Recast Question

[whytwolf]

In terms of a recast, I know that obviously if you take a kit and just make new molds from the parts and cast it again then it's a recast, but this question is more along the lines of modifying an existing kit and then casting that modified version...does that count as a recast?

I'm thinking in terms of copyright...the new kit would be a derivative work and thus would need to pay homage to the original, but wouldn't necessarially violate copyright, would it? (In the software world where most of my Copyrhight experience comes from it would be all right to make a derivative work and sell it)

In terms of concrete examples, I would like to modify (once I can get my grimy hands on one) one of the Club-M Quaedlun Rau kits to represent a SDF rather than DYRL battle suit.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Sean

ps - if anyone got one of those kits and would like to part with it for a reasonable price....

[Gundamhead]

Generally, recast is copying somebody else's work and getting something for it. (99.9% of the time that's money).

The arms, antenae, and face converted on the Q-Rau, then recast is bootleging still. That's a pretty small conversion. You would be doing only a tiny percentage of the work. The general rule of thumb is that to call it your own work, you have to do at least 75% of the work.

Now if you offered just the parts as a conversion for Q-rau owners, it's your work, and would be original.

Think of it in terms like this. If you bought the 1/72 Valkyrie Booster, added a few Wave Option parts, rescribed a few lines, then recast it, would it be your work or Moscoto's?

[Gundamhead]

By the way, the Q-rau has been bootlegged already, and you can find them occasionally on Ebay.

[Grayson72]

Assuming you are talking about the 1/72 Club-M one? That would be great, I'd buy one from ya. Gundamhead has a good idea though, just create some add-on parts for it. That kit is huge! (not sure if you've seen it first hand) and has very many parts, what a pain to recast. Then again, it's out of production so I don't think anyone is gonna scream if you did recast the whole thing with new parts. Especially since it's already been recast.

[whytwolf]

Yeah, I'm talking about the 1/72 one. Actually, I also want to re-sculpt the Milla figures too, in addition to the mods to the suit itself.

Gundamhead does make a good point though, as I would never want to infringe upon an artist's work (like John's), so I guess it's a fine line. Maybe a mod kit would be in order...problem is, would there be enough people out there with the original kit who would be interested in purchasing it? The other option would be to sculpt the whole suit myself--and though I've never seen the kit IRL Grayson I can just imagine how big it is--but that's litterally a HUGE job...and I'm not necessarially THAT good that I'd be able to pull it off...not yet anyway

Food for thought though.

Thanks.

Sean

[AlphaHX]

i for one would get one since ive been looking for it for some time now.

one input i would have to add is that i would have to agree with Gundamhead with a conversion kit. I'm sure some of us would love to just own and make the dyrl and there would be others that would love to make the tv series version so by making a conversion kit, it'll please both crowds which would make more ppl to buy into this.

as for the whole copyright issue, my morals that would apply, would be that when u recast it, you shouldnt make money off it. you should probably make some money off the conversion kit since you created it out of scratch and is completely original and i for one wouldnt mind rewarding you a bit for your hard work.

but to recast someone's work and sell it for profit is just wrong imo. the people who make these models put hard and quality effort and time into making a great product for us fans and if someone else just takes their work, copies it and resells it for profit... thats just f*cked up if you ask me.

i guess the reward for you is that you get the model that you wanted. i dunno about you but i would pretty happy about that!

just my 2 cents... for whats it worth.

[whytwolf]

Well, the more I think about it, the more I figure I might as well do a conversion kit and sell that, as from a personal and business ethics standpoint I do agree that selling a recast with only minor mods is taking advantage of someone elses hard work. Maybe the solution is simply to recast the base Club M DYRL version and provide it to MW members for the price of the materials...and then sell the conversion kit for a small profit (or eBay it or whatever).

First though, I need to find one of those kits Off to the Wanted section I mosey....

Thanks for the input everyone!

Sean