HELP: REAL or FAKE MPP???

Originally posted by ManfromNaboo@Sep 27 2005, 04:20 AM
BTW,
AFAICR, the replica MPPs I got from Jack Bauer had the black plastic flash knob sitting in the black housing more flush, i.e. it wasn´t that much protruding. Another difference to a replica.

Michael

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The button on my Parks replica actually sticks out much further than that. I have to say that the spacer under the clamp seems to be a Parks replica, my real MPP spacer does not have square edges but the Parks does...unless that varied on the real ones too.

Great...now I´m even more confused :cry

Anyone out there who can provide pics of a PARKS MPP?

Please....Markus

Markus,

From what I could see in the pics your MPP appears to be real. Beat up like hell, but real. Hope you did not pay too much.

All I can say is damnit, Id give my neighbors left nut for one of those, beat up or not. Id refurbish it. :unsure

o.k....here´s the actual status:

This m********ing SOB screwed me and sold me a weathered Parks :angry

The weathering was done with silver spraypaint on the tube, hence the "spotted" chrome finish you see in the pics I posted and the "grease" inside the battery tube was done with black spraypaint, washed down with WD40 or something.

Boy, I´m pissed....

I really hope it not to be true but even the sprue-marks on the plastik parts are 100% identical to Parks as well as the the machine marks. Pretty unusual, even for a great replika, right.?

Pics will follow.

Markus

You should presue the seller through legals means by any way possible.

If you purchased it from eBay, there might be a buyer's protection program that will assist in this matter, especially if you paid with PayPal.

I fear this is the first of many scams, and we need to study the Parks MPP as much as possible to spot future scams.

I´ll do for sure.

Bought off ebay, but paid via wire-transfer since the seller is from europe as well :unsure

I´ll post pics and let you guys be the judge.

Later, Markus

I have bought about 10 MPP's during the last 7 years and despite the variations in them you can always tell a real flash by the shroud.

All replica aluminium shrouds made have had a wall thickness that is too thick - MR, Parks, Larbel's and even the shrouds I made 4/5 years ago.

A real MPP has a very thin wall at the tip of the shroud. The second most difficult thing to copy is the smell of the battery chamber - the unforgettable scent of vintage cameras.

Another thing is that a true vintage flash will generally have a clamp where the plastic sleeve can easily become unstuck, due to the old glue drying out. The glue underneath is usually spread hap-hazzardly and will have become yellow with age.

laters
Laz

Aren't the letters on a Parks MPP engraved and not stamped like a real one?
HK's are stamped. I know I've seen Parks grenades where the lettering is engraved on the windvane which is very noticable compared to the stamped real one.

Originally posted by laszlo@Oct 1 2005, 03:43 AM
All replica aluminium shrouds made have had a wall thickness that is too thick - MR, Parks, Larbel's and even the shrouds I made 4/5 years ago.

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Do you mean the collar section being too thick? Or the angled section?

Are there any real MPPs where the "emitter coil" is curved like on that Parks?
In all pics of a real MPP "emitter" (that I have saved on my computer for reference) the coil has a fairly straight corner. The nut also shows machine marks in some and the coil has started to rust.
I think MR has angled coils.

[/quote]
Do you mean the collar section being too thick? Or the angled section?


Yes the angled tip wall.

The small rivots holding the MPP tin plate on looked odd to me in the pictures.

Original rivots (on the 3 original MPP's I've had) all were a rounded (button) head and were steel.

Looks like the seller also added a nice small dent in the bottom cap to top off his job. :angry

- Jim :fettrotj

Here we go...

As you can see, beside of the shroud all parts are totall identical IMO, down to machine marks, the identical sprue-end on the plastic sleeve etc...

What do you think?




















THANK YOU WACKYCHIMP....

Markus

In this picture:




the tiny lever pin should not stick out of the lever.... at least on all the ones I've had they don't.

Looks like a Parks replica to me. :angry


This might sound stupid, but do they smell the same?

If you have a vintage Graflex or even a Heiland flash, they should smell old.

I think that's been mentioned in this topic, but there should be a difference.

- Jim :fettrotj

I'm not sure about the Parks replica, but another obvious difference I've seen between a real MPP and a replica is the finish of the shroud. A real MPP shroud has a distinctive crinkle finish that is hard to reproduce. I know the MR and HK MPPs don't have it. Again, not sure about the Parks and its hard to tell based on your pic comparing them. Sorry if you bought a Parks.

The MPP that Parks used as reference for his replica had a distinct feature that is a bit rarer than most other MPPs.
The black encap plug on the MPP that he used for reference didnt have the 3 rings commonly found on MPPs.....And it seems that your MPP is missing the 3 rings as well.
Parks saber also had the less common large B porthole....Which yours has .
And Parks also hasthe sloped silver sidebars , which yours also has.

This doesnt mean that yours is a Parks, it could be that you aquired one of the other variants. But then again you have to ask yourself what are the odds of getting an MPP with all the exact viariant parts as a Parks.



The best way to check if it's real -

Is take a Q-tip and stick it into the plug holes and see if any dust or grime is found in there. (Dirt and grime look very different than just spray paint) Check the tiniest of cravaces.

Smell the battery casing of the MPP, it should smell old (not like chemicals or spray paint)

Take the guts out and anscrew the guts themselves and see if theres dust and grime in there.

Take the clamp off and remove the inner sleeve (as someone mentioned earlier) and check to see if there's dried glue or dust in there.

I also noticed, in one of the pics of your lever, there is a circular stamp mark visible on the inside.....An MPP should not have this mark.

Theres also another thing, Im not sure if Parks shrouds have this features or not but, original MPPs had a thick tip on their shroud thumbscrews making impossible to unscrew completely from the shroud (I guess this was down to prevent the thumbscrews from falling off or getting lost)

I also find it very hard to believe that a 40+ year old MPP got enough wear to strip the paint off of the threading on the endcap plug but yet doesnt have the common arched swing scratch from the lever found on clamp.

I dont own a Parks MPP myself (which makes the comparison harder) but from looking at the pics you posted it seems that you MPP is actually a Parks replica with a superficial weathering job.
It seems the areas which are weathered on your saber just happen to be the areas where someone would most likely look. Real weathering gets into all cracks and and cravaces, not just in areas where one will most likely look.



DS

Thanks guys.

Markus :unsure

The shroud on the right looks like one of my old ones I made.

Laszlo

I'm really sorry....but deep down I think its a parks. I can vouch for the smell.......I owned a MINT in box Graflex before and that bad boy smelt just as "old" as a another I had that was pretty beat up....