skyworks web site

[Airacobra]

No, I'm not joking, but I'm not saying I am 100% correct either. All I am suggesting is anyone who feels they can make a mold from an existing model better do some research on copyright laws is all. I'm not referring to the use of specific historic vehicles, I am referring to copying the work Jack put into each model of that vehicle. Each model is his piece of work. He doesn't own the rights to the aircraft, just his representation of that aircraft. Just like AllGo getting bent out of shape over JSI releasing planes from their molds or copies of their molds. People seem to see a problem with that but not with copying Jack's? I guess that is the gray area for me. Whatever anyone here does, just be careful. I don't think Jack would take that laying down.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

Just like AllGo getting bent out of shape over JSI releasing planes from their molds or copies of their molds. People seem to see a problem with that but not with copying Jack's? I guess that is the gray area for me.

I think that was more an issue over who actually had the rights to the molds, rather than what came out of them.

[pickelhaube]

The Me-163 is a small plane . I actually started to make my own rendition.

But I was told by someone in the know that the 163 would be made.

That is why I stopped.

If I was have to made my own 163 rather than the Horten it would have been done a month ago.

I also said that I could make one ( a kit ) for $150 and Jack dropped his kit price to $150

But he quickly raised the price back to the original cost.

[normandy]

Pickel, do you think you'll ever make a Me-163 kit?

[Airacobra]

Pickel, what about the Tony you were working on? It looked great, do you plan on finishing it and offering a kit?

[flyboy_fx]

I have lots of trouble saving money so a $150 Komet gets my vote 100xs over!!!!

[Dauntless]

Pickel, what about the Tony you were working on? It looked great, do you plan on finishing it and offering a kit?

Ahem, isn't that the one that got requisitioned by aka Skyworks?

[Airacobra]

Pickel, what about the Tony you were working on? It looked great, do you plan on finishing it and offering a kit?

Ahem, isn't that the one that got requisitioned by aka Skyworks?

If I understand the context in which you are using the term requisitioned, that would be his P-36, correct? I thought Pickel's Tony project was well underway and then Skyworks decided to release their Tony. That is just trying to beat him to the punch. From what I read here, Skyworks straight up stole Pickel's P-36. To me, that would be an act of requisition. I am just a fan of the KI-61 and would like to see Pickel finish his.

[pickelhaube]

The Skywork's Tony master was made by a 3-d printer. That and his P-40 kits.

HE TOLD ME THAT HE MADE THEM TO SPITE ME.

THOSE WORDS CAME OUT OF HIS MOUTH AFTER WE MADE AN ATTEMPT TO BURRY THE HATCHET.

He knew that I was working on the Tony and P-40 variations.

I am not sure if MY Tony will ever get finished

[Jnewboy]

Your the better man Mathew. Anyone who operated like that deserves what is obviously happening to his company. We should all work TOGETHER to progress the hobby, I could not have done many things I have done without help from you and The Hun (aka Woofer, aka EK), Both of you are far more skilled than I but you have both helped me immensely and are happy to do it.
Thank you for being a mentor and the bigger man!

[Dauntless]

You are humble Mathew, and a big credit to this hobby. Wasn't sure about the details, just knew I didn't like what I read previously in your dealings with them.

Again, sad, pride cometh...

[flyboy_fx]

LOL, he made it with a 3d printer and it still costs X10 as much. xD. Not saying designing 3D models is an easy task but... Your stuff is all hand made with extra love! LOL

[plasticboy]

The Skywork's Tony master was made by a 3-d printer. That and his P-40 kits.

HE TOLD ME THAT HE MADE THEM TO SPITE ME.

THOSE WORDS CAME OUT OF HIS MOUTH AFTER WE MADE AN ATTEMPT TO BURRY THE HATCHET.

He knew that I was working on the Tony and P-40 variations.

I am not sure if MY Tony will ever get finished

Matthew, I'm expecting to have Tony, if you can continuing!!

[Light.Inf.Scout]

Wow...never thought much of this guy or his company after receiving my 350 dollar POS ME 163, but after hearing all this other BS...seems he got what he deserved.

[gburch]

LOL, he made it with a 3d printer and it still costs X10 as much. xD. Not saying designing 3D models is an easy task but... Your stuff is all hand made with extra love! LOL

hey -- what's wrong with 3D printers!

[toyktdlgh]

I remember the issues that this guy had when posting here. If memory serves he was rude and quick to bark out at people. Their early products looked like crap but some of their later stuff was good. I never bought form him primarily because I just didn’t trust him.

I do hope that nothing horrible has happened in their lives but I personally will not miss Sky Works Toys at all. I hope those who have sent them money can get back what was theirs. It sounds like they are basically telling people to open up disputes with PayPal. That’s scary but on par with how I would expect them to do business.

[pickelhaube]

More bad news from Fighting 1/18

http://forums.fighting118th.com/showthr ... #post30518

[normandy]

Oh boy the s---'s gettin deep...........

[gburch]

More bad news from Fighting 1/18

http://forums.fighting118th.com/showthr ... #post30518

Very sad, and an object lesson in how to do things wrong, while you, PH, are an object lesson in how to do things right. You keep us all informed of progress, you let us know when your "real life" work is keeping you from your projects for your customers here, and you ultimately make good on what you say you're going to do.

IF we ever see what I hope we see some day -- which is a leverage of new technologies to make the "garage builders" a bigger force in this market -- these lessons (negative and positive) are PURE GOLD.

[aferguson]

it is of little surprise that Jack has turned out to be a crook...

And if the Audey Murphy incident is any lesson, we can look for him to be arrested at some point in the future. He's probably made off with more than A.M. ever did.

All those who have lost money to this character have to persist with legal means to recover their funds and have him apprehended before he starts up under another name and does it again.

ps: i guess this would make it ok to copy his molds now. I don't think he'll be wanting to dispute it, given he's going to have several law agencies looking for him....lol.

[flyboy_fx]

LOL, he made it with a 3d printer and it still costs X10 as much. xD. Not saying designing 3D models is an easy task but... Your stuff is all hand made with extra love! LOL

hey -- what's wrong with 3D printers!

I guess it is just because he did it in spite.
But nothings wrong with them xD I was bragging about "This dude I know on a forum" who was making 1/18 V2s! lol

[Coreyeagle48]

Greetings

I wish I had saved some of the emails from this guy as people wouldn't believe what they were reading. It was just that ridculous.

Everything I had ever gotten from him had some sort of issue. The Thunderbirds F-16 I ordered was interesting. Like someone said he played the game of taking pictures from far away because it looked great but then when you got close it had all sorts of problems. He got overspray in places, the decals were lifting and the exhaust nozzle wasn't chromed because "he forgot" when I specifically asked him to do it. The worst issue was the tailpiece. He overclearcoated it so it was a yellowish tint, but because he didn't do the rest of the plane, this stood out, especially if you photographed the plane outside. So I wrote him asking him to fix it which he did.

That's when on the way back to me the tail went missing. Not my fault as I provided my correct mailing address, etc. Jack tried to claim it was and tried to claim it was my responsibility to go find the package. I made efforts through my local post office and they couldn't locate. So my F-16 sat for over 6 months without a tail, and he would write me emails about how he was "sad" and "sorry" the F-16 didn't have a tail. It took me going through Pickel to get a tail made, sent to him, so he'd paint it. It was crazy. I actually really thank Pickel for stepping up and doing it, it would have never got done had I waited around for Skyworks to do it. In fact he wanted me to pay for the tail, and it was an insane amount too...

So then the F-14 came along and given my good nature I decided to give him another chance. So I had him despot and F-14. He did that, and did a decent job, but I also asked him to specifically check the landing gear and all the parts for issues....knowing what a mess the JSI F-14 was. He didn't do that, the plane had 2 of the same tails and was missing a small part of the landing gear. Only by good luck I was able to secure the two parts I needed from another board member and get the F-14 the way it was supposed to be.

Then for awhile he seemed on the up and up here so I ordered a Hurricane...put a $100 down deposit on it, but given all the issues told him I wanted it to be nearly finished before I gave him any more money. He agreed. Back in December I was told the plane was nearly finished...I suspected something a little fishy just by the way the email was worded and asked a general question only to find the Hurricane wasn't close to being finished, it wasn't assembled or painted. I replied I would pay the full amount when I saw photos of the progress and how much was the full amount. Never heard back after that. In a way, I am sincerely glad I did not put any more money into that.

Overall, just horrible customer service and a bad attitude. If you make a mistake or lose something on your watch so to speak you have to own up to it. He was never willing to do that. It was always someone else's fault or a misunderstanding or something.

On a side note I can speak about some of the stuff being poor quality and not just the stuff being my own. A couple years ago the MTS had a booth up at the Reading World War II Weekend Airshow. They were selling a variety of aircraft and collectibles as they do on their online store. In a case they had a couple of Skyworks ME-163's on display and for sale. I happened to see them and take a closer look. Both had flaking decals, paint issues and looked crude in construction. This was when the ME-163 was new for him so maybe those issues were fixed, but the work at the time did not impress me at all and I thought was way overpriced.

I post this not to continue to beat a dead horse, but to show people what truly went on, that it affected many people, and as a warning just in case they make a return not to deal with them.

[Jnewboy]

Dude!
I never had any idea that his stuff was that bad!
I am not going to say every model I make is perfect but its only fair to take up close photo's. I only bought kits from him and that sturmtiger which was so bad it was basically a kit.

The finishing process takes time, period. If you cut corners it will show, the more corners you cut the more it will show, sounds like he just got greedy and made up for it by cutting corners; "assembly line modeling" usually leaves out detail and creates mistakes, especially if you have guys working for you that dont care about the quality.

[flyboy_fx]

I feel crummy if I accidentally put a small piece on backwards on someones model. 0_0

[Jnewboy]

I feel crummy if I accidentally put a small piece on backwards on someones model. 0_0

me to, I look at old models I did years ago and even before and think I could have done this or that better