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Adam Savage is cool!


Eric Aitala

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19 hours ago, sprueguy said:

Thanks for the post. I have a question kind of a moral issue. If I make a mold of an item for my own personal use with no intention to sale or duplicate for others is that considered recasting?

I saw the video and say ABOUT TIME  that the word is finally getting out. I also hang out at The Clubhouse forums. I've been there since the early 2000s having gotten into garage kits in the mid 90s, and it's sad how many producers/sculptors have quit, because they can't compete with their own kits copied and sold by recasters for a fraction of what it costs them to make.

To answer the question -  It's generally accepted that if you are making a copy or two for yourself,  that's ok.   But if you start selling them, then you've stepped onto the dark side. And especially so if you pass it off as your own work.

 

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The question of recasting has parallels with piracy in E-book publishing.  As with recasting,  anyone who wants to can copy an ebook, even to the point of claiming it's their own work.  Most authors, and I suspect most sculptors, simply tolerate the pirating...unless it gets out of hand....as another form of advertising. 

The bottom line is that there is no practical way to prevent pirating of ebooks or the recasting of aftermarket products short of taking each person who does it to court.  Given the legal fees involved versus the potential income lost of the recast item in question, it's a lose-lose situation for both the author and sculptor.  About the best we can do is publicize the fact that the practice of recasting and ebook piracy is both immoral and unethical. 

As others have said, making a few copies of a part for yourself is acceptable and I would think no sculptor would have a problem with it.  After all, it would be unreasonable to expect someone to buy a second $100 kit in order to get duplicates of two parts that they need.  But selling those copies...especially with the intention of making a profit, is another thing entirely.

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17 hours ago, ipmsusa2 said:

The question of recasting has parallels with piracy in E-book publishing.  As with recasting,  anyone who wants to can copy an ebook, even to the point of claiming it's their own work.  Most authors, and I suspect most sculptors, simply tolerate the pirating...unless it gets out of hand....as another form of advertising. 

The bottom line is that there is no practical way to prevent pirating of ebooks or the recasting of aftermarket products short of taking each person who does it to court.  Given the legal fees involved versus the potential income lost of the recast item in question, it's a lose-lose situation for both the author and sculptor.  About the best we can do is publicize the fact that the practice of recasting and ebook piracy is both immoral and unethical. 

As others have said, making a few copies of a part for yourself is acceptable and I would think no sculptor would have a problem with it.  After all, it would be unreasonable to expect someone to buy a second $100 kit in order to get duplicates of two parts that they need.  But selling those copies...especially with the intention of making a profit, is another thing entirely.

Anybody can do whatever they want. If you have a kit that came with very well done ammo boxes. There's one one to stop you, and IMHO nothing wrong with making a mold and casting copies for future models for yourself.  But if you casted up a few thousand and offer them as "Tamiya Ammo Boxes" then you may get a letter from a Tamiya lawyer. 

The movie production Co's sort of look the other way as they realize the amount of kits the sculptor sells comes no where close to the cost of an attorney going after a sculptor.  They also take it as a fan "thing" and a few sculpts or kits sold actually promotes their character.  Where they lose patience is when the sculptor/producer makes a lot of noise about the kit, or if it interferes with another Co who may have purchased a license for "X."   Then you are sure to get a C&D letter from the lawyers.  The Star Trek people (Paramount?) are very protective of their designs as are the Universal Monster Co's. 

Sculptors/producers never accept recasting since it involves someone stealing their livelihood. Whether or not a subject is licensed, the "artwork" belongs to the artist.  Sometimes they can stop the recaster, sometimes they cannot. Being "into" the garage kit genre since the early 90s,  I've seen quite a few sculptors/producers  quit b/c they can't compete with someone else copying their work and selling it for a fraction of what a legit kit costs. Very few Sculptors can afford a lawyer to go after these thieves. Most times they do what they can  - eBay's VERO program, nasty letters, etc...  to try and get the guy to stop.    But in the end it's less expensive to try and teach  modelers that despite being able to get a $200 model for $25, which is usually vastly inferior,  it's just not the right thing to do.

 

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Kevin,

What's really frustrating...and worse than recasting...is when a company takes a resin casting of a conversion part that no one else has ever produced and copies it.  Not by recasting the part so that it is the same size, but by vacuforming OVER the part so that their vacuform version is larger than the original by the thickness of the plastic.  Of course the customer ends up with a part that doesn't fit the way it's supposed to.  I've had that experience and...as you state...there is very little that can be done about it unless you have the deep pockets to take the person/company to court.

 

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