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Old 09-18-2008, 09:30 PM
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Mark II Mark II is offline
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Semroc's term "Retro-Repro" is by far the most precise description of what most of us on the forums refer to as a "clone." That is, it is a "Repro"(duction) of a "Retro" (vintage) kit (or design). It is a copy of a vintage design, using reproductions of original parts. Most of Semroc's vast catalogue of parts, and Excelsior's "Classic Waterslide Decals" collection are very accurate copies of components used in vintage kits. You can build a very accurate copy of a vintage model rocket using components from these two sources, but neither of them are original manufacturers of those parts (except that Semroc also has new versions of the parts that they used in their own kits back in the late '60's.) This is by far the most common method used to clone an old design.

Doug has accurately described various meanings of the term "kit-bashing." But when I mentioned the term in my earlier post, I was talking about acquiring various old kits, mostly incomplete ones, in order to harvest their parts. A person would keep doing this until he or she has enough OEM parts from the correct era to build a version of a rocket from that era that is truly vintage, through and through. The result could also be called a "clone," because it was built from a collection of parts, and not from an original, complete kit. It could also be said to have been "kit-bashed," for obvious reasons. Their have been some in the past who asserted that this was the only "true" form of cloning, but I think that they had it backwards. What I just described above is a true form (but not necessarily the only true form) of kit-bashing. The process that I described in the first part of this post, on the other hand, is pure cloning.

There is one other thing that I wanted to say about this kind of kit-bashing: it can often be much more cost-effective, and much less emotionally and ethically distressing, way to build a truly vintage rocket. The usual way to do this is, of course, to obtain a vintage kit and build it. But as you have noticed, vintage kits, when thay can even be found, can be quite pricey, because in many cases, they have become rare collectibles. There have been VERY EXTENSIVE discussions in the past on this forum and in other places about the ethics or desirablility of opening and building vintage kits, including some that might be quite rare. (PLEASE NOTE: I do NOT want to reignite this debate here!!) If you search for some of these threads, you will find that opinions in the rocketry community about this subject are absolutely all over the map. There is a significant number of rocket builders, though, who believe that one should preserve very old, unopened kits whenever possible, and simply clone the designs instead using reproduction parts. But if you like the idea of building an old rocket that is completely vintage all the way through, then obtaining your parts on eBay from incomplete kits or parts assortments from the relevant era can be a way to avoid this dilemma.

Mark \\.
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