Recaster alert...another one :(

OdiWan72

Ladies and gentlemen

There´s another recaster on ebay, going under the name of "hollywoodpropmasters". He´s selling mostly busts & helmets and I definately regognize some of them being RPF members work (JRX, cyberman...)!

hollywoodpropmasters | eBay

Sorry, if this scumbag has been brought up before.

Markus

liawehck

So please pardon my ignorance, but this brings up the question of how does the average guy recognize who is a recaster and who isn't? I'm not condoning recasts or taking credit for another's work by any means. In the spirit of full disclosure, I received a bust as a Christmas gift and I'm sure it was from this seller. But I know the person that bought it for me didn't even think about it being a recast and honestly probably wouldn't have even known what a recaster was.

Supa troop

hey welcome to the RPF, there is a welcome thread for new users it would be great to read a little bit about you

thd9791

That is a good question, what would be a tell tale sign, without already knowing "someone's work" ?

88reaper88

If it's the same guy I'm thinking of then I know for a fact that Spat has contacted him a few times about the re-cast of the Spulse rifle he has for sale quite often. Spat says it's definety a recast.

liawehck

The bust I received was a Christopher Reeve, and after looking around on here it looks like it is a "Howard Studios." I happened to see some pics in another thread and it has the same signature on the back of the neck. I was speechless when I opened it Christmas morning and have no plans to smash it with a hammer or anything, but it does suck unknowingly contributing to someone's misdeeds.

I agree with thd, now that I've seen pics of what is apparently the original I know how to identify it, but that alone doesn't doesn't necessarily indicate that a piece is a recasting and that a particular seller didn't just obtain an orginal casting honestly and is in turn reselling it.

zanthious

a recaster is someone who buys something and makes a mold and sells them?? Cause i plan on making a mold for my pip boy cause im sure im going to break the first 2 and i dont wanna buy 3 at once on a run. =P

88reaper88

A recaster will buy something they didn't make themselves then make a mould of it, then sell it on as their own work.

Did you make the Pipboy?

Lutso

Recasting is kind of a sensitive topic.

My understanding is that recasters buy or acquire someone else's work with intention of copying it and selling it for profit.

An example of this would be if I bought a helmet from the RPF Junkyard which had been designed, sculpted and casted personally by another member. After receiving the helmet in the mail I would make casted copies of it and sell the copies on eBay, and pocket the money. Since the helmet was designed and made by someone else and not me, I don't have the right to do that.

That's the basic jist of it. However it can be a little more difficult to define when dealing with movie props. A common thing brought up is, "the person who casted a screen-used helmet to bring us this copy (Stormtrooper helmet for example) is technically a recaster since he made a copy of someone else's (the movie company's) work." This is where things start to get confusing.

I almost got kicked off the TDH back in the day because I mentioned I was looking for a Scout Trooper helmet I could use for modding in a custom project. I was literally accused of being a recaster on the spot and was reported. Some people are really touchy about this stuff.

Alan Castillo

Not confusing at all. Fully permissible by the community. In fact, begged for, especially if its a Stormtrooper helmet

markomac

I have the same query.

I am pretty new to Prop collecting and have absolutely no skills to create anything (or even copy anything), so how do I go about picking a recasted object?

I very recently purchased an unpainted Darth Maul bust from this seller simply for the fact that I wanted to take a shot at painting something up, to actually have some self done work in my collection.

Just like I do when I buy something from the Junkyard, I check the reputation of the guy selling the product. (In the junkyard, i'll read through the sale thread to see if theres been any issues). On ebay I check the feedback. This guy has 98 or so % and to me that says he's pretty alright.

So how exactly am I supposed to determine that he has recasted this Darth Maul bust or if he has made a sculpt and moulded his own work for sale? Is it a case of if its not a finished bust, its probably recasted?

Alan Castillo

The answer to your question markomac is simply, experience / time spent in the hobby, and an eye for detail thereafter.

The original sculptor himself, as has been said, sometimes leaves a 'tell' on his work that only he would recognise, and does it exactly for the reason of catching a recast.

If you ever have any doubt as to a purchase you wish to make, consult the board. You will be told in no time at all if it's an original or a recast.

defstartrooper

If it's on eBay and the seller has or is selling multiple copies the chances are pretty high it's a recast piece sadly.
I'm not saying there are no genuine dealers on eBay but there are a lot of sharks.

If you're a newcomer to the game and aren't familiar with peoples work then ask questions about the seller or item on here or other forums that might relate to the item in question.

666

I already read here, about recast, and what yes, what no....
and its something undefined, here you can COPY an Ironman helmet, cast it, and sell it, and there is no problem .... ?? WTF, it's like find a song, play it, record it, sale it, without permissions from the original owner (so it's illegal) but allowed here.

there was a post where someone try to learn how to create molds from items he paid, and there was 2 o 3 members screaming... ( he say that was to test hand painting , and he don't like to use his originals), like music CDs, I do copys of mine, because I am tired of pay 2,3 times for the same CD , and as far as I know, that is legal, so recast something you have to play with it, must be allowed, NOT FOR SALE, just personal use...

it's a big gray hole... and its impossible to understand, if recast is not allowed , why is allowed, copy and duplicate others job.

For this post in particular, and I do not have association with anybody, actually, i do not own any prop yet, he is selling an iron man helmet cast, from who? the OWNER? or someone that already copy something copyrighted ??
remember if is in a movie IS COPYRIGHTED, it has an owner, if you copy/duplicate something from a movie.... you are violating the owners rights, so.... what is allowed? what is not?

a bust, is different, its expression of art, but some items are not...

I am new here, and I like to know the right applicable forum policy, because is not right to allow some violations, but disagree with others...

don't take it wrong, if I can, I like to have almost every single item created for people here... even if I know it's NOT RIGHT, because, it's a copy of a copyrighted item...
like ANY helmet. ( just an example, because I love helmets, and it's what I like to collect)


cast?, recast?, allowed, not allowed ... I take whatever the admins say, but be clear...

Alan Castillo

666, do a detailed search here. There are plenty of threads answering all your questions. It's quite alot of reading to do, but worth it.

Lear60man

This is mainly a response to the people who asked if there is a recaster list or how to spot a recast.

Unfortunately there is not a list on here. I think Defstatrooper has worked up one. And yes if you see a seller selling multiple cast items on Ebay.....thats a sign. Best bet is to post up a thread here and just ask.

markomac

So, in short, research is the key.

So now I assume that I have a recast piece. Whats the normal protocol for this kind of thing? I noticed a guy get hammered earlier today for asking for advice on an Ironman Bust, so Im also assuming that I wont get any help with the stuff I need advice on for this one. And, even if I do finish it, will I still get hammered for having a recast piece in my collection?

Alan Castillo

If you bought it without knowing it was a recast, chalk it up to experience and as you say, research before buying. If you get stuck or are in doubt, consult the board.

You have the piece now, chalk it up to experience and move along

As for that other thread you mention, that is simple to explain.

It seems that the buyer knew it was a recast, but he was also unaware of the recasting 'guidelines' of the forum.

SSC is still an active company, and recasting / buying recasts of their products is a big no-no.

Having said that, I'm afraid no help would be forthcoming for finishing it up, as, since its a no-no, any assistance would be felt to be a condoning of the act of recasting, and the subsequent purchase thereof.

Unlucky buyer ? Yes. But that's the way the cookie crumbles here.

As I said, chalk it down to a learning experience


EDIT / ADD

As to being hammered for having a recast piece in your hands, don't let it worry you. We've almost all been through it. I've ended up with a couple of recast pieces in my hands over the years, from lack of apriori knowledge. Speaking of hammers, I most certainly am not going to put a hammer to them though, and they will remain in my collection. Over the years, however, I've learnt what to buy and what not to buy.

Now if you make a 'habit' of having recast pieces after what you've learnt, yep, you'd be a bit more than hammered.

markomac

Im just glad I waited a day to start the topic asking for advice. Even had photos all lined up to show the parts that needed work. Last thing i would have wanted was to start some sort of argumentative thread.

Thanks a heap for the advice. I'll just use it as a practice dummy. If I wreck it, I wreck it but at least i'd have learned something in the process. Any chance anyone would know the origins of the Darth Maul he is selling (and subsequently I bought)? I wouldnt mind trying to find a legitimate one.

geordietrooper

markus this seller has had various eBay accounts ( fan_made, insane_collectibles's ) selling the same stuff

galmando

I guess I can certainly appreciate the topic of this thread

I'm the guy who got the Iron Man bust, to be honest I wish I'd read threads like this first and all the other areas of this forum that detail this stuff

Thankfully I've learnt quickly on this one and won't be repeating the same mistake, as most folk have said to me about this 'live and learn'

Now that I think about it more, it's essentially (if not exactly) the same as buying a pirated film. Would that be a fair comparison?

galmando

Oh, and for the record, I just checked and the guy I bought the bust off has thrown another up

I want to personally report him myself, never reported on eBay before though so I'll have to dig around, but if someone else wants to then maybe they can be stopped, they're literally throwing then up

Id is wondergarage-service

They've got loads of busts and you guys may be able to identify any recasts

There's also what appears to be the SSC bust I bought but with a mark vi chest added to it.

zanthious

Naw im buying one from skruffy, I guess i could always just ask him and see what he says. I wasnt going to recast to resell, i was going to recast incase i destroy the one i bought. Since you know, I am awesome at destroying things when i don't mean to

MoviefanAZ

I admit I'm new but it seems like there are a lot of the recasters around. It's a shame. There is so much talent here and obviously not enough out in the world.

Sluis Van Shipyards

A caveat to that, reputation isn't the same as feedback on eBay. There are entire threads of people boosting other people's reputation points. So basically it doesn't mean anything. At the most it means people liked what you posted. Before that people tried to use their post count as their reputation. Usually someone won't last long on the RPF if they screwed someone over or you will hear people loudly complaining about them.