Originally Posted by
maxu52
I think you're allowed to copy software in case your computer crashes or something, but I do know you're not supposed to give that copy to anyone else.
As for the rest, very informative. I hadn't really thought of it like that before. Makes me wonder about using measurements from other models. Legal or not, it may not be the right thing to do. I imagine the modelmaker did a lot of research into sizes before making the model. I was thinking of buying a 1/35th scale Meillerwagen and just copying it in styrene cut from their measurements (just from sheet and tube and stuff like evergreen and plastruct) and increased to 1/16th scale. Not for sale, mind you, but just for personal use. I think in that case I should be OK, since I can't get a kit in 1/16th it actually increases my consumerism by buying a kit I wouldn't have purchased for any other reason. And a lot of modelers check measurement to make sure a kit is accurate, and once you have info you have it, eh? Or am I just trying to find an excuse not to feel guilty about it?
Nah, nothing wrong with that at all. You purchased a kit, whether you use it as a reference, publish (in print) a build log of it, film it, it's all good. You're not physically copying it, prohibiting another sale. If anything, you're encouraging more sales, providing you are putting forth their product. If you call it yours, that's bad. If you change it and call it theirs, that's bad.
Years ago I made and sold an aluminum ring to correct DMLs JT barrel. When they measured the real thing, they used the Aberdeen one which was hit with the barrel in recoil, so the kit was designed short. I had to purchase the kit and used it solely for the purpose of measuring and fitting to make a part for sale, never even built it. There's nothing wrong with that, if anything, it encourage sales because it was a solution to a problem with theit kit.
If you buy a 1/72 and convert it into a 1/16, you've created a new product.
Now if you add a mm to Trump's SU-100 and call it yours, that's different.
