Need some opinions Please

[PBR Allstar]

whoa, how did he miss the roof?!?!?!?!?!

the RC10 logo on the side, eh, on the box it's a decal white over white, so I don't think you can fault him too much on that aspect, I always thought the box art looked goofy for that anyway.

The font is wrong, He used basic MS "machine" but all the associated stuff is "machine bold" which is a specialty font.


his painting skills are obviously good, his ability to follow instructions is obviously crap...

[romulus22]

Well after a few more emails. The guy doesn't listen too well. Says if I want an exact replica I should have went with the guy who painted the originals. He thinks the ones he did look good. He is shipping me back my bodies and refunding me the painting cost of one of the bodies, $90. Unfortunately I wont be using this guy again. Looks like I need to find someone who is willing to pick up the phone or send more emails instead of just slapping some paint on and thinking hey that's close.

So now I'm stuck with two painted bodies I have no use for. Luckily I already have a new T2 shell. Off to find another GT and try again.

[romulus22]

Forgot to say. Anyone notice the roof of the T2?

That looks like the box to him apparently.

[rctenracer]

In this day and age is customer service still listed in the dictionary ?

[Charlie don't surf]

In this day and age is customer service still listed in the dictionary ?

Hey Lo, tank you fer calling Dell customer support, my nam is Benjamin Franklin how can I verymuch hep you today?

[Y'ernat Al]

Forgot to say. Anyone notice the roof of the T2?

That looks like the box to him apparently.

Damn. I take back everything in my prior opinion. Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm sorry, that's just too bad. I will keep and eye out for more lexan for you.

[Quikenuff]

After just painting my own attempt at a box art replica, and only having done it once, I'm going to play devil’s advocate here. I know, I only noticed certain details I missed after the job was complete or it was too late to correct them.

Fonts and graphics are next to impossible to match unless you have the decals in front of you to take measurements from using calipers to the nearest .001. Most companies use proprietary fonts that can't be matched without serious time and effort being spent to do so. Think about how many repo decals miss details, and they are using direct scans to copy from. In my opinion having them painted on and at least being recognizable is a feet in and of itself.

About the roof of the T2, one could easily come to the conclusion from the first box photo it looks like the roof could be white. Did the painter have both photos to reference? If he had both, was it clearly stated which to use as the primary reference? You need to pick one and go with it. Even on the box of my 7011 RC10T the photos have some variances between them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not weighing in on whether the job is worth the agreed upon price. Only you, the customer can make that determination. There are also some inexcusable misses like the white line going through the RC10 on the T2 and extending to the roll bars no matter which photo was used as the primary. Same goes for the color swap on the GT, that's just a lack of attention to detail.

I do agree with others comments on communication being key, and if certain details were pointed out or emphasized to the painter and still missed, well that's just blatant disregard for customer wants and needs.

At least the color matching looks good! To me both definitely look professionally painted and not amateur. I also don't have to live with them sitting on myshelf and be reminded of the mistakes everytime I look at them. I have my own bodies for that.

My 2 cents
Quik

[Quikenuff]

Ohh, by the way I really like the GT body, with the decals being painted on it's, it's own cool factor, I'd put that body on my shelf! But for the T2, If I had a T2 I would have bought that body you helped me figure out were to find the decals on it.

Quik

[romulus22]

Ill give everyone a play by play how my dealing were with this guy on this deal.

1-6-12- he was asked if he still painted as I hadn't seen him on the forum where I used to see a lot of his work. Got a response immediately. Responded with the scope of work I wanted including 5 pictures. Two of the GT and there of the T2. Informed him that two of them were brochure copies but might help him get a better idea of the colors to use. they were not to be used as a guide as I wanted box art replicas. Price was given and agreed upon.

1-17-12- Bodies were shipped with a message saying give me a call before you start so we can go over them one last time

1-27-12- wondering where a message or call is knowing the bodies were shipped priority a message was sent. Message back the same day saying they had arrived he was busy and he would PM me when he was ready to work on them

2-6-12- asking if he had a time frame on the bodies since I hadn't heard anything from him.

2-7-12- PM back saying he got slammed with orders and he would give me a call at a time that was good for me. replied with a time I'm usually home from work.

2-23-12- no call so a friendly PM asking how things were going

2-27-12- get a reply to my last PM saying sorry he has been really sick and he would start on the logos this week

3-14-12- PM saying "just checking in again"

3-16-12- "hey todd, i am ready with most of the graphics..i think..lol... can i get you to give me a call when ever you can?" Tried calling and no answer or call back for a couple days.

3-18-12- Got the call saying he was having a hard time getting his plotter to make the smaller stuff for the body. Through the miracle of voice I laughed and said no you don't have to do any of that. Just the main logo on the doors and for the GT the one on the hood. Explained the color differences between the decal sheets and the box. He said oh ok that works. Went over the colors with him some more and emailed him only the Box pictures to not confuse him with the brochure pictures.

4-3-12- PM "been a few weeks since we last spoke. Any progress or further questions?" "hey todd,nope all is fine i actually got laid off again so i will be finishing up soon...the bodies are being prepped with liquid mask as we speak..."

4-5-12- Got a PM asking if he is supposed to paint on the grilles and the window net. told him no I have decals for those.

4-12-12- "hey todd,getting there...just taking ny time....are you going to run the gt truck? if so i need to order a protective paint for the sealer coat."
"Nope, these trucks are just for the shelf. At most they get moved around from shelf to shelf or body on or off to take pictures."
"ok great...i am taking alot of time on these..i want them to be just rite...sorry...i will be done this weekend ....i will shoot you pics when they are done. thanks for your patience..."
"No worries IDE rather it take a little longer and done right than done fast and acceptable. I just get anxious to see them from time to time. Really excited about these two because of all the associated cars I've never seen these two replicated before."

4-22-12- A little aggravated at this point about the time frame but still trying to be nice "I'm sure things came up, curious to the progress."

4-29-12- No PM back and hasn't been logged onto the forum since before I sent him the message on the 22nd. This email has a little more of my frustration in it due to being almost 4 months in.

4-30-12- email back saying hes truly sorry he had an inner ear infection and he would have them done and shipped by 5-2-12

5-2-12- get the first picture, the GT. Had to go over with him that he wasn't supposed to do all the wording and I hope he got this before he got to the T2. and explained the color of the logo wasn't nearly like the one on the box. (looking at pictures through my email on my phone at work at this point so that was the main error I noticed)

5-3-12- get the picture of the T2 and that's when I blew up and told him there is no way I can accept these with the amount of errors and the amount of money I paid. Told me I was the first and only customer who has ever been not happy with his work and blames them not looking identical on "its hard to go from grainy 15yr old box" and I should have the guy who painted the trucks on the boxes paint them If I wanted them to look the same, he thinks they look good.

I may not be perfect but he plain didn't listen about all the decals being painted on and all the other errors are just plain lazy person mistakes and probably rushed at the very end of this deal when I told him I wanted them done.

[romulus22]

But for the T2, If I had a T2 I would have bought that body you helped me figure out were to find the decals on it.

Quik

The T2 comes with the regular numbers just like the T and the GT. The T3 is what came with the Associated #1 decals

[scr8p]

i'll never claim to be a great lexan body painter. can i do it, ya. do i like to do it, sometimes. but, i really have to be in a certain mood for it, which these days isn't often (ask reggie ), and is also why i'll never get any better at it. which is why i don't really like to critique other people's paint jobs, but WTF? i thought the gt body was bad but that t2 body......... . all you have to see is the roof (which jumps right out at you) and you don't even need to look any further.

i'm not a fan of all the painted logos either.

[klavy69]

Got to give him credit for refunding you on one of the bodies but I'd still post his user id, name and address so someone else doesn't fall into a boxart trap like this again. You would have no problem getting $90 out of the pair of these on ebay if you put 'box art attempt' in the descriptions. But definitely, I'd be lookin for another guy to paint for ya.

Todd

[LTO_Dave]

You would have no problem getting $90 out of the pair of these on ebay if you put 'box art attempt' in the descriptions.

Todd

Due to the nature of the hobby...

[klavy69]

Due to the nature of the hobby...

[Lowgear]

This guy has talent but sounds like a tool (or young) from their responses and not very professional with a lot of excuses. I also noticed a number of 'errors' on some of the bodies on his site.