the client that I would give him the paintwork, he just would pay for the body. In my opinion that was the fairest thing to do. Or give the option of getting another body, doing it over, and getting it done right just as soon as possible.

Colors are impossible. If someone hands you a box of Tide and says match it exactly, that isn't gonna happen too easily, especially with the palette of colors most guys have to work with. If we can get close, and do neat, clean execution, I would hope the job is acceptable.

My worst case scenario is someone barfs on the finished job, says screw you, won't pay for any of it, and then slams my attempt all over creation via the Inet. I will do whatever I can to avoid that.

Maybe dealing with custom work is what drove some RC painters to move to pre-painting "production" bodies. Either you like what they shoot and you buy it, or you don't use them. Bodz is a perfect example of that. And he's doing great from what I can see on eBay and his website. As long as the customer doesn't mind that there could be 12 others exactly like his at the track, production painting is a viable choice to get great work from great painters at a fair price.

I agree with you that it is a difficult concept to master. I get alot of clients who let me run wild and I love it, but creative licence has its limits too.

I still have a less than fuzzy feeling about a pair of bodies I did....the colors and scheme were exactly what he had asked for. They were not something I would have done, but it wasn't mine so the client gets what they requested. He also asked for chrome roll bars...the thin laquer chrome, even when backed with black, reacted through the later body color and turned pink. I personally feel like they were not my best effort and don't really wan't someone to look at those as a reflection of my talent. They were paid for up front and were shipped out of state... I offered to correct them by painting others if he wasn't happy. Even though he accepted them and likes them, I don't really think he was 100% satisfied.

Yea, with custom painting the customer always wants it to be perfect. Only problem is, is that we (well maybe not me yet, but the pro's) are human just like them and will make mistakes, and if they want more then one of the same paint scheme it will vary just slightly over the other one, but that is what makes it custom IMO. Customers can be hard to deal with sometimes, but if we were all perfect then there would be unique style from painter to painter.

Jerry has said it in the past....if you want perfect, it will cost more than $xx.00 and you will get it when I'm done with it. Or something like that.

It's funny because I feel I give a really nice level of work (not perfection) for a reasonable price...but you still will get people that ask for a quote and never are heard from again. Does this mean you're charging too much?? Hard to say...I think it's rediculous to demand perfection unless it's a concours show body. The price of work like that will easily double or triple most prices.

So does this mean i cant get a 12 color paint job for $20.00.
Oh, And i need it by tonight.

it's the new splatter technique....you like??

Pour it straight on the body right from the handy squeeze bottles, swish it around, and clearcoat.
Presto.

Tie-dye time.