by SLOT DYNASTY » Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:01 pm
To determine if a machine has reproduction castings, you really have to see it in person, and know what to look for.
Mainly the imperfections on the inside of the castings. No one takes the time to clean all that up. Pictures will not
show you squat, especially if the machine has a new paint-job. The only way to tell on many of the repro castings,
on the outside, is the absence of a serial number. Original numbers usually do not show up in the new castings, and
no one has been in the habit of stamping new numbers in place. At least, not that I know of. Also, many reproduction
models, have brand new cases, that are built slightly under-size, to accommodate the shrinkage of the new recasts.
The people that build these repros, usually do not spend the time to build-up the original castings, to allow for the
shrinkage, or make new patterns.
Another thing you will occasionally see, is a machine with a brand new mechanism. There were some machines that
have been built NEW, from the ground up, because they had the tooling to do so. One example was Royal Bell, out of
Colorado, that was building Brand New "War Eagle" models. They were not trying to pass them off as originals, but
were advertising them as the New "Golden Eagle". The castings were painted all gold, not the typical yellow, black,
and red color scheme. The big problem with some of those now, is that people have repainted them in the original
colors, and are passing them off as original. The Greed never ends. Just as the case with all the Fake "Golden Maggots".
So goes the Latin phrase, "Caveat Emptor".