I saw that thing about the pantograph. That may be a part of the reason he ranted so hard on the kit. I don't doubt the statement, but as I can't afford buying $250 crusier and $400 battleship kits from the resin dealers, will just not worry about how Trumpeter does its "research".

Now, do you agree or disagree with the sentiments of this statement? My point being this. It is the result of his work that you'll be getting this kit, just as the people at Commanders Models and Yankee Modelworks have lost the benefits of their work on the North Carolina and Massachusets kits. Do they deserve compensation for their work, or does Trumpeter for their copying of that work?

My only suggestion is that maybe the presentation of the facts was done more out of ill feelings than for educating the modeling community. You can catch more flies with honey...

When put in that perspective, you are most assuridly correct. I can understand that if I were in business and my work were copied and marketed against me (or as you mentioned citing Kenny's stuff as an example) I would be exemely upset. But, legal recourse against a large company is extremely costly in this country let alone throwing in the international aspect to it. With apologies to Mr WIper, I still plan to purchase it unless he cares to drop the price on his version to less than $75. Plus injection is a much more friendly medium than resin. 60 years ago made in China was synonomous to cheap copy rip-off. I guess Trumpeter is reviving this old sterotype again.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it

My question is if the resin manufacturers are able to prove that their kits have been copied, then why haven't they done anything in the legal department?

My question is if the resin manufacturers are able to prove that their kits have been copied, then why haven't they done anything in the legal department?

4. Finally, and this is not a justification for piracy, there seems to be such a huge disparity in price between resin and plastic ships that it almost seems reasonable that some people may have a hard time living up to their morals. I don't have any facts to back this up but it seems to me that resin ship kits cost far more than their plastic competition to a higher degree than resin aircraft or armor kits to plastic. In other words while a resin tank might cost two or even three times what a similar plastic kit does a resin ship might be four or even five times as much.

3. Is it just their 1/350 ships that Trumpeter is supposed to have stolen? They seem to have an excellent reputation when it comes to aircraft and armor. Has there also been stories of Trumpy copying other types of vehicles?

1. Having looked at the thread on Modelwarship it seems to me that the uproar over the merits of the kit began with complaints about accuracy, poor execution of the guns and masts and such, and the, to some, high price. (Frankly I don't see the price as being high at all, but that's my opinion.) It wasn't until several posts defending the kit were posted that the accusation of piracy came up. To me this seems just a bit suspicious.

2. Note, I am NOT accusing anybody, but it is quite common in literary, music, even screenplay circles for somebody to make accusations of piracy that the courts, after much debate, find to be groundless. (Yes sometimes it proves to be right but it seems the number of cases proved to be wrong outnumber the few proved to be right.) Again I am NOT saying the resin companies are lying but I would really like to see detailed photographic proof showing exactly areas of the resin kit and the plastic kit having the same mistakes.

I find the piracy accusation very fishy. Because, a resin design can very easily become injected styrene, just as accused.
I have not worked in injection molding for a while now, but I would think that $100k would get you three very nice dies (design included) and a run of at least 5k on each (practically a test run.) That’s $20 a unit. Wholesale at $30 retail at $60 (it is a Quality kit right?) and the resin artist just picked up $32k ($18,000 financing deducted) for placing an order and has the molds should the market demand a second far more profitable run.
To top it off the injection mold designs puts even more of a finger print on the product

I saw that thing about the pantograph. That may be a part of the reason he ranted so hard on the kit. I don't doubt the statement, but as I can't afford buying $250 crusier and $400 battleship kits from the resin dealers, will just not worry about how Trumpeter does its "research".I do respect his knowledge and expertise, but he is an extremist when it comes to accuracy. I have never seen his work, but I have noticed that in his flame wars with others not once has anyone ever said anything about what he has done, and usually that is one of the early things that happen when we have them over here. Of course we post frequently so others can see what we do. Then again the axiom of you get what you pay for comes to mind. If you buy a steak for $4 a pound do you really think it will equal the quality of one costing $12 a pound?

Redshirt, starting with your last point first. A resin design is far more individual since the pattern for the part is hand made. It has flaws that can be easily discerned, whereas an injection molded part is, at least today, computer generated and could be said to be flawless

Second, it does seem that it would be very easy for a resin company to contract for an injection die, but how many of those companies have the financial ability to not only come up with the needed $100k, or be able to take the necessary developmental time to get a return on that capital? Not to sound xenophobic, but Trumpeter doesn't operate in the same financial climate as do the resin companies.

Finally, it is very easy to pantograph a resin kit, and turn it into a plastic kit. In fact, this process is accelerated by the resin kit, since all of the assembly problems have been solved. All that one needs to do is to take the resin part out of the box, and reproduce it. Further, even though in most cases rudimentary, the instructions come pre-done too. It really is just a matter of repackaging.