Thievery or Flattery?

[BlackOps]

OK, this is a very creative group and even so there are times when more than one, sometimes even several folks come up with a similar if not exact same idea for a build.

Other times someone comes up with something so completely brilliant nobody else could have come up with it but everyone wishes they had!

Well the question I have is what do most of you think about creating a Whif that somebody else has already done?

Should you not build something just because somebody else beat you to it?

Should you not build something because it might make somebody elses build seem somehow less special if there are more than one?

Should you build it and just not share it with the group?

Should you build it and say damn the consequences?

Just curious to see what others think, I myself have been tempted to build similar models to some I have seen here but have restrained myself - besides my to do list is already filled up  For me though I don't have a huge stash...I usually buy my kits with a project in mind...if I have spent the money and then saw my idea on the board before I could finsh mine would I still finish it? would I change it? would I Just paint it pink and call it a variation?    Heck if I know what i would do. How about you?

And no...I haven't run across this yet but was just thinking about it.


Jeff G.

[cthulhu77]

Good points.   If anyone ever went to the trouble to replicate or copy one of my builds, I would only be flattered...and probably sorry for the poor modeler. Of course, it would be nice to see some of my ideas done by someone with more talent, like JHM doing the Faswac (my molding skills are subpar at best) or Leigh doing the Vampire system.  I'm a middle of the road person, investing too much time into a model gets on my nerves, and I've been known to botch it alot...so to have someone run with the idea would be cool, in my humble opinion.

  'sides, they're only models.

               greg

[Radish]

I build anything.
If someone else has thought of the idea first, then OK, I'll still build it but "credit" the idea in my write up....most of my models are displayed with a text.
Just 'cause someone else has an idea shouldn't preclude you from building.
My opinion anyway.  

[Captain Canada]

Ideas are ideas. We see it here all the time, folk having the same thoughts. There are only so many aeroplanes and ships etc. to go around.

Besides that, most folk think it flattering that you find their idea so great that you want to build your own version.
Or maybe improve on their idea.

[Dork the kit slayer]

Great minds think alike.....fools seldom differ.

Either way I doubt anyone has copyright on a concept. Build and be dammed,but try to build it better.

[Gary]

Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. Sometimes I get so excited about something someone has built I want to build one like it too cause it's so cool. I always give credit, or try to. Sometime you see something and forget it, or forget where you saw it, and it there in your head to build. When you pull it out and build it, it's because it stayed with you for so long. That is a complement.

Personally too, when I saw Alvis doing the V-22 powered Dash 8, I got so excited because a guy of his caliber is doing something I am doing, that puts me in pretty good company.  

[Hatchet]

I don't really care

I plan on building more RAF Tomcats, to follow the 111sqd Tomcat F.1 I've already done (an FR.2 and FGR.3). I'll also build a Japanese Tonka, preferably blue-blue, with whatever the heck I can figure out to hang from it, and I know at least one other is thinking of the same, although in a different scale. Somewhere in my (distant) future is a CF-14B Tomcat too, F-15H and countless others that I can't begin to remember. Then there's the 617sqd TSR.2.

And if anyone decides to build a DG/DSG/LAG Tomcat or IDF/AF Gripen, have fun. But show the results!

[MerlinJones]

I find myself inspired by other works I see on the 'net and, if sufficiaently inspired, I might even try to replicate something that someone else has done...only better!

What's the point of having a good idea if you don't share it?

Often, when I do a build, I'll post step-by-step photos to go with it. This isn't just to show off how clever I think I am ...it's to allow others to see exactly how I got to where I get to...and to follow my steps themselves, should they want to replicate what I've already done.

If someone takes my idea and then profits by it, claiming it as their own, without due acknowledgement...then that's theft.
Otherwise, it's flattery.

Regards,
Bruce

[Alvis 3.1]

My personal spin: Go for it. I seriously doubt anyone here would be offended, I know I wouldn't be. In fact, I'd like to see others spin on the same ideas I have.
Having been "scooped" a few times myself, meh..it happens. Especially here..there are a lot of minds running along similar wavelengths.




Alvis 3.1

[Martin H]

it happened on more than one occasion, were ive turned up at a show (say SMW for example) and our own dear wooksta has a fit when the latest model I put on the stand matches something he has in the pipeline. And thats with out either of us knowing the other has had the same idea.

Im also not afraid to borrow ideas off others..the Toom SR-2 was Ollies idea, i just had the spare toom kit to doit, and being in the UK it would have more impact on the TSR sig stand.
Im also doing a project for this years what if theme for telford, that is borrowed off one of the guys on here, I made sure i cleared it with him first thou.

Credit were credits due.no harm in useing another guys idea, but its good sence to credit em afterwards. and let em know what your up to first.

[Leigh]

Hmmm interesting question, it probably depends on how "original" the idea is.
Alot of stuff is just variation on a theme, and I have no problem doing the same build that I've seen others do, or with them doing the same as me. Kinda like two people using the same aftermarket decals for a Tomcat. There are a finite amount of real subjects and real services, so to claim that kind of idea as mine or original is arrogant. The U.S.M.C. Buccaneer I cannot claim as an original idea nor would I have a problem doing an F.A.A. Skyray like Gary did, these are just variations within a limited number of possibilities.
Then there's inspiration within a theme, which again is just a natural extension and probably not completely original, Mark's U.S. Navy Thunderjet led me to think about doing an F.A.A version, again I think there's nothing wrong with that.
The stuff I do consider " intellectual property " are the truly original ideas that are created from pure imagination and do not exist in any way shape or form (including manufacturers concepts) in reality. That's where I draw the line at poaching, I would never build a KC135/B-17 Hybrid 'cos that's Eddies concept and I may well be upset if I saw someone put two BF109 fuselages as booms on an Me 262 'cos that was my idea. If they put two booms with jet engines then that's obviously there idea and fair game. Could I be inspired to build a Vulcan/Liberator hybrid? Possibly but I would definately credit Eddie for the original inspiration.
All comes down to the individual, only you know if your idea is "stolen", or you'd thought about it before you saw someone else do it, or it naturally evolved from another's idea, and you have to live with whether you can claim it to be yours and whether you want to copy.

So I guess my answer is sometimes it's thievery, sometimes it's flattery, and sometimes it's neither.

[Geoff_B]

It all depends on what it is, as others have said because of specialised subject area in "What-if", when we evaluate what facts we have as a basis and can often come up independently with the same conclusions. Limitations in decal options often lead to repetition as its not easy to find more unusual sqdns & scheme from the decal stash that somebody else hasn't already tried. Within our local clubs we may be unusual, but as an on-line community we all share the same passion....

As for ideas i often end up passing on ideas in open discussions at show as thats part of the brain storming sessions we have. The ideas and concepts can freely snowball once a subject is broached often leading from the initial concept into a well defined build plan to start soon after the show.

As for using the same concept as a basis if planned out than differnt sqdns, schemes and serials can be used so that the models infact complement each other rather than compete.



Cheers

G

[Brian da Basher]

I'd be completely astounded if anyone tried to replicate my whiffs. I think we all get ideas from what others do and using those ideas for inspiration is ok. Most of the truly original ideas I've seen here would take an awful lot of sweat to try and copy. I think most of us would rather invest our energies in bringing unique ideas to life.

Brian da Basher  

[cthulhu77]

I'd be completely astounded if anyone tried to replicate my whiffs. I think we all get ideas from what others do and using those ideas for inspiration is ok. Most of the truly original ideas I've seen here would take an awful lot of sweat to try and copy. I think most of us would rather invest our energies in bringing unique ideas to life.

Brian da Basher

you forgot to say:
  "with spats"

[retro_seventies]

i would have no problem at all - as one who finishes almost nothing yet has idea coming out of his ears, i have no problem if somebody uses one of "my" ideas...chances are that they will finish one before i do, and i can always build it later.

frankly, the idea of somebody building one of my ideas fills me with joy and pride actually.

just as long as they don't claim it as their own...that would rile me a bit perhaps, especially if i knew it was one of mine...