Pirate Victoria castings...

[Jo]

I noticed these on Fleabay the other day:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDGTOOLS-INCOMPLETE-VICTORIA-ENGINE-CASTING-KIT-STEAM-ENGINE-MILLING-LATHES/371974945909

Very carefully named to not imply they are "Stuart" Victoria castings. I am assuming that they are "recasts" from a set of Stuart originals so they are potentially undersized. Other identifiable feature that imply copies are the lack of steam ports cast in the cylinder  , the casting quality is clearly not the same as Stuarts as they would never have let that soleplate out of the factory  it would have gone back into the smelting pot 

Has anyone brought a set of these and could you confirm my suspicions that they are indeed pirated Stuart Victoria castings

Jo

P.S. yes I know I have copies of castings but they are of historical engines that would have been otherwise lost to model maker's but these are currently being marketed by one of our reliable suppliers who it would be nice to see continue trading. 

[Jasonb]

Also happen to have the valve chest cover face down!

At least with the flywheel castings they sold they said it came from a clearance job and most of those are not available now suggesting they sold what they had and no more.

[b.lindsey]

They do look a  bit crude in places. Unfortunately as always....let the buyer beware, though newer folks in search of cheap castings might not know otherwise. I guess that is what they are counting on 

Bill

[simplyloco]

Talking counterfeit: I bought some mince pies from LIDL supermarket the other day. Whilst they are not 'Mr Kipling's' I have to say that they are exceedingly good fakes!

Apologies to our friends across the water...
John

[Gas_mantle]

Although they do look a bit crude I think RDG are at least being fair about the price, let's face it a set of Stuart castings with VAT and postage is nearly £300.  I'd have thought for someone on a budget or maybe a beginner unsure if they can machine the real thing then these may offer a cheap way of making something reasonably attractive.

[Jo]

Looks like they think those pirate castings are made of solid gold the price has rather gone up  .

Maybe Stuart's have been in contact and they have are worried they might have some legal costs to pay

Jo


P.S. My supplier tried buying some of these 'jolly rogers' from them  and the delivery never turned up. Further enquiries about it showed that they fibbed and had not even posted the casting sets and yet taken the money  I thought it was only Brunel that offered that sort of sales service 

[b.lindsey]

Yikes!!!  How much is a set from Stuarts?

Bill

[Gas_mantle]

With VAT and postage in the UK it's close to £300

http://www.stuartmodels.com/products/set-of-castings

[b.lindsey]

Which begs the question, why would anyone pay three times that for an incomplete casting set . What am I missing here?

Bill

[Gas_mantle]

Bill, I'm not sure how exactly it works but I think when sellers have a lot of the same item to sell they list the item(s) for a very long period so the advert doesn't keep expiring, when they run out of stock rather than cancel the advert then relist they raise the price to something no-one will pay, once they have more stock to sell they will reduce the price back to the original.

I suspect it's cheaper or more convenient that relisting.

[b.lindsey]

That makes sense. Not being a flea Bay user, I don't know the ins and outs of how it works.

Bill

[Jasonb]

Yes common practice to up the price to save relisting. When Jo first posted they were £59 but they have now added another 9 to bring the cost to £959.

As it still shows they have stock either that has not been updated of they possibly don't want to sell anymore until things are sorted with Stuarts or maybe someone has complained to e-bay

[Jo]

They were not expecting my Supplier to ask for two engine sets this side of Xmas. He has been told to reorder after Xmas when the UK based Iron caster will be back from their holidays 

Now if the company advertised them as castings for Tubal Cain's Princess Royal and Goliath, rather than a Stuart model I would not consider them as Pirates 

Jo

[Jasonb]

That is also provided he is using his own pattern. To me recasts are a forgery whatever you describe them as. That is certainly the way it is looked at in the figure modeling world and anyone doing or encouraging it would get shot down.