I'm working on my first commission, which also happens to be a rush job. I need to have it ready for the client to present at a going-away party on August 1st, and I only got the job last Thursday. The kit is Meng's pick-up with ZPU-1. I'm about half-way through construction. No pictures of the build since I'm powering through. It's a good thing I had the kit in my stash, otherwise I would have lost last weekend's build time waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I'll take some pictures once it's done and ready for delivery.

Lucas,

While you're at it, jot yourself down some personal notes about the number of hours that you spend on the build (maybe daily start and stop times).

After you make delivery and receive payment, do a bit of math to see how you fared on an hourly rate for your time and effort. Don't forget to subtract the cost of materials from you gross before figuring your hourly rate.

I always found that I spent a lot more time than I thought on builds. Once I started keeping track of the hours, it provided a good perspective on model-building for money.

It also shocked several of my clients to know how many hours were spent on their builds and helped me when it came time to offer cost estimates on future projects.

Good luck and happy modeling!

That's a good idea, Mike. Thanks!