Author Topic: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project  (Read 21501 times)

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mmagliaro

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #150 on: November 09, 2014, 07:49:01 PM »
0
  That's really a fantastic looking locomotive !  But I just gotta ask, would you consider building another one to sell ???? :D

You are not the first one to ask me that question (well, you are the first to ask on THIS engine, but
not in general).
The simple answer is "no", but it's not because I'm a hateful selfish ogre who wants to keep them all
to myself.

It's because of the huge number of hours and the associate cost that would mean for a customer.

As you can see, I am very VERY slow at building these things. 

Looking back over this thread, it took me some 6 months
to finish this engine.  And I spent time on it practically every single day.  It easily averages
2 hours/day, every day, especially when I consider that I have a lot of late-night and weekend marathons where I really put
in serious hours.

6 mos = about 180 days x 2 hrs =  360 hours.

Even if I charged only $10/hour, that's $3600.   Yikes.  I can't imagine anybody wanting
to spend money like that on an engine.

In short, the sheer number of hours it takes me to build these things would make it so outrageously expensive
for anyone to pay for the work that I long ago gave up the idea of making them for hire.

Cajonpassfan

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #151 on: November 09, 2014, 08:21:26 PM »
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Never mind the fact that $10/hr. is close to minimum wage for unskilled labor. Without question, Max belongs to the extremely skilled camp...
Otto K.

mmagliaro

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #152 on: November 09, 2014, 08:43:36 PM »
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Never mind the fact that $10/hr. is close to minimum wage for unskilled labor. Without question, Max belongs to the extremely skilled camp...
Otto K.

Well, yeah.  I was going to get around to that.   :)    But it's clear that even at only $10, the price is out
of the question.

carlso

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #153 on: November 09, 2014, 09:39:48 PM »
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Otto - for sure he is in the very highly skilled camp. That ,highly skilled, concept is becoming quite rare in today's world.
           All I can say, as I am in awe, is that Max's work is priceless.

Carl
Carl Sowell
El Paso, Texas

Lemosteam

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #154 on: November 10, 2014, 06:58:14 AM »
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That is exactly why earlier I referred to the model as a Museum quality piece.  In reality, that locomotive is priceless, much like Max's time.  So much heart and soul (not just time) went into this locomotive, plus the time and energy to document it no less.

Sooo, when does this thread have the elite honor of being moved to the "Best of the Best of Railwire' thread?

Hmmmm? :ashat:


Mike C

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #155 on: November 10, 2014, 06:37:50 PM »
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  Hey , no problem Max . I totally understand . I've always said It never hurts to ask , soooo.  Again, Fantastic model !....Mike

strummer

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #156 on: November 11, 2014, 10:54:17 AM »
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Jeez...just imagine what Max could do in,say,S or O scale!

Quite remarkable.

Mark in Oregon

randgust

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #157 on: November 11, 2014, 01:46:13 PM »
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Max, I know what you mean.   I get about one inquiry a month for my scratchbuilt Class B Climax.   Only partially in jest, I say for what I went through with that thing, if anything happens to me, just stick it in my shirt pocket, I'm taking that one with me.   Who knows, maybe the ancient Egyptians were right and you get to take all that stuff with you.

That's just a beautiful, beautiful piece of work you did.  That's the equal of anything I've ever seen in any scale, let alone N.

BeastofTheEast

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Re: Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project
« Reply #158 on: November 13, 2014, 05:00:34 AM »
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I wish I could absorb your mana. Excellent work.