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Hi Folks,
The eBay seller "meditrans65" is selling recasts of some of my 1/25 Holley carbs and 1/24 5-slot mags.  His quality is atrocious and it's more expensive to buy these BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH pieces from him than it is to buy the real things from me!

The really sad part is that it took me all of 30 seconds to trace him down.  His name is Anthony Grimaldi and he uses the email address "thegameboy56@gmail.com" with the name "onebad slotcar."  He ordered the items he's recasting from me on November 26 of last year, and his mom Jodi paid for them from her PayPal account.  He has three different Facebook accounts, too.  Here's the kicker: he wanted me to give him a discount on the order because he was going to show the items to his modeling group and that would generate more sales for me.  I gave him free shipping on the order because the way he wrote and spelled made me feel sorry for him.  And the thanks I get is that he rips off my hard work.

Other resin casters: this tool is recasting other parts, too.  Don't sell anything to him.

Thanks for looking and keep on truckin' :)

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Hi Folks,
The eBay seller "meditrans65" is selling recasts of some of my 1/25 Holley carbs and 1/24 5-slot mags.  His quality is atrocious and it's more expensive to buy these BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH pieces from him than it is to buy the real things from me!

The really sad part is that it took me all of 30 seconds to trace him down.  His name is Anthony Grimaldi and he uses the email address "thegameboy56@gmail.com" with the name "onebad slotcar."  He ordered the items he's recasting from me on November 26 of last year, and his mom Jodi paid for them from her PayPal account.  He has three different Facebook accounts, too.  Here's the kicker: he wanted me to give him a discount on the order because he was going to show the items to his modeling group and that would generate more sales for me.  I gave him free shipping on the order because the way he wrote and spelled made me feel sorry for him.  And the thanks I get is that he rips off my hard work.

Other resin casters: this tool is recasting other parts, too.  Don't sell anything to him.

Thanks for looking and keep on truckin' :)

Joseph,

I confronted him as well, and he gave me the line that he bought the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH at a swap meet and was reselling it. I told him he was a rip off artist.

Alan

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I saw his carbs on ebay last night and knew they looked like yours but upon a closer look weren't very good castings .  Glad you saw them too as I was going to email you tonight about him .  I doubt much can be done about guys like this except to spread the word on the modeling forums .  

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Joseph,

I confronted him as well, and he gave me the line that he bought the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH at a swap meet and was reselling it. I told him he was a rip off artist.

Alan

That excuse won't fly because I have the records of his emails and a PayPal invoice for the very same items he is recasting.  I'm prepared to go nuclear and tell his Mom what he's doing :lol:

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That excuse won't fly because I have the records of his emails and a PayPal invoice for the very same items he is recasting.  I'm prepared to go nuclear and tell his Mom what he's doing :lol:

As the folks at Nike would say.....Just do it!   I would let her know what her son is doing is criminal and because she paid for the items with her credit card she is as guilty as he is and you will be certain to let the local police department know of her involvement. And if this has happened across state lines, the FBI will be notified as well!

 

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That sux Joseph. I know you put a lot of effort into your carbs and all of your goodies and to have them ripped off is unforgiveable. I know this sort of thing happens a lot with decals and other items.. If I can prevent anyone from buying his copies I will definitely do so. He is on ,my TP list!

Edited by Bill J
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Joseph... I am sorry to hear about this and that he is casting your products you worked your tail off to produce these and all of your products. And Then for him to rip them off is totally uncalled for. I know I have been going back and forth on the fence of making some of my 3D parts Avaliable for people to buy but this reason right here with people ripping off other peoples stuff has made me hesitant to do it. The only reason I was wanting to was because I know there isn't as much 1/16th scale stuff out there but I could easily see someone like that Tool go cast some of it, call it their own and sell it.

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Pretty bad someone has to stoop this low to make a buck, He needs to get a life!!!!!!! Good thing is the fact you make a nice product that anyone see's it they KNOW who made it in the first place and this guy thinks he can get away with it??!! What a drip!!!!!!!!!

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YOU CAN SUE HIM IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT. KEEP ALL CORESPONDENCE.  I KNOW YOU HAVE THE 3 -D FILES AND THE DATE YOU STARTED DEVELOPMENT WORK. IT WILL SHOW THAT YOU HAD THE IDEA FIRST. WHEN HE DOES N'T SHOW UP IN COURT, THE DEFAULT GOES TO YOU. THIS IS YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. CAN YOU  PROTECT IT WITH A COPYRIGHT?

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Got another one now:  Dave Panek, who has a page called "Emergency Scale Lighting" on Facebook, is recasting my Mopar police wheels.  I sell them in 1/24 and 1/25 scale, and he bought one set of each in November.  In January, he advertised on Facebook that he had replacement police wheels for the Monaco kit.  Very convenient, huh?  He glued my separate hubcaps to the wheels and is making a one-piece copy that doesn't have the open holes that my wheels have.  Again, a completely inferior copy.  

Listen, guys, it's *easy* to take kit parts and make resin copies of them.  There are resin copies of kit parts all over eBay.  Anybody with a 40% Hobby Lobby coupon can get into the kit part recasting game.  You can recast all the kit parts you want-- I don't care.  But I make everything from scratch, and I have to research, test, and refine the things I make.  When you copy my parts, you are directly affecting my ability to make a living, and that just won't stand.  

 

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Got another one now:  Dave Panek, who has a page called "Emergency Scale Lighting" on Facebook, is recasting my Mopar police wheels.  I sell them in 1/24 and 1/25 scale, and he bought one set of each in November.  In January, he advertised on Facebook that he had replacement police wheels for the Monaco kit.  Very convenient, huh?  He glued my separate hubcaps to the wheels and is making a one-piece copy that doesn't have the open holes that my wheels have.  Again, a completely inferior copy.  

Listen, guys, it's *easy* to take kit parts and make resin copies of them.  There are resin copies of kit parts all over eBay.  Anybody with a 40% Hobby Lobby coupon can get into the kit part recasting game.  You can recast all the kit parts you want-- I don't care.  But I make everything from scratch, and I have to research, test, and refine the things I make.  When you copy my parts, you are directly affecting my ability to make a living, and that just won't stand.  

 

We all can help by getting in touch with these rip off A - Holes where ever they post the garbage and send them messages shaming and condemning them and letting them know that there are many that are on to them. I did that to the guy on e-bay. Also post the info on all the forums you partake in ........ don't just reply here, do something it only takes a minute.

Alan  

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Hey everyone, wanted to make a few comments about this. First of all I also noticed the carbs an thought no way another person could have made the same part. I didn't post anything as I figured that's what 3d printing is gonna bring to the market. But that is something that should be a sticky "buying resin parts" that talks about what to expect an apparently how to spot fakes an what a bad caster looks like.

That being said I am a new caster to the community an just released my first product last week. I have been extra concerned about recast erstwhile since I amoved unknown an wouldn't take much for a bigger guy to redo my stuff. Watching a YouTube video where someone recast a resin seat because he didn't know where it came from. I tried engraving a bigger part then realized it could easily be erased or in the op case just ignored an sold anyway. 

Wonder if posting photos of the master parts could help document who is legit caster an part owner. 

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This is why I prefer purchasing from the caster directly (or a trusted vendor such as STAR Models), rather than via eBay. Yes, I have ordered resin parts via eBay, but in those cases it was "used" examples of castings from reputable casters, or from the eBay store of a known and trustworthy caster. If I buy one of Joseph's  parts FROM Joseph, I know it's legit, right? :)

Knockoffs are one thing, but when you see just how awful some of these fly-by-night casters' quality can be, it really makes you cringe.

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