Whats your WORST commission experiances ?

[tin shed gamer]

Thank you for the tip.If they ever ask then I'd make some time for them.
Mark.

[AndyW]

now what about those of you speaking from the " other " side of the experience, those who commissioned pieces ?

[Bergil]

I'd have some great stories to tell. Buy me a pint and we'll go through them.

[Tancread]

now what about those of you speaking from the " other " side of the experience, those who commissioned pieces ?

I lost £300 and a pile of Copplestone figures to a painter in the UK who just stopped replying. I was moving back to the States at the time so could not easily follow up legally. Nice guy, but in the end a thief. I have not farmed out any work since, once burned and all that.

[Blackwolf]

Worst commission experience; I built and painted an Il Porco Rosso seaplane for a forum member,spent hours on it (the thread is somewhere on the forum).I was very happy with the result (I rarely am),his wife broke it! I still dream about that 'plane...

[tin shed gamer]

 Thats a shame,I normally do over sea's orders Through ebay and paypal.It gives both sides a little bit of a safety net.
I never take bulk orders of that size,Always break it down into smaller lots.It cuts down your risk.If you do ever look for work doing,Then insist on a colour chart/record,as part of the deal.If there any good they'll use one as a standard tool.
Mark.

[tin shed gamer]

I know that feeling .I sculpted the Trimarine and Swan ship trading boat for Grand Manner.
As part of any deal I receive two castings of the finished model.My friend nagged for a Swan ship so I was left with one.I painted the thing up and put it on the work top to dry.As I turned around to clear my paints off the table.My wife knocked it onto the floor and it sixteen peices.After the colour returned to my face I picked it up and glued it together.
Smiling all the time(thinking shes pregnant don't make a fuss it'll be a long night otherwise)so I put it right at the back of the worktop and turned round to start cleaning up again only the two loud crashes and a scream.She'd taken it clean off the side again with the cable on the iron,and then dropped the Iorn ontop of it in shock.
I didn't know if I should laugh,cry,or do time.I found eighty three bits.I couldn't afford to replace it nor did I want to ring Dave and say my wife had killed it twice in two hours.So I glued it back together.and filled in the missing bits with green putty and thats how it stands today wonky mast and all.
And Now I have a workshop outside the house

[Cubs]

My D.I.V.O.R.C.E ... is final todaaaay.

That's a horror story alright. I did once mistake a can of black undercoat for a can of varnish. Yup, you guessed it, finished LOTR models all in a nice neat row in the spraying box and - whooooosh - I sprayed black right across them.

I felt like crying in despair. I had to take them out and repaint one side of each of them. I now keep the varnish sprays on a separate shelf from the paints.

I'm amazed that any professional painter would risk the bad publicity from trying to rob someone. I can understand someone making a mistake by taking on too much work, or breaking a model, or cocking up in some other way and then being afraid to come clean. I've always enjoyed honesty (it freaks people out), so I will always put my hand up if I cock up (which I do on occasion), but some people do lie casually on a regular basis. I understand that.

But to tarnish your reputation for the sake of, what, a couple of hundred quid? What's the point? So much better to come clean, refund the money and send the models back and just take the hit yourself.

I had to do that once because I'd painted a 'Gandalf the White on Shadowfax' on a posh display base for a guy in Canada. It was a fair old price and I sent it off without remembering to put my sender's address on the parcel. I didn't know at the time, but Canadian post will simply return any international parcel coming in without a return address.

The customer asked where it was, I told him it should have arrived a while back and I began to investigate. Dead end (foolishly I hadn't insisted on tracked delivery) so I painted a new one and sent it out to him. In the end I did track down the parcel in question by a great deal of luck and an unusually helpful Royal Mail staff member in a Liverpool depot who stayed on the phone with me and kept up a conversation as he was searching the warehouse shelves.

He looked at everything that came back from Canada around that time, asked for the rough dimensions of the box and the colour of it, asked for the address it was sent to, and amazingly found it only after about five minutes. It came back to me, I resold it on eBay and managed to make a little of my money back. All good.

[Dolmot]

Canadian post will simply return any international parcel coming in without a return address.

My brain hurts.

[6milPhil]

A few years back when my sprogs were old enough for me to have some money in pocket and get back into the hobby I decided to get some 6mm goodies. As decades had passed it wasn't until I had them delivered that I realised my eyes weren't really up to painting the figures, the vehivles no problem, but the mini's were just too much of a strain.

So I dug around for a 6mm painter, finally decided on one and sent of a small batch to test him. A few weeks later they came back and I was happy with both paint and price.

So I worked out the rest of the figures I needed, a much bigger batch, and whizzed them off to him after he agreed to have them back to me by October - perfect!

October came and went, emails went unanswered, as did phone calls and his site slowly slipped off the web. I even sent him a letter saying, look the delay isn't a problem but I'd like the mini's back painted, if not just the mini's because my pockets were shallow - no response.

I poked around various 6mm forums and found out how this chap was a trifle unstable and typically every year around autumn/winter went off the deep end. So I kissed it all goodbye, thought never again etc.

However in late January of the following year a package turned up, with all the mini's painted and a note with tales of woe. 

[Cubs]

My brain hurts.

To the country of origin!

[Cubs]

However in late January of the following year a package turned up, with all the mini's painted and a note with tales of woe. 

A lot of that goes around it seems in the hobby. Stress, depression, mental health issues ... I wonder why. Hey, shit happens and I've had stress before and it's horrible, but I really don't need to know some stranger's issues ... just tell me there was a delay out of your control (preferably when it happens, not months after) and I'll wait.

Glad you got your stuff eventually.

[redzed]

I'm amazed that any professional painter would risk the bad publicity from trying to rob someone.

tis a bit odd that people do this.

[6milPhil]

A lot of that goes around it seems in the hobby. Stress, depression, mental health issues ... I wonder why.

I don't imagine there's any more than in the rest of the population, just we're a community and often quite a strong one, and also it's long-distance and relatively faceless so easier for many to express it. 

[tin shed gamer]

Speaking as a retired RNMH,we're all on the spectrum  .Don't make work or gaming your only focus in life.Gaming just like work should be a band topic on a night out( at the risk of up setting everyone and running out of commissions!You've got to remind your self they are but toy's all be it my toy's .We call our selves sculpters and Pro painters only because no one wants to write adult toy maker on their CV.)