Quote Originally Posted by SnoC653 View Post
I don't think they are either. But if I buy a billet part from someone, say a trick timing cover, take it to a local machine shop and ask them to make me 3 copies of it (for my own personal use) are you saying that would be fair to the original designer? It takes very little effort to reverse engineer something rather than to design it in the first place. The point is, there is a prop designer or someone who reworked the prop to make it work the way it did. They have their time and money invested in acquiring the skills to make said prop work. My question is more specifically, how is reverse engineering a prop any different from reverse engineering any other part?
Snoc, the prop's that are being copied are refined parts. They are'nt just a prop straight from a manufacturer. They have been reworked to your specs or info by a craftsman with experience that was probably paid to do so. The prop may look similiar to what it started as but it is not the same as the original part. You bought a prop and paid for it to be modified, it's yours. If that prop works perfect for you why would you not want another exactly like it? Like westernaero said, it's impossible to get more than one prop the same by hand. Reverse engineering a custom prop that you like is very different than reverse engineering a trick timing cover that you had no input in.