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How do you make the money to support this hobby?

I was a highliner for 40 years to make the money to support my hobby and my work was not easy and at times not a whole lot of fun. But I enjoyed the work and the trust of a crew that you could depend on 24/7, Storms cold weather and the great days of being outside everyday, So what is your story? I also took a lot of pride in my work. CarlScan 7

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The yellow dot on the picture is a hard hat.
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With out this no cell service.
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Comments

  • I'd like to request one of those towers near my house please. My cell service indoors is awful. Please make it look like a tree for aestetic purposes.

    No way I could get up there! Kudos to you.

    Don't tell anyone, but I support my habit by pushing drugs...veterinary pharmaceuticals to be precise. I haven't been able to get a project started for over 2 years now because I am nearing completion of a doctorate in business administration. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will have my dissertation completed by the end of this year so I can get started on a long-overdue build.
  • I have five newfouland dogs so you my become my dealer. Carl
  • Carl, I'm one of those dreaded attorneys, but trust me, I'm one of the good guys. I don't chase ambulances, I don't advertise on TV, and I don't make life miserable for others by suing them. To support my habit, I am the general counsel for a Canadian mining company that has operations in Alaska as well. That's why I travel so much.

    One of the things I like about the hobby is that it brings together persons from all walks of life. We all have one thing in common - we love to build craftsman kits, especially Sierra West craftsman kits. I can tell you that my legal training has contributed 0% to my ability to build a kit and do scenery and I would like to believe there has to be a "craftsman" chromosome in all of us. Phil
  • Attorney hum I will have to think about that, You are right all kinds of people gather to this hobby so lots of great stories and for me traveling across country on my Harley I have had a lot of great stops and sleep overs on my many trip's Caution never try to find Mike Englar's house he said look for the big rock you cant miss it well almost every house has a big rock out front....................Carl
  • Ed. It is a hot 70 here today may need a jacket later on. ................Carl
  • engine909 said:

    Now you are just rubbing it in. Drove 4 hours and The Suncoast was closed. That had me quite upset.

    Should have read your email. They sent a notice out on Thursday that they would be closed.

    Jerry

  • I am a coach builder, which is just a fancy way to say that I make custom body parts for vehicles that are not available. For my day job, I work for CPR Classic rebuilding 1976 and older Porsches.

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    I also do this on the "side" operating from my home shop. I work on most anything, but really want to work on more "high end" vehicles. Aside from the rare Porsches that I get at work, I've worked on Bentleys, Jaguars, Tigers, Aston Martins, etc.

    Most recent big build was for an artist that does Hot Rod inspired art (Max Grundy), who wanted a mobile art display gallery for when he goes to out door shows. After collaborating with him I built him a 54 GMC Cabover, with a 3 1/2 good chop, and a completely custom built box, with full sides that open to display and store his artwork and other merchandise.

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  • Mike. Outstanding work just love it, I was into cars for years not high end though 59 Ford Retractable's was the car for me another good hobby. .............Carl
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  • Mike. Outstanding work just love it, I was into cars for years not high end though 59 Ford Retractable's was the car for me another good hobby. .............Carl
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    That is a beautiful car.... I always had a soft spot for those. The work to get those tops to work right is down right amazing!
  • Yes many men have taken the top off and had no idea how to get it back together I have finished five cars and at times still had some trouble. There is a lot of strain on the rear floor pans when the top starts to lift up........Thank's for your time Mike. ...........Carl
  • Wow you guys are artists.

    I've recently taken on the position of Controls Engineering Manager for a lumber company with three mills in Idaho. I'm responsible for the automation in these three mills.

    The cool aspect of this is that I have a much better appreciation and source of reference material for the Deer Creek lumber operations and Twin Mills.

    I'm looking forward to hearing more of how you all support your hobby interests.

    Mark
  • edited September 2017
    Wow... I suffer from vertigo...so no great heights for me to support my hobby..

    Money in the hobby ???...Nope... ladies building Doll House stuff earn plenty...

    I recently built 2 diorama's for a friend for $2000 ( he supplied the kit's ) ...took forever, cause I'm slowly and fussy... plus i added a lot extra detail....he keeps asking for more builds, but I earn more than that in a week... I did it for pleasure.. not for money.... Can only imagine how much work goes into providing high class kits like SW.
  • Very cool to see what everyone that visits here does for a living.

    Im a new product devolpment manager for a packaging company. Basically I take the customers ideas and make them a reality using 2 CAD programs and a plotting table. (same concept as a cnc machine, but it uses blades and creasing tools instead of routing bits)
  • i sell my body to women.



    and then i wake up and find that i'm actually a property manager and it's another day of madness.....
  • Considering how many who participate here make great models you'd think that "making" money would be relatively easy. Let's see, how best to weather Ben Franklin's face... Use chalks or Reaper paints...?
  • Retired, 22 years as Principal Trumpet, USMarine Band, "The President's Own". I spent countless hours playing at the White House. After that stint I spent 20 years freelancing in the DC metro area. I still play in DC, but moved to Arizona four years ago. Trumpet is a lifelong investment. A govt pension, SS, musician union pension, and a very supportive wife make this hobby (hobby?) possible.
  • I've spent the vast majority of my life in a classroom. 13 yrs in public school then 5 yrs to get a bachelors and masters ( almost ) then 36 yrs on the other side of the desk. I taught Chemistry and Physics. Teaching was much more fun than being a student and the retirement ain't bad
  • E Nuff talent here to start a worldwide think tank committee
  • My day job of writing software, these days mostly mobile apps for iOS and Android, provides me with just enough money to afford a few of Brett's latest kits.
  • I've got one of those jobs that when I describe it people usually fall asleep or head off to the bar to get their drink refilled. We make netting that goes on meat and poultry products. If you've ever gone to a deli and have seen the hams and turkeys and other types of meats that have a netting pattern on them that was most likely our stuff that was used to make that pattern. The meats are pretty goopy before they are cooked or cured so the netting gives it a shape. It gets stripped off before the product gets sealed up. Sometimes you'll see the netting on fresh products at the grocer.

    My grandfather started the business over fifty years ago. Now my brother and I are what's left of the family portion of the business. We employ a little over fifty people. Although my degree is in mechanical engineering most of my day is now spent with regulatory stuff, documentation, verifying this, validating that, etc.

    Oh - wait a sec - can you get me a bourbon/rocks?

    Bill S.
  • First of all congratulations to Bryan (brownbr) on finishing up his dissertation. That is a true labor of love and a real achievement.

    I had one of those half day, 10 months a year jobs that everyone covets for 34 years. I worked from 7 AM to 7 PM on good days and took more graduate classes during my Summers to compliment a sales and carpentry business I ran on the side. Yep, I was a classroom teacher, dean of students, assistant principal and principal. Shepard to 800 students a year, their parents and a faculty of 40 teachers. I only had to work my education gig for 34 years since the State of Illinois and my school district let me get out a year early for exemplary behavior in 2000. (In reality the school district hired 2-3 rookies who combined equaled my salary at retirement.)

    After that I went to work at Home Depot for 7-1/2 years in their Millwork department. That job was like working in a fraternity house. There were 12 guys in the department that took "the professor" under their wings and guided me along. Plenty of pranks and good-natured joking made the day move along very fast. It also helped that one of my former students was an assistant store manager there and a few parents of former students worked in other departments as well as a few former students who worked as cashiers.

    I thought my move from the Chicago suburbs to Oro Valley, (Tucson) Arizona would mean that I wouldn't see former parents or students any longer. Not so! Around Christmas I was in the electrical department at Home Depot being helped by a very knowledgeable fellow. I mentioned that I had worked for HD in the good old days. He asked what HD. I told him and he responded that he went to school in a nearby community. I think you can sense where this is going. He turns out to be a former student and retired electrical engineer working for the insurance coverage offered by HD for full time employees. Small world even some 50+ years later.

    Later, Dave S. Tucson, AZ
  • After spending much of my adult life as a commercial Glass and Glazing contractor I now work as a freelance computer drafter (AutoCAD) turning out Shop Drawings for several glazing contractors in the Central Florida area.....
  • I'm a Captain on a reasonably busy urban fire department in North Jersey....
  • I try to save a bit of my SS check each month.

    Geezerbill
  • I was an IT project manager in the financial services market (fortune 50 banks). Yup I got paid big bucks to play with the latest toys in computing and telephony. I started one of the first dial-up internet companies and my customers where AoL, Prodigy, and other national ISPs. If you ever used a Richmond VA dial-up internet or BBS service, chances are high you went through my network. We provided the lines and call center support for Mid eastern market, over 6500 POP nodes and 3k ISDN nodes when it sold and I went into project management, I was so proud to get a profit of $2k no loss. You see, we had to purchase and change out the equipment every 3-5 months. Technology was explosive in those days and network refresh cost an average of $10-16 million every time we upgraded. I did 18 upgrades in 5 yrs. Now you know why I went into IT project management. My last project prior to becoming disabled was to build twin $146 million dollar data centers for Capital One bank. It has every IT footprint known on its network, 4 redundant OC3 networks (fiber). Boy I miss that bandwidth. A private network as big as any top TELCO. I had a team of 2200 top geeks to manage, paid at an average of $120k+ annually, all premadonnas, and I miss it and them; all. Work was for me a joy and life long passion. I hate that I can no longer work due to health. but I still have my hobbies, to some degree.
  • I am a software designer for my regular job. Just started a Mobile Dustless Blasting business about a year ago.
  • Ok, gotta ask - what is "Mobile Dustless Blasting", I mean the name is descriptive but what are you blasting... (I googled it but it more fun to hear from the source!)
  • engine909 said:

    Barb just got back from walking Satchel. She said he did some mobile dustless blasting.
    I would guess, not the same thing.
    ed

    No but close!!!!
  • I'm a school teacher by day and run a semi-successful photography and video business with my beautiful also teacher wife. We sell fruit at farmers markets, and find extra media jobs during the summer months. Still young enough to keep it up to afford our hobbies. She does projects for the house and I get to play with kits and trains. Win-Win.
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