Sorry this is a long post, but I think you all need to be aware of what can happen in a small hobby like this. If you take the time to read this I hope you will understand the reason behind the post. It is meant to help protect the work of members of this hobby and point out to buyers that you may not get what you think you are buying.
Due to past and recent situations I feel it is necessary to address a problem. Firstly I would like to explain that there are very few copyrights on the parts the craftsmen in this hobby produce as the real parts in general were made under military contracts and therefore owned by governments which in turn means owned by the people. This basically means anyone can make scaled parts of these items. There maybe some exceptions when it comes to weapons and certain vehicles. As an example the US military Jeep, one would think is copyrighted, but anyone can make a model of it. What you cannot do without a license is call it a JEEP and put the Jeep logo on it. This is why Dragon call their model a 4 x 4 Truck, they have no licensing fees to pay.
The main problem I want to cover here is the direct copying of craftsman's parts, I call it recasting as copying has a lot of possibilities. For example I copy the real things to produce in 6 scale. Recasting is when another person makes a mold using a craftsman's original part. This is an unethical practice, especially when these recast parts are sold for profit.
In general all the real craftsmen and manufactures in the hobby I know do not do this. We all make our own masters to produce the parts we sell.
If this type of thing happens it is very difficult to prove and to stop. We can only rely on the integrity of the people in the hobby. Most of the parts made cannot be copyrighted and if they could the cost in doing so far exceeds the potential profit to be made. If someone does recast parts and sell them suing is very expensive, a law suit of this nature cost around $75,000.00. A simple cease and desist letter may work.
A few things I learned from an attorney which are applicable to most manufacturing and retail.
1. Recasting of a original item is not legal, but difficult to prove. $75,000.00 law suit.
2. Copying of a design feature is illegal, even if a patent has not been registered provided you have evidence that it is your original design.
3. Using pictures of a manufactures parts and/or part numbers to sell a product that is not the manufactures original item is known as counterfeiting. This includes pictures not taken by the manufacturer if those pictures are of the manufactures parts. In big business this is investigated by the FBI, however in our small hobby it is not likely the FBI would get involved.
4. Using pictures of a manufactures parts without permission is illegal, even if these pictures are posted on public forums or the like. Pictures taken by an individual are covered by a common copyright law, the individual owns them and permission to use them is required. This even includes pictures not taken by the manufacturer if those pictures are of themanufacturers parts. The individual can at any time withdraw that permission.
I want to explain to you all what is involved in producing the 6 scale parts the craftsmen in this hobby produce. I use myself as an example.
I spend hundreds of hours researching the parts I make to produce them as near to the real thing as I can in 6 scale. I then study the item to figure out how to make it work in 6 scale if it has functional parts. Many functional parts cannot be produced in 6 scale exactly like the real one so parts have to be design to work. This can mean design features that are not in the real one, plus the part has to be designed so it can be molded. Once this is all done the masters have to be made to make molds.
Here is a series of pictures on many of the masters I have made over the years. There are over 300 pieces picture, some parts take a few minutes to make, others several days. The pictures do not show all the masters I have made.
Masters for white metal casting molds.
This picture shows white metal masters as original masters were lost in a fire.
Brass investment casting masters.
Resin and rubber casting masters for molds.
Production of photo-etched parts.
Here are few examples of the photo-etch artwork required to produce parts. Each part is researched, designed to work and assemble in 6 scale. The parts are all draw in a design program and then place in a program to be printed as camera ready artwork. Two sets of artwork is needed for each set of parts. The obverse and reverse, many parts have different designs on the front and back were half etching is required. Some of the artwork sheets can take over 24 hours to produce. I have 45 sets of artwork covering 1000's of parts, never counted them.
Pictures of photo-etching artwork.
Design features.
Many of my parts have my own design features in to make them work and to be able to mold them. These design features are owned by me and by law can not be used by others without permission.
Here is a simple design feature I built into my Tiger and Panther 'C' Shackles to make the locking bar work.
How the 'C' shackles was made...
1. A brass master was made of the overall shape. The master was then molded to make white metal castings.
2. Two metal castings were joined and machined to shape. Parts were then separated and the interior design machined.
3. Parts were then joined with the working lock bar in place.
4. The real one was a solid shackle with the lock bar fitted through a hole and bolted at the base. Hence this is my own design.
How to spot recast parts.
There are many giveaways to spot a recast part in metal or resin. Casting parting lines will not be the same and may have two casting lines if the re-caster did not clean the casting line off the original part. Fill gates will not match the original ones. Casting defects will show up in the recast part if the re-caster did not correct them. White metal shrinks about 1.5% when cast so recast will be slightly smaller than the original. Resin shrinkage is much less, between .002" and .006" in the resins I use, so harder to spot on resin parts.
Sample of Tiger 2 'U' Shackle recast part.
To make these shackles I made one brass master and cast sub-masters for production mold. One of these sub-masters had some pitting in the shackle which was reproduced in the recast part. See A in picture below.
The shackle pin was turned in aluminum and a center punch hole was punched as a drill bit guide. Production parts were cast without the pin hole. Pin hole was then drilled in production parts. The recast part clearly shows were the pin hole in the original part was filled for molding and then drill after casting, the depression you can see in the recast part hole was likely coursed by the pressure when the mold was vulcanized. You can see were the larger original hole shows on the recast and a small hole was drilled. See B in picture below.
Sample of a small 'U' shackle.
These were made for my SdKfz 250 and 222 tow ropes. They were cast in two different molds using the same master to make the molds. You can see they both have different shaped fill gates. The U shape in the shackles is not perfectly uniform on both sides. Note how the recast part matches this shape. The fill gate on the recast part does not match either of the fill gates on the original.
I hope you have found this post informative. If you want to be sure you are getting original parts buy only from the original manufacturer or a authorized dealer sanctioned by the original manufacture.
The down side to this practice is that you may be getting recast parts, but it also means the original producers of these parts are taking a profit loss which could result in going out of business in these hard times and thereby depriving the hobby of their skills. Which results in the hobby being left with the re-casters products who likely does not have the skills to produce new parts.
My final comment is as said at the beginning, any one can make these parts, but please put in the time, effort and money to make your own originals.
Regards
Mike Stannard (Toyrific)
6th Scale Icons Inc.
we don't spend hours in the garage or workshop for nothing!!!!!
