Micromodels WWII tanks

[cdavenport]

Courtesy of Charles Walker who alerted me to the new models and Toto who posted them on his wonderful vintage blog, I am adding a few new models to the downloads sections.

These are vintage WWII Micromodels, ages out of print. I've restored some of these, but there was little damage to the originals, so the work was easy.

I've included all seven models in one Jpeg.

[cMags]

Cool! Thanks for sharing, Chuck! Downloads approved: PaperModelers.com - Downloads - Micromodels WWII British, US, Russian tanks (http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=1483)

[Tonyceri]

Nice one Mr Davenport.... Although weapons of war, there is something quite charming about these little models.

[Paperwarrior]

These are a great find and piece of history. Thank you for your efforts. I look forward to assembling these.

Jeff

[Don Boose]

Let me add my comments of appreciation to those of Jeff and the others. These are a great find and most welcome.

Don

[Phil]

Interesting. I thought Miles Mandell still held the copyright to these. Does someone know something I don't? I Have ALL the Micromodels kits as jpg files all cleaned up and would LOVE to share them...if that were allowed.

[cdavenport]

I would check their site to see what's available. These are not, hence my lack of concern in making them available. Should Mm start selling this set again, I am sure the download would be deleted.

But, I am thinking Mm would like to see this kind of attention paid to their series of models...a sort of free advertisement, if you will, since no one is making any effort to sell them on pm.com

[ju52man]

I'd LOVE to have all 3 ww2 airplane sets and the warship set.

[ju52man]

I'd also love the HMS Vanguard

[Phil]

I would check their site to see what's available. These are not, hence my lack of concern in making them available.
I am unaware of any such website.
The burden of proof does not rest on my shoulders, it is on yours. As far as I know there is still a copyright holder to these, and sharing them is piracy.

[ashevilleangler]

Perhaps this link will help to shed some light or maybe just muddy things even more:

History World of Micromodels (http://www.worldofmicromodels.com/micromodels-history.html)

As nearly as I can tell all of the Modelcraft series of models are long out of print with no current copyright holder or owner of the printing plates. So they do seem to qualify as ephemera worthy of preservation. The only exception to this would be the "Romance of Sail" set which was later printed by Micromodels Ltd. The copyright for Micromodels Ltd. models is now owned by Autocraft who regularly sell reprints of those models.

Hope this sheds some light on the discussion.

Curt

[Astroboy]

ju52man,
Autocraft sells a reissue of HMS Vanguard at eBay:

Micromodels HMS VANGUARD SET SII Micro New Models card model kit | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micromodels-HMS-VANGUARD-SET-SII-Micro-New-Models-card-model-kit-/150828326806?pt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_J N&hash=item231e119f96)

[Pat_craft]

Great and friendly idea !! Thanks Charles !!!

[cdavenport]

I am unaware of any such website.
The burden of proof does not rest on my shoulders, it is on yours. As far as I know there is still a copyright holder to these, and sharing them is piracy.




Aaarrrgh!!! Thanks, Phil. I feel the burden easing as both websites clearly indicate these models are long out of print and not copyrighted.


BTW, these are Modelcraft Micro Models, not Heighway's Micromodels, though the name was the same for some reason.

[ashevilleangler]

Major D., Heighway started as the head designer with Modelcraft so these are most certainly his designs. I still do not see a copyright issue.

I Have ALL the Micromodels kits as jpg files all cleaned up and would LOVE to share them...if that were allowed.

Phil, I'm not sure that anyone would object since many of these models have been reprinted from time to time by a number of sources. The website mentioned above has a lot of good information:

Homepage World of Micromodels (http://www.worldofmicromodels.com/index.html)

Curt

[rickstef]

One might want to contact Matt Sparks/Malted Falcon and ask him

Home (http://www.micromodelsusa.com/)

[Maltedfalcon]

Hey Guys,
Happy to clarify.
Out of print doesn equate to out of copyright. So please be careful.

The copyrights to the some of the modelcraft models are still in effect.

The copyrights on the original modelcraft Micromodel, A1 the Romance of Sail, expired December 31, 2010

B1 British Fighting Ships , C1 Weapons of War, D1 British Tanks and E1 Allied Fighter planes expired December 31, 2011.

F1 Fighter Bombers and G1 Heavy Bombers expire Dec. 31 2012

H1 Short Sunderland expires Dec 31 2013.


Important to note while the models are out of copyright, the names Micromodels and Modelcraft are not, If you were to recreate the models all the names would need to be removed.

We are releasing a CD of older Micromodels that will have the modelcraft models on it with the Titles intact.

Beyond the above listed models All the micromodels are still under copyright.
MicromodelsUSA holds the copyright for some of the micromodels and the rest of the copyrights reside with Autocraft in the UK. I believe the last copyright of the original models will expire in 2027. but with the changes in the laws that have occured in the past it is possible the copyrights will be extended.

Matt Sparks

[charleswlkr54]

You're welcome, Major! I usually check both Pillpats and toto's sites everytime I get on the computer just to see what new things they have posted. I guess I'm just a 56 year old kid, love these!

[charleswlkr54]

Just checked out that world of Micromodels link, whic\sh someone would legally post the weapons of war set1 I would be inclined to sign the standard contract with Lucifer in blood for that one!

[cdavenport]

I guess I better remove that MM from downloads then. Aaarrrgh! Don't want to be a pirate, mateys!