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Large Scale USS Excelsior Class Ships - Whats out there?
- Thread starter JBReplicas
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Vidar 710
Well-Known Member
Sean Sides told me about this thread. I've heard word about it in other forums as well. The work on this shown in what pictures there are, is dismal.
Thanks to those mentioning my work on my Lunar Excelsior Remastering project, much appreciated.... For those with the side jokes a few pages back that I was a partner in this? Oh, hell no.
Tracy
Thanks to those mentioning my work on my Lunar Excelsior Remastering project, much appreciated.... For those with the side jokes a few pages back that I was a partner in this? Oh, hell no.
Tracy
I'll pay you $1,000.00 for a kit mastered off your reworked Excelsior.
Who is with me?
4' of amazing Excelsior goodness.
You could be a rich man, or at least less poor.
Rangel
New Member
Wow, what an unexpected pleasure today! Mr. Mengel, the creative director of Pitome, actually called me direct and stupidly asked "What can I do to resolve this between us?" Think that he's feeling a little pressure with the way things are going recently. He thought that the offer of "TWO Excelsior kits (what we jokingly refer to as Alex's Bitcoin") would win me over and all would be forgiven; yeah, right after the two unicorns that I ordered arrive at my doorstep, ATG. So I got to yell at him for his past treatment and threats against me. He admitted that he got the District Attorney's letter that I filed with his local precinct, and now he wants to know how to fix this? LOL, you can't fix felonies and misdemeanors.... As I told him six times on the phone, the money has nothing to do with this anymore; you threatened my life, you stole from me, declare me a fake vet, and you threatened physical harm" but he didn't pay attention to that has he wanted to argue about his "career" in the US Navy, which he claims two purple hearts, but for some strange reason, he's not on the DoD/Navy's list of receiving them. I'm sure that he recorded our conversation, but he didn't get what he was looking for, something to use against me. Did feel good to yell at that worthless __-__-__ though....... Rant over, but his shady business dealings aren't. Have a great evening, all, it was a great day for me, LOL. (Attached is for your reading entertainment from the Navy hero that can't spell Corpsman correctly.....)
Attachments
t2sides
Master Member
Rangel,
Thanks for staying firm. We can only hope all the other folks that got scammed will be encouraged to demand their banks get their money back.
Everyone,
This guy WILL NEVER deliver a decent model if ever. They will get the USS Mudpie best case. There is no excuse for accepting that.
But most disgusting is his claim of service.
Tracy (Vidar) and I are veterans who served honorably. Just Google Marine Unit 313. It doesn’t even exist. Honorable soldiers never desecrate the memories of Soldiers with the BS he states.
I’m beyond sickened by this crazy liar, and I BEG all of you invested to get out. You don’t deserve the craptastic product you may never receive. And this guy trying to save his skin from Rangels honest DA charge just shows what a shameful person he is.
-Sean
Thanks for staying firm. We can only hope all the other folks that got scammed will be encouraged to demand their banks get their money back.
Everyone,
This guy WILL NEVER deliver a decent model if ever. They will get the USS Mudpie best case. There is no excuse for accepting that.
But most disgusting is his claim of service.
Tracy (Vidar) and I are veterans who served honorably. Just Google Marine Unit 313. It doesn’t even exist. Honorable soldiers never desecrate the memories of Soldiers with the BS he states.
I’m beyond sickened by this crazy liar, and I BEG all of you invested to get out. You don’t deserve the craptastic product you may never receive. And this guy trying to save his skin from Rangels honest DA charge just shows what a shameful person he is.
-Sean
Rangel
New Member
Sean, thanks for the reply and thank you for your service. I was a operator "J1" in my time, so I had to learn manpower quickly, and he didn't pass the sniff test and units go by their deployment Task Force identifiers when cut over the COCOM. Like you, googled the 313th and wasn't surprised, but he argued until he figure out that he would get nothing from me. Thanks again!
Cheers,
Tony
t2sides
Master Member
Hey Tony!! Thank YOU for your Service!! I supported J2 and J6, so I'm with you on sniff detecting!!
Well, let's continue to support these folks to help them get their money back and ensure no others are defrauded by ATG. We need to get this guy off the playing field, and endorse and support the amazing talents and artists on here that are making legitimate, awesome model kits!
So Say We All!
Well, let's continue to support these folks to help them get their money back and ensure no others are defrauded by ATG. We need to get this guy off the playing field, and endorse and support the amazing talents and artists on here that are making legitimate, awesome model kits!
So Say We All!
I served in a less well known elite Naval Force.
The Navy Turtles
"We are slow but hard."
Kidding of course. Watching Lost in Space on Netlfix one night and the family was playing the game of who each of us is in the series. For those who don't know the dad is a former Navy Seal. My loving wife said I of course was the dad. My response was, "yeah right. Maybe a Navy Turtle. We are slow but hard." I came up with the name and motto right on the spot. Usually I think of the exact thing to say five minutes later.
Seriously, and I am not going to go into why I feel this way, but you don't mess with vets. Ever!
I am not a violent person and have never hit first but you don't mess with vets.
The Navy Turtles
"We are slow but hard."
Kidding of course. Watching Lost in Space on Netlfix one night and the family was playing the game of who each of us is in the series. For those who don't know the dad is a former Navy Seal. My loving wife said I of course was the dad. My response was, "yeah right. Maybe a Navy Turtle. We are slow but hard." I came up with the name and motto right on the spot. Usually I think of the exact thing to say five minutes later.
Seriously, and I am not going to go into why I feel this way, but you don't mess with vets. Ever!
I am not a violent person and have never hit first but you don't mess with vets.
Rangel
New Member
Amen, brother!
Just wanted to thank you folks for your service; I didn't serve (health issues kept me out), but my dad was a WWII vet (Pacific Theater). BTW: if anyone wants to check Alex's story about the "purple hearts", try here:
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
www.thepurpleheart.com
Rangel: Don't you DARE let up on him!!! When he made those threats eh took this to a whole different level, and he must be held accountable for it!
Maybe I'm doing this wrong, but I couldn't find his name in the recipient list.
Either there's an error in the database - or he lied about receiving multiple Purple Hearts.
I choose to think there's an error in the database. Has to be. Nobody would be dumb enough to falsely claim they received 2 Purple Hearts. Not in this day and age, where everything is verifiable.
Either there's an error in the database - or he lied about receiving multiple Purple Hearts.
I choose to think there's an error in the database. Has to be. Nobody would be dumb enough to falsely claim they received 2 Purple Hearts. Not in this day and age, where everything is verifiable.
Rangel
New Member
I will not, and I think he's just beginning to realize that you don't screw with a determined vet.......Just wanted to thank you folks for your service; I didn't serve (health issues kept me out), but my dad was a WWII vet (Pacific Theater). BTW: if anyone wants to check Alex's story about the "purple hearts", try here:
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
Rangel: Don't you DARE let up on him!!! When he made those threats eh took this to a whole different level, and he must be held accountable for it!
And if he was actually a vet, he would know that you don't violate certain things between us.....Just wanted to thank you folks for your service; I didn't serve (health issues kept me out), but my dad was a WWII vet (Pacific Theater). BTW: if anyone wants to check Alex's story about the "purple hearts", try here:
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
Rangel: Don't you DARE let up on him!!! When he made those threats eh took this to a whole different level, and he must be held accountable for it!
Standby, I've just been informed by the Excelsior Group Chat (or the Group of Lost Hope) that there has been a distrubance in the force.....
Ah, we have some updates for you sir....
MHaz1701
New Member
Greetings to everyone. A few of you know me, some don't. I'm the owner of Vagabond Studios (formerly Vagabond Decals). I do mainly aircraft decals and such, so TheRPF isn't generally my audience, unfortunately.
I am one of Alex's unwitting victims. I was able to talk him into a discount because I do decals and detail parts (CAD modeling) for other vendors and offered to help him out with future projects. I was promised July. I was promised August, then October, then Thanksgiving, then New Year's, ad nauseum. In October, I realized that he'd bit off more than he could chew, and so I offered to draw the decals for Excelsior, so as to take something off his shoulders that I know how to do quite easily. All I ever got from Alex was a set of blueprints drawn up by Mark Breuer to draw against. I told Alex multiple times that I really needed hardware to size against, which he always managed to ignore. I even said photos would work, if he could print out the major markings I sent him and tape them to the master so I could see where things were off. Still got resistance. Now, seeing the pictures he's posted, I know why.
The back and forth continued until December, when Alex had his first major tantrum against Tony (Rangel), as I think everyone has seen via screen grabs. That started me wondering about Alex's stability as a person.
In March, I got a phone call from the legal department of Paramount Pictures regarding Alex and this kit. They wouldn't give me any details about what they knew, which was expected, but they did say they were investigating him. About the same time, on the Starship Modeler Facebook page, someone questioned the reality of the kit, and Alex took the opportunity to show of his incomparable customer service skills. In the middle of that blow up, he admitted that he didn't have a license, but it was "under negotiation." This information, coupled with the phone call, and a further post by Alex, calling out the incomparable Bill Krause, led me to decide to terminate my involvement with the project. I publicly made statements to that effect, and Alex took this as a personal affront. At the same time, Paul Peacock of Stellar Effects Modeling Solutions (lights) made his decision to exit the project, as well. Amusingly, Alex was too busy textually shouting at Tony (again) to notice Paul's rather lengthy and well-written post explaining his position.
I told Alex privately that even though I was exiting the project, formally, that I would sell him the decal art, minus anything that Paramount could consider copyrighted, and would make a couple of minor tweaks as a favor to him if necessary. Since that time, I have endured what is best described as the "Two Alex Problem." Increasingly, he has alternated between being friendly and enthusiastic to downright scary and unhinged. He's accused me of trying to sabotage his company, this project, the world at large and a whole host of other problems. (Right... I'm going to drop a few hundred to sabotage a kit I've wanted since I first saw her in Star Trek VI...) Much of what he's said is unprintable on this forum.
In the midst of all this, Alex created a second Facebook group chat for "team members" only. He's used this chat to say that the masters are "100% done!" and "pics are forthcoming!" and such. He's also used this group to browbeat any "team" member that has expressed concern or that he feels has slighted him, and he's also threatened legal action against me and a couple other folks, for advising others against buying in until the kit is ready to ship. Of course, he completely forgot that I've never once signed an NDA with him, EVER.
Yesterday afternoon (5/3/22), Alex reached out to me about the decals needing resizing, and that he would FINALLY give me the pics he promised me months ago to do so. Then when I said I would be able to do that for him later this week, he started going off on a VERY disturbing rant about me, about Tony, about Paul and others who've tried to help him out, or who had to bail on the project for health reasons. His diatribe included comparing himself to antebellum slaves on a Southern cotton plantation; he mentioned the Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau in comparison. He compared himself to Alexander the Great for taking on such a task as this kit. He even bragged about owning a firearm, and about his combat exploits in a way that I have NEVER heard any of the dozens of service members I've been around in my life use. Given his style of using speech recognition with grammar correction disabled, it was very difficult to follow, but that's the gist of it. Given the disturbing nature of his messages, and the fact that he'd made a Facebook post talking about hanging himself, I made the call yesterday to contact San Francisco PD to perform a goodwill checkup on him. I don't know what came of that goodwill checkup, because I made the decision to block all further comms with him.
Last night, Paul Peacock messaged me about something that I missed, but that he read in the screen grabs I took of Alex's messages: Alex made a statement to the effect of wanting to climb a tower with a gun and shoot various people. Given his unstable nature, I elected to treat it as a credible threat and informed the FBI.
There is a LOT more from his private messages to me, text messages and from the various group chats he's started to "inform" people, and I've taken screen grabs of everything. It's very unsettling to watch him come unravelled. I tend to agree with those that say he didn't start out intending to scam people, but as time wore on, things got out of hand, and it became a scam.
Like many, I REALLY wanted this kit to be real. I've placed a couple of orders through his store, and on items that he doesn't have to fabricate himself, I've had zero issues receiving my purchases. But items that he has to manage himself, there's a glaring lack of success. I truly hope that Alex gets the help he needs, and that everyone is able to recover their money, however unlikely that is. I also hope he learns from this and sticks to areas where he truly is talented.
I am one of Alex's unwitting victims. I was able to talk him into a discount because I do decals and detail parts (CAD modeling) for other vendors and offered to help him out with future projects. I was promised July. I was promised August, then October, then Thanksgiving, then New Year's, ad nauseum. In October, I realized that he'd bit off more than he could chew, and so I offered to draw the decals for Excelsior, so as to take something off his shoulders that I know how to do quite easily. All I ever got from Alex was a set of blueprints drawn up by Mark Breuer to draw against. I told Alex multiple times that I really needed hardware to size against, which he always managed to ignore. I even said photos would work, if he could print out the major markings I sent him and tape them to the master so I could see where things were off. Still got resistance. Now, seeing the pictures he's posted, I know why.
The back and forth continued until December, when Alex had his first major tantrum against Tony (Rangel), as I think everyone has seen via screen grabs. That started me wondering about Alex's stability as a person.
In March, I got a phone call from the legal department of Paramount Pictures regarding Alex and this kit. They wouldn't give me any details about what they knew, which was expected, but they did say they were investigating him. About the same time, on the Starship Modeler Facebook page, someone questioned the reality of the kit, and Alex took the opportunity to show of his incomparable customer service skills. In the middle of that blow up, he admitted that he didn't have a license, but it was "under negotiation." This information, coupled with the phone call, and a further post by Alex, calling out the incomparable Bill Krause, led me to decide to terminate my involvement with the project. I publicly made statements to that effect, and Alex took this as a personal affront. At the same time, Paul Peacock of Stellar Effects Modeling Solutions (lights) made his decision to exit the project, as well. Amusingly, Alex was too busy textually shouting at Tony (again) to notice Paul's rather lengthy and well-written post explaining his position.
I told Alex privately that even though I was exiting the project, formally, that I would sell him the decal art, minus anything that Paramount could consider copyrighted, and would make a couple of minor tweaks as a favor to him if necessary. Since that time, I have endured what is best described as the "Two Alex Problem." Increasingly, he has alternated between being friendly and enthusiastic to downright scary and unhinged. He's accused me of trying to sabotage his company, this project, the world at large and a whole host of other problems. (Right... I'm going to drop a few hundred to sabotage a kit I've wanted since I first saw her in Star Trek VI...) Much of what he's said is unprintable on this forum.
In the midst of all this, Alex created a second Facebook group chat for "team members" only. He's used this chat to say that the masters are "100% done!" and "pics are forthcoming!" and such. He's also used this group to browbeat any "team" member that has expressed concern or that he feels has slighted him, and he's also threatened legal action against me and a couple other folks, for advising others against buying in until the kit is ready to ship. Of course, he completely forgot that I've never once signed an NDA with him, EVER.
Yesterday afternoon (5/3/22), Alex reached out to me about the decals needing resizing, and that he would FINALLY give me the pics he promised me months ago to do so. Then when I said I would be able to do that for him later this week, he started going off on a VERY disturbing rant about me, about Tony, about Paul and others who've tried to help him out, or who had to bail on the project for health reasons. His diatribe included comparing himself to antebellum slaves on a Southern cotton plantation; he mentioned the Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau in comparison. He compared himself to Alexander the Great for taking on such a task as this kit. He even bragged about owning a firearm, and about his combat exploits in a way that I have NEVER heard any of the dozens of service members I've been around in my life use. Given his style of using speech recognition with grammar correction disabled, it was very difficult to follow, but that's the gist of it. Given the disturbing nature of his messages, and the fact that he'd made a Facebook post talking about hanging himself, I made the call yesterday to contact San Francisco PD to perform a goodwill checkup on him. I don't know what came of that goodwill checkup, because I made the decision to block all further comms with him.
Last night, Paul Peacock messaged me about something that I missed, but that he read in the screen grabs I took of Alex's messages: Alex made a statement to the effect of wanting to climb a tower with a gun and shoot various people. Given his unstable nature, I elected to treat it as a credible threat and informed the FBI.
There is a LOT more from his private messages to me, text messages and from the various group chats he's started to "inform" people, and I've taken screen grabs of everything. It's very unsettling to watch him come unravelled. I tend to agree with those that say he didn't start out intending to scam people, but as time wore on, things got out of hand, and it became a scam.
Like many, I REALLY wanted this kit to be real. I've placed a couple of orders through his store, and on items that he doesn't have to fabricate himself, I've had zero issues receiving my purchases. But items that he has to manage himself, there's a glaring lack of success. I truly hope that Alex gets the help he needs, and that everyone is able to recover their money, however unlikely that is. I also hope he learns from this and sticks to areas where he truly is talented.
JMChladek
Sr Member
Mmmm hmmm.
modelerdave
Sr Member
Holy crap.
MHaz1701
New Member
So here’s how Alex decided to respond to my reaching out for a welfare check (and likely my post here, as well):
Guess I’m to blame for his inability to make significant progress for two years now?
And since CBS already knows who I am (see above) and how he lied about having a license, his little threat means nothing at all. I haven’t sold anything that would infringe on the Star Trek copyrights, so there’s no violation on my part. Same thing for Paul or Chris…
As far as my not being a real engineer… Somebody quick! Warn Boeing (787 aft crown structure and systems installation), Embraer (ERJ190E2 aft fuselage primary structure), Lockheed Martin (multiple programs), Bell Helicopter (V-22 Osprey empennage and aft ramp/door), AMCOM (CH-47 Chinook, OH-58 Kiowa Warrior airworthiness support) and others that I’m not a real engineer!
I don’t know if anyone’s been to his website lately, but he lists NASA, the Navy, Air Force, etc. as “partners” on there. That is explicitly against the law as no government agency is allowed to endorse or affiliate with any person or company for the purpose of selling merchandise.
Guess I’m to blame for his inability to make significant progress for two years now?
And since CBS already knows who I am (see above) and how he lied about having a license, his little threat means nothing at all. I haven’t sold anything that would infringe on the Star Trek copyrights, so there’s no violation on my part. Same thing for Paul or Chris…
As far as my not being a real engineer… Somebody quick! Warn Boeing (787 aft crown structure and systems installation), Embraer (ERJ190E2 aft fuselage primary structure), Lockheed Martin (multiple programs), Bell Helicopter (V-22 Osprey empennage and aft ramp/door), AMCOM (CH-47 Chinook, OH-58 Kiowa Warrior airworthiness support) and others that I’m not a real engineer!
I don’t know if anyone’s been to his website lately, but he lists NASA, the Navy, Air Force, etc. as “partners” on there. That is explicitly against the law as no government agency is allowed to endorse or affiliate with any person or company for the purpose of selling merchandise.
MHaz1701
New Member
Then there’s this little gem: Alex also goes by Alex Bradford (Facebook screen shots to verify). Here’s his IMDb page. Same claims… but wait! That’s a REALLY neat trick, working on a movie while you’re active duty. I wasn’t aware the Department of the Navy would allow such things (hint: it doesn’t).
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