RE: Rainbow Trout - Taxi Help
IMHO 12 an inch is a good price if the work will also look good. As mentioned blanks are really not cheap. IIRC my wifes 50+ King Salmon blank was over 300 bucks to start with. And then there are quite a few hours trimming, grinding, gluing fins in, setting eyes etc...
Finally some folks can paint and some can't. But I've always found it much easier to paint a skin mount as there is a bit of a background to work with. You can see things there. With a blank its like trying to paint a sheet of white paper and make it come alive. Its not easy and takes more work than normal.
Jeff