Re: Question about re-casting ?
Not weird I think.
I believe it has more to do with making a profit from somebody else's base-line design, no matter how extensively it is modified.
It would be OK if the original designer gave his go-ahead or had a share in the profits.
Just my opinion.
thats where the grey starts to appear. and where the magical X% you mentioned early is very arbitary. Lots of the pep files are released for free to allow for fans to easily make stuff. Unfortunately, and this is recognised by the pep modellers themselves, that the pep models often need a LOT of work to make it look like a nice prop replica that you and I, and other rpfers would recognise as a "proper prop". Many dont see the need to do that extra mile, and just pep resin, and do a basic smooth and use - thats fine, I am all for various grades of completion.
In the old days I would have used a plastic bowl, or card board or something similar to shape, only diff is now I use pep. I often use pep files of the lowest detail - cos I know all that will be lost in the bondo and detailing phase anyways.
This isnt a black/white easy answer. For instance - look at TZA/lignolap RC file - both apparently made from Game files. But like all modellers, some parts need extrapolation. The TZA and lignolap helmets look remarkable alike - recast? And who recast from whom? Both from game, from each other?
The GM helmet I made - aside from the general shape, the dome is different, the flare is different, the eye holes are different, the level of the back vent is different, the face is different. if you used the pep file (which was a free release) - pep it, fibreglassed it and did a basic sand - it would not be troopable with the 501st. Mine is.
If you call that recasting - then what abt various people who charge for building pep models? Those are exact replicas of the pep. No mods to it at all. Just built and resined.
Like a lot of recast topics - very grey and murky area with everyone having their own opinion. So I am not saying mine is correct either.
to the original poster - I think at the very least let the original modeller know and credit him with the base, drop him an email to say what you are gonna do and ask him if its ok. Drop him a free cast if you want. But the finished product is often so far removed from the original that I think its quite rightly your own.
I asked this question a while ago on the 405th boards - and kinda got the same answer.
Theres a lot to be asked abt this new way of building props. Its seems to have moved from being poo-poo'd to being an accepted way of making a really nice prop in a short period of time. It really is much more like scratch building than modding if you do it well that is.
Nate