07-29-2010, 01:26 PM
ocalicreek Wrote:I'd play devil's advocate here and say "Ahem, don't you know that's illegal :evil: " and pitch a holier-than-thou fit, except I've done the same thing with the occasional part I want duplicated. AND, even though Model Railroader officially frowns upon such activity, they are just as guilty, as recently shown in an article by Andy Sperandeo, one of the old heads who should know better. :oops:
Whether or not you can morally justify copying someone else's hard work is up to you. There are many good reasons why making a casting is the way to go. Just don't go overboard and don't resell the castings you make as your own work.
But really it is a great way to make duplicates just as GEC described. I've used the Micro Mark casting kit and it's a good value for the money. Once you've made the mold you can cast using just about any material. I've had good luck with Durham's water putty for walls.
Any more layout construction to report?
Galen
I just read about Woodland Scenics/DPM suing MTH for copying the DPM buildings in O scale. I doubt a manufacturer will go after any modeler who copies their product for a kit bash for personal use as long as they don't go into business selling the castings. I understand that there is a guy who is making brass castings of the older style grabs from Intermountain plastic grabs and selling them at train shows. I haven't seen them. I would love to get a bunch to upgrade my P2K auto box cars delicate plastic grabs, but for obvious reasons the guy is keeping a low profile.