bounce8

From my point of view,
It's always better to say "I have an original pair of shoes" than "My shoes are fake", no matter how nice, because you know you bought the real thing.
Or in Tagalog,
Mas mabuti kung sasabihin mo "Orig sapatos ko" kaysa sa "Galing Divisoria lang to".

Archipelago

Those models are available in the market to fill the gap in the collection. As not all that we hope from licensed manufacturers ever come up in the market. Are you saying you never wished anything from those so called 'unlicensed' manufacturers as you called them above? Some upcoming Sky500 Asian releases for examples? Or perhaps it is time to ask,"Is this model really worth buying?" (read : tight budget here) Is everything you own licensed incl. those BBs and that is not legitimazing 'squatting?'

In the meantime, I am just holding on to what I have got here and if the 'real' models never come up, then I have already got them as spares.

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hikouki

i never stop hoping that the models i want will be produced (or in some cases blatantly asking the companies), especially by herpa or another officially sanctioned manufacturer.

yes, i have a small number of BBs in my collection. these were among the first models from that company, of which i only bought three way back in the early 2000s when they were just setting up aviation center HK. the other two were given to me by my aunt, roughly the same year. in those days, there was no question about licenses. no one knew. perhaps no one asked. herpa certainly did not flaunt the fact that they were the only licensed manufacturer at that time.

i never realized the weight of these license issues until a few years ago when some of these companies started habitually 'changing' names. then stocks were purged from US web sites! that makes them no different from the pirated DVDs you see being confiscated and burned in china/ SEAsia!

and yes, the price advertised was of course low - they did not pay for any license! that is the whole point of a pirated business!

i would not have bought the BBs had i known then what i know now. i do not have a single NM.

i was skeptical about IF500, but it seems they are licensed (?) as they are supported by Schuco (?). at any rate, i have yet to buy my first IF500.

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my 1:500 PAL wishlist:
77W, A330, A320, A319, Q400, Q300
742, M11, A342, DC10, AB4, 734, 733
retro 742, retro DC10, retro AB4
742 mabuhay chicago, AB4 love bus

my airport blog: Paper Intercontinental Airport
my model collection pictures at Flickr
my albums at photobucket