Are ZHL kits now legit?

[Ulises Victoria]

Hello all.  

I read that ZHL has made some kind of agreement with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to legally sale their kits in the USA. Is this true?

If so: Is this below kit legit, according to the rules of this forum? I don't want to infringe any of the policies' of this forum by buying pirated goods.

Thank you.

https://www.zhlmodel.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=75&product_id=58

 

Update: I just found out that it can be purchased directly form CAF, which is listed under MSW sponsors, for a little more money.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Ulises Victoria

[scrubbyj427]

CAF is legit, ZHL is not. Buy directly from CAF.

[modeller_masa]

One interesting trend is that the banned manufactures are copying and reselling the products from the legit companies in Chinese market. 🤔

[Ulises Victoria]

22 hours ago, scrubbyj427 said:

CAF is legit, ZHL is not. Buy directly from CAF.

Exactly what I thought! CAF is just a few dollars more expensive, but If I decide to buy this kit. it'd be from CAF

I have a crazy idea involving this particular Enterprise kit. I will post it for opinions later.

Thank you all!

Edited November 6, 2023 by Ulises Victoria

[DennisL]

I am confused by this thread.  A pirated kit is a pirated kit regardless if it's sold direct by the pirating entity or thru another seller is it not??

[scrubbyj427]

25 minutes ago, DennisL said:

I am confused by this thread.  A pirated kit is a pirated kit regardless if it's sold direct by the pirating entity or thru another seller is it not??

CAF does not pirate, Tom produces original work. ZHL may be pirating his work however. I’m not sure.

[Ferrus Manus]

ZHL are known pirates. There is NO forgiveness or support for known pirates, whether the kit itself is pirated or not. Buy from CAF, because ZHL probably stole it from them. The US patent office isn't doing its job. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[mtaylor]

19 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

ZHL are known pirates. There is NO forgiveness or support for known pirates, whether the kit itself is pirated or not. Buy from CAF, because ZHL probably stole it from them. The US patent office isn't doing its job. 

Add to that, China does NOT recognize US patents/copyrights or patents/copyright from any place other than China.  This is not the US patent office fault but China's.

[Ferrus Manus]

Give 'em the old pirate treatment. Maybe if gibbeting was still around, IP theft wouldn't be an issue. 🤣

[Jaager]

On 11/4/2023 at 9:39 PM, Ulises Victoria said:

read that ZHL has made some kind of agreement with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to legally sale their kits in the USA.

Wherever you read that is probably a site where mendacity is a dominant factor - or passed on by an individual who got his information such a site.

[kurtvd19]

Nothing made by ZHL is considered legit.

[Keith Black]

I guess I'm a bit daft but why consider buying a ZHL model kit at all, directly or indirectly? Since ZHL doesn't offer a unique model kit just purchase the desired model kit from a legitimate manufacture. No matter the initial cost, taking the high ground always pays off in the long run. 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Keith Black

[kurtvd19]

PRICE IS #1 TO MANY OR IS IT TOO MANY?

[uss frolick]

I was just wondering, which kit or commercial plans is ZHL pirating with their 1/48 HMS Surprise kit? That stern doesn't look anything like AL's offering... not that I would buy from a pirate company.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255287475365?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110013%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIMRXI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D258801%2C257689%26meid%3D2aefa5a7f1c04873a4e97957198a1c14%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D395047281386%26itm%3D255287475365%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D4429486%26algv%3DPromotedRVIPbooster&_trksid=p4429486.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A2552874753652aefa5a7f1c04873a4e97957198a1c14|enc%3AAQAIAAAA8JsbtOKd5uIU0OgsJNCgXCNi9myTAUM6pp1nmm4btdf5dERa5LwsuAyzqy1g%2FLfFz7rodarwgPl8iPfFNjhm%2B4y0UGJYL1Y4IT1zRL6fV1YOCDvZ61H6Pwl7us7XBHYnQdUEleRzFwo76MQAf3kQVFCZzptxghdEAJcSQD0Nr0QcpW5QrYH5a8AMuKmkftgcLsg8hnPu4edMHozjF9Dlxwl93QELBDhum8Zz%2BFQFhLCd%2Fghe7T3z1j07FtwDxbHXPVx7DqKnkWak5iKudT9os9bxMMCN4XP5VTx6N8OuCdeMVuGfqTaPmMinubxrWUNwWg%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A4429486

[Ferrus Manus]

Someone on Ships of Scale bought the ZHL kit and from looking at it, it's likely that they stole it from AL. There are a couple differences, like in how the parts are laid out, and a couple parts are different, so it might be a different kit. The guy's name on SoS is Jweb. 

[Ferrus Manus]

This is a screenie from ZHL's actual site showing the frames of the ship.

@chris watton This looks like something you would design. Have you ever designed a Surprise, regardless of scale? They may have scaled it up. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Bingo! 

The sterns on the ZHL 1/48 model and the Model Shipyard kit, available in either 1/78 or 1/60, are identical. 

 

SHAMEFUL!! 

 

[ccoyle]

36 minutes ago, Ferrus Manus said:

The sterns on the ZHL 1/48 model and the Model Shipyard kit, available in either 1/78 or 1/60, are identical. 

 

We need to be mindful of certain things when determining whether a kit is truly copied or not. Depending on what source materials are used, we would not necessarily expect the models produced by two different kits to look different, even if they are at different scales. They are, after all, modeling the same ship. This is a point that James and I were careful to make in our Anatomy of a Knock-Off article. Where the copy-cats have cut corners is on designing internal structures for models. There we definitely would not expect two designs to be exactly the same, as they were for the kits examined for the article. Personally, I have not been keeping a close eye on ZHL of late, so I can't recall whether we delved deeply into the provenance of their Surprise kit -- there are already enough blatant examples for making the case against ZHL.

[chris watton]

1 hour ago, Ferrus Manus said:

This is a screenie from ZHL's actual site showing the frames of the ship.

@chris watton This looks like something you would design. Have you ever designed a Surprise, regardless of scale? They may have scaled it up. 

Nothing to do with me. I do have Surprise designs, but they have never left my PC. I think this is more a case of copying other manufacturers techniques rather than thinking and innovating for themselves. I see this a lot. It does grate when I see this crap, but I avoid as much as possible and just do my own thing.

[uss frolick]

Thanks. I had not heard of the Model Shipyard kit.

 

I do hope Ancre comes out with a Corvette L'Unite/La Tourterelle (later HMS Surprise) monograph. It would sell rather well.

Edited January 6 by uss frolick

[glbarlow]

Let’s end this thread with;

 

ZHL are Chinese pirates. Nothing said on SOS is true when it comes to ZHL.

 

Let’s move on.