Club Obi Wan

Patience, my young Padawan.

Dr.J...any chance of some rear shots + top and bottom? I'd love to see the back of the rounds:)

Sorry, I JUST read this. I will try to take more pics and post them this week! TAZ, you will NOT be disappointed! I promise!

Regards, Dr. J

Hey, that's cool Dr.J. I look forward to seeing them. The more I wait the more nervous I become that my replica is going to be held up by my local customs dept'. I couldn't stand it it this were the case.

Artsee has been fantastic in regards to making my piece. He was ultra fast.

Regards
TAZ

Well... I rang customs and they notified me that my Artsee replica arrived 2 days ago and has been impounded. Apparently I am now going to have to go through the hoops to get it. This includes either joining a gun club where I have to attend 6 times a year with my replica!!!! (I'm better off than the other guy I was told about. He's got two die cast lighters!!! Imagine rocking up to the range 6 times a year just for that!)
I also may have to get a firearms licence!!!! I just can't believe this @#$%!!!
Either those options or join the military collectors guild and wait 12mths before I pass their clearance time. WHich BTW I have to pay a gun dealer to hold my replica for $5.00 per month until I can get it.
I hope the guns registry has some sense in this matter


Sigh....
IndyTaz

Maybe I should just do another one and try again.

Paul

What do you mean? Try another one?

IndyTaz

Well why don't you just start over and hope the other will come but have a better chance of the next one not being opened by customs? I hear unpainted ones can have less trouble for instance.

Then if you do ever get the other one it will be a bonus.

Paul

Great Idea Artsee...If I had any more money left Why didn't I think of that?

Seriously though...thanks for the concern. It probably would work. Especially unpainted and just labeled as a toy model or something...I do hope I can have it one day I'll keep everyone here posted on this soap opera. I'll probably have it ready for Indy IX.

Regards
IndyTaz

Well I just said that cus It sounded like you were gonna be spending money anyway and on a monthly basis even.

Paul

I see....I think

Regards
TAZ

Well folks here's an update on the Artsee1 replica saga. I can't have it. I've gone through months of #%@ to find this out. I now have a finite time (before it's destroyed) to send it back through customs to Artsee1. That may be the only way to recoup some of my dollars:( He kindly said he would sell it on consignment for me. I never even got to hold it. Nor can I resell it here as I'm not allowed to import it. Stupid rules. Funnily enough if I had of got it a year earlier there would have been no probs apparently. Sneaky legal issues:(

Anyone got any ideas how I can fill my holster? I can't really sculpt. No bananna jokes. I am very sore:(

This is too sad.

If anyone would like to buy contact me or Artsee1.


BTW The cool thing is he actually weighted mine with metal alloy at extra extra cost to give it some heft.

I suppose I'd be happy to swap for a Wested lol

Regards in despair:(
TAZ

Sorry to hear that, mate. We've got strict laws against gun replicas and airsofts here in Malaysia too, so I never bothered ordering any, coz I know I'll never get it. The alternative I took is modifying those cheap 2 dollar guns, which I'm sure you can get at a toy store over there. Nothing much to it, cut the barrel shorter, spray paint and your holster's filled. Just a suggestion.

Filling it with a Acrylic caulk will give some heft to it as well. Make sure you use Acrylic, however, as a large mass of Latex caulk will not set up properly.

Cheers
Craig

Do they open every customs package there, or did they find it by x-ray?? I've known people to wrap items in carbon paper to avoid x-ray detection in packages. Maybe you could try that- not that I advocate breaking the law in any way,shape or form

TR

Even though it is a fake gun I am probably not going to be shipping to places like this anymore because the risks are too high.

I wish there was some way to know what the rules are before you make a mistake but we are living in such a complicated world that the rules and laws change so fast in, that there is no way to keep up and know ahead of time. I mean it now defies common sense. It is a harmless piece of plastic! I give up. Help.

Paul

Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. I just received the same replica gun from Artsee1 with no problems. I know that I am in the same country, but why should I be able to receive one, but IndyTaz can not?

It is only a molded piece of plastic and the only way you can hurt someone with it is to hit them over the head. Of course it would probably just break the replica.

I just received my Raiders pocketknife from Austria. It is a locking blade knife with a 3 inch blade. I know for a fact that you can kill someone with it as I once made an onscene arrest in a homicide that had just occurred and the suspect was still holding the murder weapon, a Buck knife with a three inch locking blade. He stabbed the dude right in the heart. I had no problems receiving the Raiders pocket knife through the mail. It just doesn't make sense when you think about it.

Taz, I am sorry to hear about your problems receiving this prop. It really was a beauty and would have made you a happy camper. Sometimes the laws just don't make sense, but we all just have to live with them. In this day and age, I am sure it is only going to get worse.

Artsee and Taz-- I have a very good idea for you! Artsee, if you could make Taz one of your guns IN THREE PIECES! The barrel, the frame/yolk/cylinder section, and the grips. Make them in a way that Taz can either 1. glue them together,,or better yet SCREW them together.
Mold or drill-and-glue a male/female screw set in each piece (1.male coming out of grip which can be screwed into----2.female in frame/yolk/cylinder section,,,and 2.a male OUT of the cylinder into 3.a female in the barrel.)

Then send Taz the pieces seperately with a cassette tape or other piece of bogus @#$% so it just looks like a piece of plastic.

You could probably help out a lot of gearheads in other countries by sending them this way, and keep yourself from getting in trouble since you're only sending small pieces of plastic!

just an idea!

TR

TR, I was thinking of the same idea for Todd's gun replica. I've always wondered if you could skate by some of these laws by selling/shipping the pieces individually as a kit. If you include one of those orange tips with the kit and attatch it to the barrel, that should seal the idea that it's just a harmless prop. Then the new owner can either remove the tip or paint it black ... or not.

Depending on how they authorities screen the incoming packages, shipping replicas in partial kit form would still be risky for countries that have strict laws for gun replicas and airsofts. I think the red tip to distinguish an airsoft from a real gun would be a viable option where such strict laws are absent.

For Australia, you cannot import airsoft unless you hold a firearms license. For Singapore / Malaysia / Thailand / Indonesia, airsoft is very much out of the question and are completely banned, unless you have special government approval or authorization to import. In Malaysia, one can get charged under the Firearms Act for possessing an airsoft or replica without permit. There have been cases where an offender gets 10 years imprisonment, I kid you not.

Hey folks. thanks for all the great advice and the sympathy.

Bufflehead...you just had to rub it in how great Artsee1's replica is huh

I like TR idea...3 pieces. It's all up to Artsee though whatever happens. I must say to everyone here he is a great guy and a terrific vendor:) I would certainly go with him next time I want something made...that I can't have Seriously though...anyone wanna buy a replica 1917? lol

Carbon paper? Does that really work?

Regards
TAZ

I still haven't found out how much these cost. How much is yours, Taz?

Hey, what if you made a "shroud" of some sort that could fit over the replica? What I'd propose it that you make some simple, funky, brightly colored ray gun that looks so obviously like something out of an old, cheezy sci-fi movie that anyone in customs would see it as a silly toy. It would almost be a gun-shaped case for the replica. Just make the seams solid enough that it'll take a screwdriver or something to snap it open to get to the real replica. That way, if customs agents pick it up and examine it, it won't fall open, exposing the real replica inside. Would something like that work?

I think the more you tried to hide something that looks like a real gun, the more it would look like you're actually doing something wrong if discovered.

I would think the best way would be to ship the gun in pieces, perhaps in several different shipments, and definately as unpainted raw resin. And describing it on the customs form as an "unassembled plastic model kit."

I'm sure it's the realistic finish that's causing many of the problems in customs.

I don't think it is the finish. I think the countries they are going to, don't allow replica firearms. It doesn't matter how good or bad the paint job is.

Strider wrote:I still haven't found out how much these cost. How much is yours, Taz?

Remember that X never marks the spot, but in this case, X is the fourth post in this thread.

I believe Buff is correct, it's not the finish that brings attention to the gun, it is the SHAPE when they x-ray it. Also, Taz, since you ordered one that is heavy, the weight of the package may raise suspicion, not to mention the metal that was added to yours REALLY showed up in x-ray. If it'd only been the resin, it would have only showed up as a 'ghost' image, but since the metal was in it, it may have looked more like a real gun,I dunno. I'd say go with the 3 piece, 3 package idea, I don't think you'd have any problem with that at all.

And yes, carbon paper works


TR

Thanks for the info folks, Texas:) Not that I would try something like that...sorta...welll...oh Lordy

Regards
TAZ

Australian Customs check everything. They open everything. EVERY parcel I've had from the US (eBay, or regular purchase, or from friends) has the yellow "Opened by Australian Customs" tape on it. Even things that wont show up on an xray. I've imported t-shirts and they open them. There is simply no way to import a replica firearm into the country if you are not a firearms dealer, and even then it's not easy.

The pieces idea may work, but if they open one of the parcels they'll come looking for others...

Ironically importing a pocket knife is no problem usually.

Thanks for the info Merrick. Hope I don't have this much trouble when I finally purchase my "indy" pocketknife

You sound like a man experienced in tha ways of customs:) Or is that customs, custom's?

Regards
TAZ

Taz, I bet I could get one to ya! In one of two ways.
1. thru the mail,,or
2. A friend of mine is going to Australia in June. I could ask him if he would toss one in his luggage.

In either case, it would have to be the ALL RESIN replica, with no metal in it. If you can get yours back to Artsee, and switch it out for a solid resin version, let me know and we'll get ya one!

TR

The luggage is your only option IMO.

I'm certain that the mail will get checked, and no doubt Custom's now have Taz 'tagged' as such...

Or Taz, you could join a gun club, do your 20 hours or whatever it is in Tassie, pay up to $1000 for your licence/ membership, pay entry fee into the 6 or so competition shoots required to keep your licence, hire or purchase a weapon for those shoots, and and then buy an Indy style revolver (of course it would have to be chambered for .38 or smaller, cos any larger is also illegal) which most likely you will have to keep locked in a safe or locked at your club.

Of course gun crime is so much less in Australia due to these laws. Not.