Buried Freebie Question

[gregoy]

I was lurking on other forums to find any hidden model gems that I may not be aware.

And while looking into this thread from Papermodelers.sk(an Eslovak paper modeling forum),

I saw on the latest posts an model of Rokštejn Castle, being offered as a free model. Before rushing things on, I wanted to make sure that I was getting the model directly from the author, not from a p*r*t* site

The link on this post leads to an old version of Papermanie.cz shop site, wich used to have a section with news on free models wich was redirecting to the new site, but the old section doesn't exist anymore. (In the old site, they mention that the model author is "Frantisek Nevoral", but upon a google search, I discovered that the real author of the model is Lesy).

Wayback Machine's only snapshot of the pdf linked on the old Papermanie's site is broken and I was almost losing hope, but when I googled for the model using this query: "Rokštejn Castle papirové modely"("papirové modely" means paper model in Czech, for anyone who doesn't speak Czech); I found 2 things:

This thread from Papirovemodelarstvi.cz(a Czech paper modeling forum), where Lesy(the model's author) showed the model developing process, and a gallery site where Lesy posted the pictures of the model.

In the Papirovemodelarstvi forum, Lesy shared the finished kit for free, but on a filesharing service wich the link gives a "File not found"

In the papirove-modely gallery, on the comment area, someone asked to Lesy if he/she could upload the model on a permanent filesharing service, and Lesy attended the request and posted the link for the model(the site is a Czech filesharing service).The link was working and the file was available, so I downloaded the kit.

But before I start to build it, I would like to know, It is OK to proceed and build it? Since the model was originally shared for free, I don't see a problem... Thanks in advance for the answers.

Cheers,

Gregory.

[theOshkoshModeler]

Apologies for such a long wait on a reply.

IMO, if the site that the model's being hosted on is known about AND supported by the designer, you should be in the clear.

Free models may be found on a lot of hosting/file sharing sites seeing as they were more readily available from the designer to start with, but it's still a good idea to make sure of the model's copyright and if it's properly attributed (if required by the designer) before downloading from any site you may find it on.
Best to download it from the designer's website or approved hosting site (Edwin Rodriguez's mega.nz folder or Mario Solorzano's WIX site 'Citycraft' are a couple examples).

If the model is a paid one, ALWAYS check the site to make sure you're buying it from the designer exclusively to guarantee that you actually receive the model.
And NEVER buy from those listings on Amazon from people who p!rate the model and charge you for the convenience of printing and shipping it (trust me, I've seen them just by searching around).

All in all, since you said the designer sent the file to be hosted on that site, I'd say get the blade and glue ready.

[gregoy]

Thanks for the clarification, it's good to clear out doubts on cases like that
because I don't want to have the risk of the model I'm interested in being shared online without permission of the author. Now I feel more safe to make the build thread for the model.

Cheers,

Gregory.