It had to happen sooner or later!!!

:eek7: :shakehead :nono: :disappoin SAS RIP OFFS :eek7: :shakehead :nono: :disappoin

Yes that's right! Can u believe it!

Many thanks to my crimebustin' super sleuth pal '....' for spotting these at his local model shop in Hong Kong. The said shop purchased a number of items from me a few weeks back with the plan to sell them in the shop and guage customer responce etc etc. By coincidence .... just happens to shop there and so their copies were sussed. Just goes to show you what a small world this is eh?:biggrin:

We decided to buy one as evidence and this is it. Now forgive me if this comes across as big headed in any way but this really is a piece of shit! Look at the quality! Has to be one of the poorest resin castings i've seen! Its covered in dimples, pin holes and airbubbles caused by some really dodgy molding and casting. As a comparison, the last pic shows their front (top) next to mine which is from my 'seconds' bin. This is about as bad as mine can get with one or two air bubbles. I have a certain level of quality control and I do not send these out if i feel they can't be easily repaired or require too much work. Obviously quality doesn't bother them and neither does ripping off other peoples work.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/7057581.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/6446162.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/6584713.jpg

If you could all keep a look out for any other people like this then please LMK:wink:

:mad: thats disgusting. This is what you get when you do such grea work CHris! While I havent personally ordered a kit from you (I would like to but no $$ you see) I can clearly see that the quality of that crap you posted and your regualr work are worlds apart!

OUch! :mad:

So what are you going to do about it, Chris?

Pisses me off to think about all the time and effort you have put into SAS only to have this assholes trying to make a quick buck off your work.

I hope they get what they deserve, good job ... and thanks for helping Chris.

EDIT: Name of Super-Sleuth removed by Chris....ta

I am sorry.

I hope you will be able do do something about this.

But seeing all the pirated videogames from companies that makes millions are still rampant in HK, I have to admit that I am not surprised and I doubt you can do anything about it.


This sucks, at least their copies are bad.


Good luck.

That is really F#$Ked UP man !, You try to create an honest business and someone is always bent on ripping off your idea and none the least selling a lessor quality product creating a bad name unless you catch them as you so luckily have done. I am planing on ordering some stuff from SAS soon and I guess going direct will be my only method to keep things clear. Thanks for the heads up.

That's very bad.
I heard that kind of story in past too, that people do copies of different modeling things and it was mostly in China.

Originally posted by ales
OUch! :mad:

So what are you going to do about it, Chris?

Well this is the strange thing, i don't really need to do anything now. Joe and myself were gathering info on the local authorities etc, really so i could send them a very threatening email as i doubt anything could really be done about it. I had not contacted the shop at all since i found out then I got an email from them admitting they sold them and were very sorry - weird! I don't know if this is coz they got suspicious or just coincidence but they basically said they knew it was wrong were extremely sorry and hoped that i would forgive them and give them another chance:dunno:

They said they would stop selling them and i'm happy to let it go if that is the case. All i want is for them to stop making money from my work, so that's that for now.

This brings up and interesting point Chris, have you ever considered possible dealings with model shops being interested with carrying your products? Say if a shop owner was interested in distributing your products, would there be anykind of mass discount? I don't know if I'm correct in assuming that SAS basically consists of you yourself solely manufacturing your products or not. I ask because I never noticed any links on your site for anyone interested in distributing your product through thier own shops. It would be kinda kool though to be able to go to my local hobby shop to pick up one of your kits... Has anyone inquired about this with you?

What a bunch of assholes!!!!

How could you deal with this kind of thing.

Can you put one of those patent thingys on them.
Why don'e you search on the internet how to keep this from happening?
How could you have the nerve to do that!
Maybe I'd do it to make another model with it, but wouldn't sell it!

I hope you find a way to prevent this. :smile:

(edit) I just read my post.

It hardly makes sense. :bloated:

Originally posted by djAkira36
This brings up and interesting point Chris, have you ever considered possible dealings with model shops being interested with carrying your products? Say if a shop owner was interested in distributing your products, would there be anykind of mass discount? I don't know if I'm correct in assuming that SAS basically consists of you yourself solely manufacturing your products or not. I ask because I never noticed any links on your site for anyone interested in distributing your product through thier own shops. It would be kinda kool though to be able to go to my local hobby shop to pick up one of your kits... Has anyone inquired about this with you?

I've had several inquiries including interest from Studio27. Originally i was not going to bother coz i was not sure if i could manage, now i figured i might as well go for it and produced a wholesale list a couple of weeks back. I've already sent out an order to a distributer in Indoneasia who has had a fair bit of interest from model shops.

If my hobby shop carried SAS decals, body kits, and spoilers, I'd be broke as soon as I got my paycheck every time. I'd go in, but a kit, but a body kit for the kit, and some PE Spoilers and CF decals thrown in for good measure :worshippy

It is done all the time guys especially in business. The company I work for found a boxed product that looked exactly like what we make & sell in China, it even had made in america written on the box but their metal stamping said China. They copied it down to the very scratches on the manifolds imperfection. In one way you can take it as flattery or you could get mad. My point was that even with a patent it is still done and as far as my company goes they can not trace down who maded these items because they were bought off the street in bulk by suppliers. Welcome to the real world to business where honesty is a diss-advantage.....pun intended.

that a horrible thing to do:mad: some people just have no sense at all:mad: :mad: :mad: i hope u can really nail these guys chris :wink:

Chris, I was thinking about you and the issue just last night. which all the kids running around trying to make their own parts for sale something like this was bound to happen. But then again, that is business and you have to deal with it. I hope you can solve things and hopefully one day I'l be able to walk in a hobby shop a see you're products.

That's is a fucking bastard. so far these 2 months, af ppl have mentioned what the bad ebay seller did to them, and those fucking hk bastard just ruin the reputation of hk people.

:headshake :nono: :killbarne :wtf: :twak: :angryfire :swear: :cya: :chair:

Chris, just read this thread.

Shocking and disgusting practice! Again, shows the quality of your work, considering these cheats rip off the likes of Tamiya, means that your products have taken off in the Far East.

As far as mass production goes, I say go for it. Just have a copyright in place first. Good luck.:bigthumb:

I'm not surprised, this is how it is over in Hong Kong and the like, but it is still a rotten thing to do! There's not much you can do but hope for continued incopmetence on their part in casting the molds... :(

I've been to the Phillipines and I saw a bunch of shoes.
I learned they were all fakes. :tongue:

They all were brand named shoes that really looked similar to the real thing.

What an awful event. Its sad that no one has respect for other people's work. You should cp[yright your stuff of something so this won't happen again.

Chris, I'm sorry to hear that mate.

However, I'm very happy to hear that your business is getting bigger and better! :bigthumb:

Weird indeed, that they reacted like that... would make me extra suspicious...

I can't stand a thief!:newburn: :newburn: :newburn:

I hate to see this sort of thing happen, but i does, take the bits I make for the FTO's www.type-f.co.uk these have been copied from HK to Japan to Singapore never mind the rip off's in the UK, the only thing I find to do is reduce your prices to compete and provide quality kit and a good service.

Patenting is far to expensive and as they are a sort of copy of a real kit maybe it could not be done. Copyright is worthless shit in the global world as it costs too much to follow through, it would cost a year profit to get it to court.

Just be happy that your kit is QUALITY and you give a GREAT service and start selling wholesale.

But we are all to blame in the end as we all rip off CD's MP3's Software, etc and buy this stuff, it only when it affects us it happens to someone we know, we feel pissed off, do we give a shit about Bill Gates and his lost millions NO.

Chris do you have an idea who supplied the copies in HK ?

about what he said /\

in Brasil you can get a Bomex body kit for really cheap. at the swap shops and stuff you can buy all types of parts, some are actually very good but all are copies of. All the people i knew got their stuff there, I would have too. :smile:

:frown: Sorry to read this thread Chris, I agree with all the above, this is appauling but it seems to be the way of the world. I dont even think copyright would help as people already copy stuff that has a named label, I remember seeing Adidas t-shirts in Turkey at three for a tenner. It may be usefull though if this could be made as puplic as possible just incase someone tries to pass one of these sh*t copies off as one of your own. At this stage in your business development what you dont need is any bad press even if you prove there fakes the damage will be done. I say all AFers pass the word about this crowd:mad: Dont you know anyone that can send them a pc fatal virus or at least one that will give them something to think about.

Very sad to read that this goers on. I hope you sort things out.

Originally posted by Hiroboy


Chris do you have an idea who supplied the copies in HK ?

I'm not sure. I cant work out if it was them who copied them or they brought them off someone else.

Originally posted by primera man
Very sad to read that this goers on. I hope you sort things out.

3 of my biggest homies are on a plane to HK, armed with a basebal bat, a pair of pliers and a blowtorch:22yikes: :chair: :twak: :newburn:

Anyway, as mentioned they appologized and said they will stop. I'm informed that this is true and they have removed them from the store. I guess that's the end of it!

Sorry to hear about that Chris. But goes to show how you gained 'world-wide' fame with your resin kits!!