SethB6025
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Posts posted by SethB6025
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The issue of recasting & the ill-defined honor code is anything but black & white and there is a lot to it. We as hobbyists have made it very complex in an effort to simplify it.
Honor amongst thieves is a broken concept, its sad but its a fact. Turning recasting into a "scarlet letter" type of situation has historically done nothing to stop the practice. Just because someone cannot post to a forum doesn't mean they are out of the loop. Just go to a con and see the dozens of recast hand props for sale.
Its high time that we create a dialog instead of putting up a brick wall. There is already a paradigm shift of opinions happening in the hobby, if we don't open our minds to different ways of dealing with these type of situations it will go the wrong way.
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Its still a little messy, I only had a few stolen minutes to organize it but I am amazed at just how much stuff I had stowed throughout my old apartment. I want to get to work on a spray booth first, so I can paint over the winter. As you can see, there are a few things waiting for my days off next week.
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I am late to this ball-game so I apologize in advance. I have been catching up on the banter regarding Chris' recasting of one of Matt's TE suits and helmet, and Mike & I's command decisions on how to deal with it and future incidents.
I will try not to jump around too much between my personal morals & standards and the decisions made in the role of a DL of a 501st detachment and admin of a board that tends to bridge the gap between a pure prop board and a pure costuming board.
As for our command decision; my first reaction was to ban Chris. The precedent exists in the prop world and we felt that is how we had to react. To ignore the information and look the other way, even though it was shared in private, would have done nothing more than to validate what was being done. After this of course the reaction from many members was negative, and Mike & I continued to discuss the issue throughout. We decided that from a command standpoint we reacted too rashly and rescinded the ban. Why we would do that is somewhat simple. When you ban someone they don't disappear, they just continue what they are doing and fall off the radar. Chris indicated he had no intentions to stop, so a ban would not be effective at all in slowing or stopping the activity. Instead the seemingly odd decision was made to keep the user on board, at minimum the linage of his armor would remain public and hopefully it would save some people from buying a recast, and perhaps letting someone know that they will still be accepted after making a mistake will give them perspective & maybe change their mind about what they are doing. It is not meant to condone recasting, and certainly does not mean its open season for recasting on this forum. Our decision making is dynamic, therefore if it has a "free-for-all" effect it will force us in the other direction, excising all those who choose to violate the "Honor amongst Thieves" concept in respect to screen-linage items.
Now, for my own point of view. I don't like the idea of not banning a recaster. If someone can justify copying one thing I think it will be no trouble for them to rip off something else. I hope I am wrong about this in the case of Chris (prove me wrong bro!). I am also alarmed at the increasingly lax view on recasting by a lot of people in the hobby, both on this board and in general. Although seven years on I know I am sick of the subject, so I think most other people who have been around for more than a few years probably are too. Maybe that is a big part of it. It will hurt the hobby though, I know there is something on my table now that will only go into the hands of people I socialize with regularly. The main reason being I don't want to see it bastardized by some hack who wants to get something for nothing.
I think its wrong to copy someone's work period, even if its copying a direct copy of a screen used item. No matter if you respect the person or not its about respect for the work, which is almost without exception degenerated in quality by the recast (possibly the most offensive part of the illicit recasting process). You have to make sacrifices to respect your own work, a recaster makes no sacrifice. Almost no money, almost no time, almost no effort. The end result is a product they don't love; and it shows. In this hobby you get what you pay for, no amount of cheap armor would make me want to forgive crappy quality. I know not everyone shares that point of view though. So for them it will be no big deal, as long as it looks okay and doesn't break the bank.
Sorry for stirring the pot on this, but its been on my mind over the past couple of weeks and I wanted to share my angle with everyone. I also want everyone to understand the decision that Mike & I came to was determined by us as command of this detachment and not in our personal "off the clock" roles.
In closing I will put my DL hat back on and let everyone know that price bashing is unwelcome on this forum. I see Gino taking a lot of flak over his helmet auction, and it is totally uncalled for. An artist is entitled to charge what they want for something. If you think its too much; just don't buy it. If it really is too much, no one will buy it. Take it as what it is and don't be a ***** to the person asking the price. It will only cause venom and drag the board down. Thanks crew, you all rock in your own special way.
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I've never seen a HDPE chip on any of the screen-used helmets ears, I think its reasonable to assume most if not all of them were pulled in white plastic.
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MG34's had both woodgrain & bakelite stocks, depending on when they were manufactured. With that in mind, bakelite ranged in color from black to a reddish swirly color that looked a lot like woodgrain. That is what I tried to replicate with mine, even though the one Sci-Fire cast clearly had a wooden stock (which was both stained & painted black on real vintage ones). I agree that the film production probably used the bakelite stocks which looked almost black on screen. So I would say that a darker reddish woodgrain would be the way to go.
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Somebody fix that please.
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Very nice! I found a pair like that also, I don't care for the fingernail things but I rolled with them just the same. Accuracy wins.
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Nothing in the inbox, but I sent him an email with my new mailing address & to ask for an update.
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I am back! After two weeks of moving and the like I have re-connected. Whew! The cable guy came out today and hooked everything up so I have TV and internets once more. Looks like I have lots of catching up to do! I'll have to post up some pics of the man-cave once I get it a little more organized, its nice to be back!
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The kind you shouldn't bother buying.
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As a pointless aside, the pic of the Move Along being held by Brandon reminded me that the helmet lives less than 60 miles to the south of me, and had been touched and worn by my friend Clark, who I hate.
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Here I am in my 30 minutes of internet time today!
The original decision was not reached lightly, both Mike & I had our reservations about how to react. In the end, our decision helped this forum grow yet again. The reaction of the members reinforced doubts that we had about the way we handled the situation. To turn a blind eye to such a thing would only condone illicit behavior, reacting with an appropriate punishment turned out to be overkill. In the end, we have a very defined idea of what will be acted upon on this forum. That is something we have never had before, and clearly needed for this situation.
I will echo Mike's statements in regard to recasting, and have little if nothing to add. We discussed this at length and I see no further need for ping-ponging the pros and cons about. Its an issue that will likely never see a clear resolution, or at least that is my doubt.
Hopefully if nothing else this will be a valuable lesson and give everyone something to help them along their path.
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Whoo, now that is a compliment! I made those The pack was made from the kit the Mike, Charlie & myself worked on. I'll be out of comm for a week with moving but drop me a line if you want a set & I'll get in touch with you when I'm re-connected.
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Wow, party at my place! I thought I would sneak in real quick. I'm about to hit the rack for some sleep, the main move it tomorrow. Ugh! Looks like it will be a bit until I am re-connected so I'll see you guys in a week or so.
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Wow, anyone who can make it please do! If only I could get to CA for it.
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Nice!
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I am in the process of moving, big move is this Sunday although I've been ferrying things to the new house after work for a few days now. Communication from me will be spotty, as I'll be up to my ears with stuff. Thankfully I have a sweet workroom to build stuff in, I can't wait to be able to use it.
If anyone has anything urgent board-wise just hit up the XO See ya'll next week! (I should be checking email over the next couple days, but will probably be unplugged for the better part of next week)
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I'm still doing complete packs, here and there.
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Chuck handles the production of patches, etc. for the detachment. Items are restricted to 501st members, and are usually done in short runs & at cost.
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Don't bother with sanding. Your armor should be shiny underneath the dirt. Sanding it will cause the paint to hang up too much, and I would imagine it would make the process more difficult.
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After some thought I'd have to question the point of the whole thing. We all talk about our experiences anyway and I think it will wind up more of a place to get leads rather than reviews, and like WC said, it might just degenerate into flaming as some threads have in the past. Since only a handful of people make "legit" stuff its best to stick with them and their established rep, instead of "some dude" who can cut you some sort of too-good-to-be-true deal that winds up being some piece o' crap. Ultimately if you see something and want to know the skinny; post it to the board and ask for opinions.
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Feel free to start a thread when you've got something started, knowing how quick you work that shouldn't be too long.
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Clicking it will show what groups you belong to & who else is in it. It is just a permissions group, not much of interest really. There are only a couple, one for 501st and one for staff. Once I get the 501st one updated you will see that listing when you click on it.
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Since the deployment guide has moved closer to screen accurate I would say no. No blaster burns, etc. were seen in the film. There are some troopers displayed in the gallery that have them, as we don't remove old pictures when the regs change. I know this practice has led to confusion in the past but as deployment evolves I don't feel like we should remove troops that were "sent out" under previous versions of deployment.
Some thoughts on recent events
in The Barracks
Posted
2- We already do this. Recast items are not allowed to be sold on this forum.
3- I don't see how this is effective. How many people bought a Meatsock because they didn't know what it was, when the community was perfectly aware of its origins? Early on in the hobby I made the same mistake, because of the issues being taboo. Plenty of others do the same, because no one discusses it.
It has been noted that it is not an accepted practice. As far as consequence there is the embarrassment of it becoming a public issue. Other than that there is nothing. He has said outright that a ban will change nothing, what else can be done in terms of a "punishment"? That isn't a rhetorical question either, I am looking for input. The only option anyone has been able to offer up is one that is ineffective against the recasting.You try to single out FISD and MEPD, but take a look at the RPF ban list. It looks like the problem is everywhere. I agree about the rift between strict costumers and strict prop collectors, many costumers could care less about the contributions of artists. I think it is an absurd viewpoint, but ignoring the problem won't make it go away.