Scale and Thunder Boat Graphics

[Greg Hahn]

Mike, wow churning out the work! I know the feeling I'm a taxidermist in my winter off time. Deer heads have filled the shop.

could I talk you into making a small decal sheet of my trailer logo? 4 each of 2", 3" and 5"

thanks

gh

 

[Mike McKnight]

Greg I sent you an email and a PM.

Some interesting developments in the last week. First, after numerous phone calls and emails I have finally acquired the background artwork for the 2012 Beacon Plumbing. Up until now all I had gotten was some small images of it that would have looked terrible when blown up a bit. Now I have the original image and I will be making the templates for the decks, cowl sides and verts. I'll have a screen shot up after I get them made. I'll have two versions of that boat. Madison/Detroit and TC/Seattle.

Second, I am adding some new sections to the website. I will be adding a section for more accessory decals for Gas, Nitro and FE. This is where you'll find stuff like windshields and vendor decals like the PWW decals pictured above. Currently I have windshields for a variety of Gas and Nitro boats from Gas Sport hydros from Insane and Blazer. Plus Gas Cats from RC Boatworks. I have WInshields too for Phil Thomas Sport 40 cowls and the HTB Tunnels as well. Plus I have a several dash gauge decals that I have been working on for a while that I can hopefully finish soon. There will be some for open cockpit scales as well as Gas Thunderboats. It's going to take some time to get all of this up so keep checking back from time to time. In the meantime feel free to call me or email me.

 

[Mike McKnight]

I'm up to speed again after a being out a couple of days after getting hammered by a cold. Nastiest sinus pain I've had in years. In any case I continue to get a couple orders a day out with some drawing time too. New screenshots are up too. 2012 Graham,2012 Matrix System, 2008 Red Dot, 1997 U12 Miss Budweiser T5, 1965 Shu Shu, 1964 Miss US 5. With the addition of the Beacon Plumbing I now have 8 boats available from the 2012 fleet. By the way I would like to thank the folks at Peters & May and the U-11 Peters and May Team. They have gone above and beyond to provide anything I needed. Fantastic folks.

I have also added some new sections of the website when I now have windshields for a number of boats in Nitro, Gas and FE. They can be customized for a small additional cost. Here's one for an RC Boatworks Cat

Something that has been in the works for a while is going to be a reality here very soon. I will be offering the Graham Trucking boats from 2011 and 2012 in partial wrap sets. I have acquired the colors used and will be making trim-able wraps for these boats. You have the option of shipping the boat here and having me wrap it or you can do it yourself. Obviously shipping both ways will be spendy but so will a paint job. All you will need to do is paint the boats in Budweiser red and the rest is vinyl. I should be able to offer those after I finish the templates for the Beacon.

I will be taking a bit of a break from boat graphics probably in early March as I have some large trailer wraps jobs for two drag racing teams to do. Should only be a few days. In the mean time it's all about boats. Looking forward to seeing some of the stuff I have already sent out finished!

 

[Ray Sametz]

Sweet.........==={} B)

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

Emailed you my order. Ready for some decals.

 

[Bigbird]

Are you still planning to do the Madison.

 

[Mike McKnight]

I started it today. Might to finish tomorrow.

 

[Bigbird]

Cool just let me know...

 

[Mike McKnight]

Mike the decks are done I'll finish the tails and the cowl later this week. I've been in the office all weekend so far and I'm taking a day off tomorrow to head to the coast.

 

[Bigbird]

Can I come too

 

[Mike McKnight]

Well you guys are making sure I have plenty to do for while to come. A bunch more orders came in yesterday. But I am staying on top of it as orders come in orders are going out too. I am however not able to get to custom stuff as much as I would like. I'll get to it it's just slow. I will be in today and part of tomorrow and then I'm going to be out of the office for a few days. Lot's of medical issues to take care of. The wife has to go in to the doctor tomorrow and my son will be going in for surgery on Friday morning. Nothing life threatening but it does need to get handled. So I'l be back on Monday. I have to take some time this weekend to get my own boats ready. The race season here starts next weekend.

 

[Mike McKnight]

Today will be my first day back to the office in a few days. I came back from D9's first race of the year last weekend with some nasty sinus problems. Well to be honest I've had a series of cold/allergy problems going on a month now. I was on the tail end of the last of it before the race but Sunday it's like someone turned a faucet on. Monday I was feverish and a cough started. Yesterday I had lost my voice completely. I did go in last night and package up some stuff that was ready to go but just needed a label. I'll be back at it full steam today. I love spring because it means racing is back but sometimes I get hammered like this when the weather is so up and down.

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

Glad your feeling better Mike, and thanks again.

 

[Bigbird]

Has there been any progress on the Madison decals

 

[Mike McKnight]

Not yet. I have not had any time to draw and I am not able to do any graphics work this week as I have commitments with my regular business that I have to attend to. I can finish them next week.

 

[Mike McKnight]

Guys I just had a rather bad experience with a customer and I am feeling like I need to clear the air a little. I will not mention his name but I will say he is in the mid-west. This guy got under my skin because even though I told him up front I had at least a three week backup he began getting on me about a week after he ordered about when his order would be done. This was about the time my son had to have surgery. I told him I would try to get them out but I was having to share time at home and at the office so things were going slow since I was having to take care of my son and I was also having some issues with cold/allergies that were kicking my keester. So yesterday,he sends me another email asking if his order has shipped yet. I didn't have time to respond to him yesterday as I was on the road a good portion of the day taking care of things for my regular business. I wake up this morning to a PayPal dispute notice saying that I had not responded to his email from 3 DAYS ago. So I quickly informed him that I would be sending his money back. I told him I was sorry I couldn't do his order fast enough for him since I had been ill and had lost some time with my son's issues. I told him if he wanted his money right away to release the dispute and I would refund it immediately rather than running the risk of PayPal double dipping me since it has happened before. SO he decides to escalate it to a claim immediately so I just sent the refund that way so it would close out and be done. Now he proceeds to tell me he has notified all his club members about my less that sociable business practices. Ok if I am less then sociable because someone has been on my case right from the get go and doesn't care that there were a lot of others in front of him, then so be it. I tend to have a short fuse with folks that do that. There was something else this guy said to try and make me feel sorry for him so I would put him at the front of the line but I suspect it was not true either. Maybe it is true, maybe not. But if it is it was pretty bad for him to play that card. .

I want to make a couple of things perfectly clear in case the fabrications of this guy make it to the ears of anyone who cares outside of the Ohio area. I do what I do with scale and boat graphics because I have a passion for it and I like boats to look as real as possible. I do not make a ton of money at this. In fact what I charge barely covers materials and time. This is not my full time business but I have dedicated some full time hours to it even when I shouldn't. I have spent entire weekends in my office getting orders out because things get so busy. All the while my own boats sit. Lately I have had to resort to having others build boats for me because I am too busy trying to fill orders or draw. Most people don't know that some sets take several hours to do because I do them in layered vinyl because some colors a printer doesn't reproduce right. Sometimes there are metallics that can't be done on the printer. Drawing is another story. I have spent as much as 8-10 hours drawing a set from scratch because I want it to be as accurate as possible. I realize I have had issues with being slow to deliver but like I said before....this is a part time business. Just like a lot of other guys that provide boat related services and parts.

I have never knowingly cheated someone. When notified of a problem I have replaced stuff for free to make it right. On the other hand I know for a fact I have had issues with people pirating my work and I have been cheated several times by guys that say they never received their order but I sent another anyway. That is why EVERYTHING has tracking when it leaves here now.

I am sorry to get on here and vent but I take it rather personally when someone tries to trash my reputation and spread inaccuracies. I hate to put in all this time and work and have someone pull this garbage on me. Ok rant over.......

 

[Mike Luszcz]

Same stuff has been happening to me lately as well Mike. Some people act like we are large corporations. The attitudes of some people baffle me. They act as it is their given right to have a particular kit, and pay no money up front, yet still expect me to drop everything. Like you, this is my hobby and I enjoy helping people and making friends, but the cruelty gets old...especially when my family is verbally attacked....that just flat out pisses me off. Just have to remember the good people we deal with and put this stuff behind us.

 

[u60]

Mike and Mike- You both do amazing work and I for one appreciate all that you guys have done for me. Great products as always. Thanks, Fred

 

[Bill Brandt]

The Brandt's support your efforts as well as ML's.

Please don't let the arrogance of some get to you.

Bill

 

[Mike McKnight]

Thanks Bill, Fred. I appreciate it I really do.

Well I have managed to get back on track after a rather busy week and a half with my regular business. Unfortunately just a brief break tends to get me in a bind with graphics and I am sorry about that. I did clear a big bottle neck of orders in the past few days. As everyone's race seasons are ramping up orders are slowing a bit. That will help me get the current orders all caught up and I can get back to some serious drawing. I have 3 boats that are in various stages of being drawn from 25% to almost 100%. They should all be done within the next week or so. Pictures of boats that have been finished are showing up and and have added a few to my gallery on my website. Fred Olson's 2001 Znetix, Gary Grembowski's 2011 Lakeridge Paving and Jim Stephens 1992 T-Plus FE 10th scale. There are quite a few gassers and FE's as well as nitros that are being painted right now and I can't wait to see them all. As soon as I get pics i'll post them.