Take a look! This one, not only copies a registed trademark (which is enough crime), but also establish himself contratual agreements for the sale of the product...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Military-Se...284&pid=100010&prg=1076&rk=5&sd=330852073642&

on the subject of recasts, a good friend of mine bought me what she thought was a good deal on a mounted figure for xmas (Bless her) It was a copy of the monted chinese General 90mm a pegaso copy. she was very upset when I told her it was a recast. she got it on ebay and just thought it was such a good deal and that it would be perficet for me for xmas. I will say this it was one of the best copies I have seen. I know that it does not make it right but it was very well cast and came in a plane box with no paint guide and no company name just the figure.

As she said she got it in good faith and thought it was from a shop and a great price as it was from overseas. I said she could not have known and that it was the thought that counts and not to get too upset people do make mistakes as this was something she would not have known about. just wondered how meny more family and friends would do the same if they did not know what to look for and saw it as a bargin easy done.

Happy new year to you all

Ian

Well, sorry for her, but if you're happy it's good to you. My point was that these people go to the extreme of making contratual agreements on a crime they are doing like it was nothing... I also like to buy some figures cheaper (who doesn't?!)...
On the other hand I accept that people buy the figure original, make a copy, then sell the original and build the copy...

That Chinese general had been recasted in China for quite a while. It was recasted as a resin and a metal kit. It is a pity that Pegaso has done nothing about it.

It is odd that the manufacturers dont seem to do anything about these ebay sellers. I emailed Young ref the amount of what I am sure are recast Young busts on ebay UK but never got a response. There are new listings today.

Neil

I think that a rule of thumb is that if it looks too good to be true then theres usually something fishy. There may be the odd bargain because someone has to sell off a grey army quickly but this chinese general is obviously a knock off. It's been on ebay for a while now.

Hi old Grumbler I can see your point but if you have no intrest in the hobby and are just looking for a gift for someone who is then it's very easy to look at the adds and think wow that looks good at at a good price. easy done. and if it's been on for a while then why has pegaso done nothing about it. or is it that they have sold a lot in the first run coverd thier costs and made a profit and now don't care what happens to it, just a thought.

Here are some pictures of the recasted Chinese general in metal and in resin.
Please do not support any recaster!

Usually it comes down to the cost of pursuing and prosecuting versus the amount lost due to sales. You did the smart thing in contacting Young in that case, because the original manufacturer usually has the best standing to do anything about it. We can only inform each other and decide whether to buy from a pirate or not.

Prost!
Brad

Perhaps this should be moved to the "reporting piracy" subforum?

I guess it isn't financially viable to chase a recaster in china down and who's to say three more won't spring up doing the same kit?

Luca Marchetti is quite aware of these bandits. Pegaso is however a small company (big in our hobby I guess), but their turnover quite simply cannot allow the luxury of lawyers etc. With the criminals outside the EU it is almost impossible.
All you can do is support the Legitimate manufacturers and buy the genuine article.

Why would you tell her it was a re cast? bet she wont buy you anything again.

It is quite easy for the original company to get these auctions pulled by eBay but they choose not to, I wonder why. It could be that they feel their business or profits are not damaged by the re-casters, or any publicity is good publicity, they might even benefit from these sales as someone might see a finished re-cast and think it was so good they went an bought one from the original company not knowing anything about a re-cast option.

Golden rule number one, if what you are buying comes out of china then there is a very good chance it is a copy, even if the item and the packing looks original, it is probably just a copy, even more so if the price difference is more than about 10% below normal retail, as there is not much profit in retail any more, the days of 100% mark-ups is long gone.

Paul

Hi Paul, I told her as she was going to get me a couple more for my birthday if this one went down well with me ( Birthday in a months time). but as I have said in my post if you are not in the hobby you will not know and just go ahead and buy one as the cost is so low and the quality on this one is very good indeed. Like others have said it's very hard for the companies to chase down these people and as long as ebay gets the cut then they do not care it's all about making money at the end of the day and that's what ebay was set up for to make money.
ian

On a brighter note - its good to have friends that buy you Chinese generals..... I am so ronery......so ronery.....

Cheers Gaudin, and yes we are still friends and the general will join the long gray army line which never seems to end.

String the damn criminals up

I must be the odd man out as i've never come across a re-caster when i'm surfing the net.
Brian