kwt950
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Posts posted by kwt950
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The Astro was way ahead of the release of the Special Edition Sarge by at least 3 years. Makes one wonder if GM was testing the response by making the Astro. As Lee mentioned, the side emblems are different than any other Astro 95. They use the same script font as the Sierra Classic, Gaucho, VanDura, and others during that era.
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The Special Edition Chevy C-10 pickup that used that paint scheme was called Sarge. It was available across the pickup, van, medium and heavy duty trucks.
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Everyone,
I normally don’t voice myself on social media at all unless I have a strong opinion to express. As being one of the earliest model truck masters in the resin cottage industry, I had first hand at figuring out selling my products and keep a work, life, and hobby balance. Realistically, Mark Savage, Clint Freeman and me were all producing fine resin conversions and model truck accessories during the 80’s-90’s. Until, the greedy individuals who stole our work and would sell their knockoffs through the grapevine. So each of us decided to stop selling our products.
During my years of selling I made sure I had my copyrights and legal contracts with PACCAR to sell my product under their license and I paid my royalties for many years and I also would go after those thieves. But it became too much theft and deception of those who lied, cheated and stole our profits from us and that’s the real reason Mark, Clint and I left the cottage industry in total.I can relate with what Doug said in his email and it is almost exactly what Mark Savage had to say when he quit. I have heartfelt feelings for Doug and I hope he will find peace and happiness doing something different like we did.
Only the selfish ones lone for materialistic things. Just be grateful for the short time we cottage industry people have served you all.
Master Modeler,
Bill Drennen
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I’m so proud to watch Lee grow his modeling skills. The street goes both ways, he’s showed me things that helped me also. The only one I’ve not mastered is his painting skills, he can flow paint on like spreading butter on bread. For those reading this, you may be looking at his model and you may think he spray painted, but in reality he brushed painted the part with no brush strokes. Our dad was amazed at his painting skills always.
Bill
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gotnitro, I taught Lee about the Micro Balloons trick several years ago, probably in the late 80’s when I was building my KW 900L conversion kit master. Although, I showed him how to use baking soda as a substitute instead since it’s much more cheaper. Mixed with superglue there is no shrinking and it’s a quick gap filler. The RC teams have used this solution for decades on fast repair in the field or during races.
Bill Drennen
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Everyone,
First, I'd like to thank all those who purchased and supported me during these past few decades in the model truck cottage industry. It's hard to believe it has been 27 years since I first announced my Kenworth W900L resin cab conversion kit. And now, it is time for me to move on in my life and take on other activities with my 4 grand-kids and one more on the way this year.
It pleases me to announce that Jamie Rahmoeller of MOLUMINUM is the proud new owner of my resin cab & hood conversions and several of my personal custom parts I used for myself on my own custom builds. These are now owned by Jamie and I no longer have any ties, meaning royalties or licenses with the companies my conversion kits were representing.
Over the next few weeks, Jamie and I will be transitioning the resin masters (list below) from me over to him. Please be patient with us while we are in this state of flux, you know it takes a lot of prep work to begin casting these 1/25th and 1/24th conversion kits. When Jamie has his plans together, he will announce the approximate date when he will have the castings ready for sale.
Again, I appreciate your support and I know you will enjoy the same fine quality workmanship from Jamie as you did with me.
Bill Drennen
Full Cab and Hood Conversion Kits 1/25th Scale:
Kenworth W900L, Straight and Curved cowl;
Kenworth T800;
Peterbilt 379 Extended Hood;
Hood only Conversions
1/25th Peterbilt 358 and;
1/24th Peterbilt 379 Extended Hood
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Soon as I dig them out I'll take some pictures of them, the early years in the later years and the tailgate inserts and Post. Right now I'm in the middle of a basement remodel so it might take a few weeks to dig them out of storage. I think Lee my brother still has a set. I'll bug him to see if he can post some pictures sooner probably than when I could get to it.
Bill
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My resin conversion kit is still available. KW T800 - Flat Windshield if you are interested send PM. These are pictures from Porky when he was casting my masters.
Bill
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Boy, This brings back some old memories of the late 80's early 90's. I created all of Don Holthaus's GMC grilles and tailgate inserts, as well as the 2-Ton Chevy/GMC cab conversion. And, yes it is true GM did approach Don with licensing issues and Don decided to pull his GMC products. I still have my masters, 60-63 (rounded letters) and 64-66 (squared letters), hoods, grills, and tailgate inserts. I also did Don's 57 Chevy "Apache" grille before AMT came out with theirs.
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Looking good little brother. Now you have to get'r done. -:)
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It could be a knock off of my hood, hard to tell. Can you post pics of the underside of the hood and fenders
Bill
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The 358 conversion kit is my kit. I mastered it back in the mid 90s. Clint Freeman and I entered into a partnership and I gave him the rights to cast my masters until he and I decided to shutdown because of so many thieves copying our work. I then brought it back with Eric until his health gave out and other issues develop.
Bill Drennen
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Stuff like this is why I've stayed out of the resin casting business. I was seriously considering it at one time and a good friend even offered to help me with money to get started. The more research etc. I did, the less I wanted to get into it. You see so many people getting ripped off on their products. It's happening right now to a great guy here on the forum. He totally scratchbuilt a Fairmont body and spent countless hours on it only to have some low life buy one from him and start producing and selling them on ebay. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91911
Seriously, what kind of legal action could a person take? How could you prove that they made an exact copy of your product without a copyright or trademark? If you asked them to produce a master, you know the excuse will be, "it was destroyed in the molding process and I pitched it."
It's not much different than a caster casting wheels,tires and parts directly from a kit. Many casters do that. How is it legal for them to cast parts directly from a kit that has had licensing fees paid and the copyrights? Do they have or get permission from the kit companies? Do they pay a percentage of the sales to the kit companies? That's something I don't understand.
There's a guy on ebay right now that is selling copies of the camper top from an AMT '77 Ford pickup. In his description, he swears and declares that he scratch built it and can produce the plans where he drew it up and has photos of the build process. Here's a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Resin-pickup-cap-topper-for-older-8-ft-version-trucks-Ford-Dodge-Chevy-1-24-1-25-/321488682712?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4ada37fed8
Here's another item that I'm rather suspect of..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-to-1994-Ford-F-600-F-700-F-800-Resin-truck-cab-w-pieces-Junkyard-diorama-/321494897552?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4ada96d390
Even IF you can prove the person is making copies of your product, is it going to be worth the time, money (lawyers aren't cheap) and hassle to go after them? IF you did get a judgement against them, do you think you would ever see the money? I think that's what the low life's count on.
Plowboy,
You do have to go through legal negotiations with the major mfgs in order to be licensed to sell products that bear their name. Generally speaking, you also have to carry a Liability Insurance policy of at least $1M. Then you have to track and send into the company the units you sold and pay your royalties. All this does take time and money. There are several cottage industry companies who take the time and effort to be legit. I know of a few people who were selling Mack and GMC products without legally being licensed and they both were issued letters to cease their operations or legal action will be taken.
As far as copyrights go, you can go to their website and read all about it. Only the master modeler knows his secrets that he can truly identify a counterfeit from the original. No matter how many times a counterfeiter will try and cover it up it they will know it will be there for identification.
Bill
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I will be casting more of the 1/24th Pete 379 hoods later this year for selling during the Holidays.
Bill
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I agree with you on the shows. I've been down that road also with a person who was taking claim to fame on my products, until I introduced myself to him. I asked all sorts of questions about his resin casting with a large crowd standing around and he proceeded to tell everyone how he made the truck masters and then molded them and all that, but when I popped the question "Isn't that Bill Drennen's W900L?" His chin hit the floor and didn't know what to say. Then I said to him, "I'm Bill Drennen and that is my work you are taking credit for." Then we had a discussion about making sure he is doing the right thing and not being a pirate.
Thank you for the support.
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It is true, Eric is having health issues as well as other issues also, you can see that by reading his FaceBook page. I have pulled all my products from him and started selling them direct now. If you want any of the Kenworth 900L/T800 or Petebilt 358/379 kits Bill Drennen produced you can send me a PM and I will get with you on them.
Bill Drennen
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Bill, guess i got 1 of the last of the 1/24 pete hoods from ya. Im sure glad, its very nice, cant wait to get the build started
Clayton
Yes you sure did. Send some pics during your building.
Bill
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How do you copyright a resin part?
Danno
You can google copyright on the internet and find their website. You will find that if you keep all your plans, pictures and any information on your build you are legally considered copyrighted. You also have the option to register your master patterns by sending them all your info on your creation. Hope this helps.
Bill
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Well, that's good to know about VeRO. Hopefully he won't be selling your stuff again.
Do you have a catalog or Website for your parts?
Jim,
I don't have a list because I dont have that much to keep one. I have most all of my kits execpt for the 1/24th Pete hood conversion. I have in stock my Pete 379, ($90) KW 9L ($90), Pete 358 ($40), and the suspension trunions ($5) to update the Revell Germany 8 air bag with the KW logo in the center. I also have several of my spun aluminum Vortox air cleaners($30). If you want any of these let me know though a PM.
Bill
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Looks like those have been sold.
Yes Jim, they did get sold unfortunately. It takes eBay awhile to pull the auctions. I found them about a 1-1/2 days before the auction ended. eBay said when you make the report you get put into a queue, so they didn't get to them in time before they were sold. I have had eBay pull auctions before in the past on this issue. eBay has a program named VeRO that allows you to file the Copyright Infringement charge. They said they would give him a violation for selling them.
The Verified Rights Owners program (VeRO) allows intellectual property owners to report listings that infringe their rights on the site.
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WOW I didn't know you were still in business. I don't do trucks,but a few years ago I latched onto a set of your beautiful aluminum wheels. Good to know your still around.
Thanks Mike. Yes, this old dog is still around. Sure glad you got a set of my wheels, those were so cool. If you have used them send me pics.
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All,
This is Bill Drennen. I want to post this message to everyone because I'm totally against anyone who produces unauthorized copies of my products or other’s products and tries to profit from copyright infringements. This eBay seller below has posted and sold "black resin" Kenworth W900L hoods and cab knock-offs of my copyrighted W900L on eBay without my consent. I asked him nicely to remove his auctions, but he did not. He left me no choice but to turn him in to eBay as well as filed a Copyright Infringement charge against him.
I ask of you to please do not promote this sort of behavior by purchasing the counterfeit products and if you suspect someone of this behavior, please contact the modeler who produced the originals to verify first before you make your purchase.
I, as well as others on this website have put long hard hours into making our products and have taken the funding cost to pay royalties and casters to produce our products in order to make them available to you legally. To have individuals such as this person taking advantage of our work for greed of profit is detestable. If you want to check his auctions out the numbers are listed below. And, if you know who he is, or who made these casting; I certianly want to know to take further action against those individuals producing counterfeits of my product.
You can send me a private email anytime.
Bill Drennen
Bill Drennen Truck Models
eBay Item numbers
281406857809
281406867113
271570768238
eBay ID badtxz
1965 Chevy C 80 with gravel trailer
in Model Trucks: Big Rigs and Heavy Equipment
Posted
Very beautiful build. I’m glad to see my master was put to good use. Don sold several over the years he was in business. That was my 1st master I created for sale in 1988. Don toured my polished primered mock up at every show he attended for a year before he started casting it. I haven’t seen but a few of my conversion built and I think this one is the best one.
Bill Drennen