Hi all, I received a customer E-mail about my product, I copy and pasted the message show as below just want to let people know "if you want buy my ORIGINAL figures products, you MUST send e-mail directly to me (jeff_shiu@hotmail.com) order, I don't have re-sellers or others brands name under my products, NO OTHER WAYS".
I found many many THIEVES (re-casters) in AliExpress, Ebay and others webstore selling my re-casted figures, they are all thieves, if you did purchased or ready purchase from them, you are a thieve too!



Modelers please notice all resin figures product you buy if shipping from China, I'm 1000% sure these products are re-casted.


( Hey Jeff, I recently purchased and just today received your 1/16 fallschirmjäger with panzerschreck figure. I purchased the figure from XXXXXXXX.com

After opening the contents of the box this evening I found to be very unimpressed with what I had received. Some pieces were broken and they molding just looks really rough. I wanted to check with you before filing a complaint to XXXXXXXX to see if you can confirm the legitimacy of what I received with your own production pieces. I have attached a few photos to this email. Thank you for the time and I look forward to hearing back from you. )

Didn`t the complainant wonder about the differences between the prices on your website and the price he had to pay for the product he deemed initially as legitimate??? I think that some people are overacting in their role as a naive customer.

Sad,sad,sad,sad!!!!!!They are killing our beloved hobby little by little.


Oda.

It is sad, I myself, although I look and use eBay only buy my figures from the actual manufacturers or a well recognised retailer such as historex agents.

Good point steve, Jeff could edit and delete.

Recaster? Take this!

Without wishing to put the cat amongst the pigeons, perhaps it is worth asking how and why recasters can exist and why they appear to thrive. Inevitably it comes down to cost/price. It is possible to buy a 200mm (1/9) scale figure sculpted by Moz or Carl for £60 - £70, but a Pegaso figure in the same scale will cost over twice if not three times that. Some half figures have broached £50 and some (e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SK-Minia...986381?hash=item28391e6a0d:g:CKkAAOSwa~BYSXAe) remain outstanding value. Some simple busts (head and shoulders) are broaching £40.

The greatest cost for any model is that of the original sculpt, the cost of the mould and resin/metal is comparatively negligible. I would not wish in any way condone such piracy and to the best of my knowledge have only ever inadvertently bought one recast figure in a 55 year modelling career. However for those on a tight budget, or those starting out in the hobby, it is hardly surprising that recasters exist. The answer, in a crowded market, may be for retailers to consider the price of their models. It may be better to sell more at a lower price than few at a higher price. I do realise that retailers and manufacturers vary from those for whom such is a hobby to those for whom it is their livelihood, and that figure modelling is a relatively small world compared to aircraft or railway modelling.

When it comes to cost of the model, I doubt many other modelers be they train plane ect can acquire their core models for what you can duy in ours, yes some people are on a tight buget but on the whole if you cannot get a 200mm then go smaller.

Yes I know not everyone can see smaller scales and that goes for me, so I use mags.

I was only using 200mm figures as an example, the same principle applies to all scales.

Mike

I dont think you really understand the buisness of selling miniatures.

There are too many variables and to use one manufacturers model of buisness is unfair to the others.

There is a definite price squeeze occuring naturally esp here in the UK.

Recasters actually charge an awfull lot for a bag of shite.

Retards buy recasts...it kinda fits

Stuart

My point was I think the of a model figure is really good value wether 55mm 200mm or other, I personally by MMM, CGS ECT, I would not by from other sources no matter how much cheaper they are....... shite is shite

I have been buying miniatures for 45 years and have watched the market change and have watched trends come and go. I am aware of the price differences between various scales and between various manufacturers. I have also been peripherally invloved with a couple of manufacturers in a converting/sculpting role.

There often seems no reason why one particular figure sells and another does not and that every figure a manufacturer releases is a gamble firstly with regards to covering the costs of the sculpt and secondly making a profit. Shite may be shite, but the majority of people who purchase a recast I suggest do not regularly attend this site and are looking for a relatively inexpensive way of pursuing their/our hobby. To pretend otherwise is to stick our heads in the sand. There remains a large disparity between the cost of equivalent figures across the spectrum for any given scale. I reiterate, this is a low volume hobby when compared to aircraft and railway modelling and recasters exist for a reason.

Obviously this is a sensitive issue for the affected manufacturers like Stu and Jeff.
IMHO most of us are "big boys" and have seen the market change and develop since decades. I realize that a producer of genuine kits has to calculate his expenses like necessary hardware for molding and production, research of a project, sculpting (including expensive means for scanning, rendering, 3D printing?), packaging, boxart, advertising, fees at shows, shipping costs and - in case of larger manufacturers like Andrea and Pegaso - the costs to maintain the permanent members of the staff.
The recaster will just have to focus on buying one kit, hardware for molding and production, cheap means of packaging and shipping while he can advertise his offers at internet platforms using the boxart pictures of the originals.

The market itself has changed since I pressed my nose against the window of my local hobby shop and marveled at the Airfix kits - completely unaware of other brands as this shop in my small village just offered Airfix - and my very small hobby budget could afford most of these childhood dreams (although not the 1/24 giant Stuka at incredible 55 Deutschmarks) .
Today our daily shop window is the internet with breathtaking new releases on a daily basis provided from a cottage industry all around the globe - the hobby shops of the childhood days and the specialist shops of the 80`s and 90`s (and big annual shows) that brimmed with the news of figures as their sole distributors to the hobbyists are gone....because the distribution of models - especially figures - through the established distribution system was left by many (cottage industry) producers and online-shops that offered their products world wide directly to the customers via internet for cheaper prices - and the hobby shops ran dry.

Today's amazing increase in quality and the broad choice of subjects resulted in a strong competition within the market and an increase of the price level beyond the limits we were accustomed to for a long time of our hobby life. Nowadays it is even for hardcore enthusiasts next to impossible to follow all new releases in this market and know about all the brands that offer their products - not to speak about deciding what to choose without killing the hobby budget.

All that said there is a remarkable gap in the prices asked for a genuine kit and a copy - and like it or not if the quality of the copies is that crappy why do they sell?
Last but not least does it mean that a cheap recast bought from someone in the end is a more expensive genuine high quality kit not bought from the copyright owner?
If yes, the legit producers have to come up with a solution.

I remember the flood of cracked computer games, films and software that flooded the "E-market" in the past. Today this problem has been addressed and a customer can buy a genuine film at a price that does not make him think of looking for a crappy copy (I am aware that a decrease of price level is not the only way this problem has been addressed and that it can`t be transferred that easy into our niche market! It shall serve just an example of an answer to an economical threat caused by "E-copies").

My - maybe too lengthily retarded - two cents!
Cheers, Martin

I agree Pierre,
especially about the swelling ranks of the grey army that wait for a decent paint job. But if we reasonably restrict ourselves to the releases we will paint for sure (maybe none any more due to the size of the grey army) Young and others will sit on the rest of their stuff and might need by themselves to live for 200 more years to sell them off.
A bust comprises mostly of a few large parts - easy to copy and produce with a nice profit - maybe here is the start for a thought about a change - the moral aspect on behalf of the customer is of course one of it. Changes on behalf of the producers are up to them but maybe needed if the situation is that serious. I am of course not in the position to tell them what to do as a customer.
Cheers, Martin