We touched on this in the old forum (
here).
Tinman commented as follows:
"I looked at his (or her) ebay listing again and it clearly states the following:
"None of our models are repaint or repro so please buy with complete confidence."
Then they go on to say this:
"POSSIBLY PRE PRODUCTION PROTOTYPE ( THERE ARE CONFLICTING OPINIONS AS TO WHETHER A SMALL NUMBER OF THESE PLASTIC MODELS EXIST, PLEASE SATISFY YOURSELF AS I AM NOT ABLE TO CONFIRM EITHER WAY, A DEFINATE AND UNIQUE BARGAIN IS THUS POSSIBLE)."
My understanding of what they wrote is at first; hype for the model being a pre-production model. However (because it's NOT a real pre-production model), they go on to make a clear disclaimer that it's already been rejected (as a pre production) by someone, somewhere (more likely, they know it's just a home made resin copy need the disclaimer to keep themselves out of trouble).
Their statement about repaint's and repro's is more fictitious hype. I suspect this person is doing his or her very best to hype up a simple and rather crude home cast resin copy into a big payday. Lesney's resin models were never that size nor were they ever that crude. An ink jet label is also just something you won't find on a prototype or pre-production model from that era.
It has the look of a resin cast model. Resin casting is too slow and expensive for cheap knock-offs. The knock-off artists make dies from the original model and then alter them to reinforce certain areas to make the plastic stronger at key points. They use injection molding to produce the copies.
If it is a cheap knock-off then they made a very crude resin model to use as a guide to machine the die (doesn't make much sense). Either way, it's exactly the kind of thing he/she loudly claims not to sell.
It's just a total rip-off the way it's being advertised and sold. I would put this person on your DO NOT BUY FROM list. I am very satisfied it's a complete rip-off and the story is total fiction"