Anigrand

[proditor]

Can't say I'm surprised - in fact, I'm surprised it took this long given how ruthless Lucasarts are regarding copyright.  Hell, they've even issued C&D's to game modders who've done FREE Star Wars mods.

That is sad, especially if there was no profit to be gained from their efforts.  

Although not the worst example.  Either Marvel or DC Comics, I forget which, tried to sue the makers of a superhero computer game.  The game didn't include any copyrighted material, but it did include a modders toolkit which could, potentially, be used by the gaming community to create (free) mods that infringed their copyright.  I mean, what next?  Banning paper and pencils because I could create a drawing that infringes copyright?

edit:  I should point out that Lucas does have a point here.  Anigrand are selling his intellectual property without permission.  Of course the stupidity comes in that he is never likely to release these models officially, and the licensing fees that would be required if Anigrand were to be allowed to do it would be so extortionate as to make them commercially unviable.

And cost more than his lawyers Cease & Desist.

It was Marvel Comics, and the game was City of Heroes.  The real kicker?  They didn't go out and find examples of characters created with the game that looked like their characters, no, they went and made them themselves.  Apparently the judge all but laughed them out of court.

And then, they hired the company they sued (cryptic) to make their own Marvel version of City of Heroes.  Fortunately, that went down the toilet, and City of Heroes is now it's own division of NC Soft, and while the owners of the now somewhat talent void Cryptic is trying something odd with Star Trek.

[anthonyp]

      Neither is Anigrand, which was more of the point. It used to be that things like this were looked upon as 'free publicity', but now it's "How much can I make off of it?" & if the response is 'nothing', then it's "Well, they won't either."

And that's the point.  LFL is happy to play the "Pyrrhic Victory" card, if only to deny anyone else making a modest profit over what they see as their property (whether or not they'd ever produce a kit of it).  If Anigrand had stayed clear of the 1/144 Falcon, I think he could have continued to fly under the radar, but seeing as how Fine Molds is coming out with a 1/144 kit soon, it was only a matter of time.  No matter that the Falcon Arnold produced could have been "discontinued," but LFL is just a greedy SOB company.

[Madoc]

Guys,

This got debated heavily last year when Fantastic Plastic got hit with a C&D for its Star Wars kits.  There was mucho speculation then as to how long it'd take for Anigrand to get hit with the same.  Now we know.

But, I wouldn't be to quick damning Lucas Film Limited, et. al. for their actions.

There is the matter of copyright law and that is entirely dependent upon the copyright holders being "vigorous" in their efforts to maintain their copyrights.  That means that LFL really does have to go after any and all violators of their copyright no matter how "small" or "inconsequential" they may seem to be.  This also spills over from any segment of their copyright to the others.  Thus, it really doesn't matter how small the scale plastic model market is when compared to the rest of the Star Wars merchandise empire.  If LFL lets some violation slide in one are then its copyright legitimacy in all the other areas is up for grabs.

Yeah, it'd be mighty nice if they could've worked out some sort of sweet licensing deal with Anigrand - or with Fantastic Plastic - to allow for such limited production of Star Wars kits.  Nice but highly unlikely.  You guys enjoy Fine Molds?  You like being able to make their "state of the art" styrene Star Wars kits?  You think Fine Molds would've invested its efforts - paying a hefty licensing fee to LFL - if they knew that some "garage kit manufacturer" would soon be able to chew into their market whilst paying but a pittance to LFL in the process?  And how many folks do you figure contented themselves with having Anigrand's Falcon instead of spending the larger amounts for Fine Molds?  And how many sales do you figure that Fine Molds lost as a result?  No doubt, the Fine Molds company - and Revell - were among those screaming to LFL to enforce its copyrights as regards those kits or else they'd be demanding their license fee money back.

Plus, Star Wars merchandise is entirely "intellectual property" of a private company - Lucas Films Limited.  This isn't like Boeing or BAE demanding a license fee for a kit manufacturer pumping out models of B-17's or Hawks.  Those were paid for with public money, thank you very much and thus their representation is in the public realm.  Star Wars?  Sorry, that's different.  As it should be.  The success of that has led to plenty of other creations which, in turn, have led to plenty of other models and kits for our enjoyment.

So, seeking profit for your creativity is not wrong.  And upholding the protections afforded to copyrighted intellectual property is not a crime nor is it e-vile.  Doing so inspires others to keep creating and that's to all our advantage.

Madoc

[anthonyp]

Actually, no, I don't like Fine Molds, and they're the ones who probably whined about the cursed kit (1/144 MF).  LFL is a jack@ss company, ain't nothing no one can say that will change my opinion.

In any case, this is reopening an old argument.  I followed the one at SSM, and am ready to follow the same path Linda did with locking this.

[Green Dragon]

Cybermodeler has a look in the box of the 1/144th scale VSTOL X-Planes set. Was thinking of getting this lot but seems like they haven't included cockpit detail from the parts pics and the old peepers are not up to scratching cockpits this small!
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/ani/kit_ani_3005.shtml

Paul Harrison

[PR19_Kit]

Fascinating set of models there, a pity they aren't in 1/72 though, but if they were I'd have to raise a World Bank loan to buy the set I expect.

I'm not too sure about the item in the CM review that reckons that '..These five aircraft provided a number of key lessons that led to the development of today's Harrier (and lunar lander) as well as the V-22 Osprey.'

The Osprey maybe, the Harrier, no chance! Hawker's were ploughing their own furrow there, and the only possible input from a previous VSTOL aircraft was the puffer jet controls from the R-R Flying Bedstead.

[famvburg]

      Didn't Anigrand do all but the X-14 in 1/72 already?

Fascinating set of models there, a pity they aren't in 1/72 though, but if they were I'd have to raise a World Bank loan to buy the set I expect.

I'm not too sure about the item in the CM review that reckons that '..These five aircraft provided a number of key lessons that led to the development of today's Harrier (and lunar lander) as well as the V-22 Osprey.'

The Osprey maybe, the Harrier, no chance! Hawker's were ploughing their own furrow there, and the only possible input from a previous VSTOL aircraft was the puffer jet controls from the R-R Flying Bedstead.

[anthonyp]

Remember Arnold (Anigrand) is in Hong Kong selling to the world.  I forgive lack of knowledge where VSTOL projects are concerned.  Some of the English translations he's had are laughable, but understandable.

[jcf]

Fascinating set of models there, a pity they aren't in 1/72 though, but if they were I'd have to raise a World Bank loan to buy the set I expect.

I'm not too sure about the item in the CM review that reckons that '..These five aircraft provided a number of key lessons that led to the development of today's Harrier (and lunar lander) as well as the V-22 Osprey.'

The Osprey maybe, the Harrier, no chance! Hawker's were ploughing their own furrow there, and the only possible input from a previous VSTOL aircraft was the puffer jet controls from the R-R Flying Bedstead.

Actually the X-14 and late-50s NASA VTOL research programs played a direct role in the development of the P.1127,
Kestrel and Harrier.

NASA was well funded for VTOL research in the late 50s and built and test flew the wind-tunnel models used in
P.1127 development. The NASA VTOL simulators were used by Hawker test pilots Bedford and Merewether who also
flew the X-14, at the time the only vectored-jet flat-rising VTOL aircraft, which BTW had a compressor bleed
'puffer-pipe' reaction control system for low-speed control. During one flight Merewether got into a gyroscopic coupling
situation that deepened to the point that the control system was ineffective, which caused the aircraft to crack-up. These
flight experiences, especially the crack-up, were fed into the P.1127 development program and were very valuable in
giving actual VTOL flight experience to the P.1127 program pilots prior to flying the P.1127 for the first time.

The X-14 flew, in various guises, until 1981 and was used to support numerous VTOL research programs. From 1971 on,
after its second major rebuild, the aircraft incorporated a programmable flight control computer system that allowed the
use of the X-14 to simulate the flight characteristics of VTOL projects ranging in size from as small as a Cessna to something
as large as a DC-9.

[PR19_Kit]

I think I'd call that an indirect role actually......

The direct lift, single engine VTOL concept, was Hawker's idea, fuelled from Wibault's studies, and that remained true throughout the programme.

But we'll have to agree to differ I expect, if only because I'm English and you're American....

[jcf]

I think I'd call that an indirect role actually......

The direct lift, single engine VTOL concept, was Hawker's idea, fuelled from Wibault's studies, and that remained true throughout the programme.

But we'll have to agree to differ I expect, if only because I'm English and you're American....

Actually I'm Canadian and the info I have about the role of the X-14 in Hawker's VTOL program comes from books written by Brits.

BTW the Wibault inspired vectored-thrust single-engine VTOL concept was that of Stanley Hooker of Bristol engines who took it to Hawker.

Fall back on chauvinism if you wish Kit, however, that doesn't alter the historical and technical record.

[Green Dragon]

Most have probably seen this already but coming soon are the following in 1/144th scale:-
Kalinin K-7 http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330050734&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4143

Martin P4M Mercator http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330050734&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4146

Martin XB-48 http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330050734&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4147

Experimental Century Fighters (XF-103 Thinder Warrior, XF-107A Ultra Sabre, XF-108A Rapier, XF-109 and F-110A Phantom II) http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330050734&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4145

And in 1/72 a long time favourite of mine, the Mirage G8.01 variable geometry prototype. http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330050734&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4145

Info from Nostalgic Plastic and here's their homepage. http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/homepage.cfm?sr=1

Edit:- here is Blue Donkey99's Kampfgruppe 144 post for the K-7 that ID's the bonus aircraft. http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/2010/03/1144-scale-k-7-kalinin-soviet-giant.html
This is BD99's post on the XB-48, P4M and Century Fighter set. http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/2010/03/1144-anigrand-future-releases.html
Here's  the Homepage. http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/

Anigrand has posted parts pics for the 1/72nd Jetstar http://www.anigrand.com/AA2093_C-140.htm and 1/144th Kalinin K-7 http://www.anigrand.com/AA4047_K-7.htm
Escort kits for the Convair 1/144th XB-46 are (I think) the Ryan XV-5A, B-45 and F-89 Scorpion. http://www.anigrand.com/AA4046_XB-46.htm
Amigrand home page. http://www.anigrand.com/index.htm

Paul Harrison

[Thorvic]

Finally a Mirage G-8 

BTW This is the link for the G8 :-
http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20100330101219&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=4144

G

[PR19_Kit]

Duncan,

I wish you'd show a bit more enthusiasm when they produce one of your 'Most Wanted' kits....... 

[anthonyp]

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!  <--  squeal of joy

Mirage G8!!!!   

Finally, I can build it without sacrificing many, many kits.