Clone surprises

[jock1092]

A while back I picked up a nice brass dotmod mech clone, including postage and an rda (which was about £15 alone) I expected little.

As it turned out, it was a beautiful, shiny, heavy mod with a switch as smooth as authentic and same situation with the threads.
I liked it.

But then I decided to patina it.
Thats when I found something strange
Threw it in a jar with another mod that was colouring but after a few days no change. Damn

So I began sanding it back to try again...
The shiny gold stripped away to a steel grey.
That's why it was cheap.

But that's not the end, it got put away, half sanded never to see use again... Until last night

I decided a stainless mod with a golden top and bottom would go well with a stainless atty so began sanding again to find....
Copper!
So now it's some golden metal over steel over copper, seems a lot of effort for a clone

Anyway let's get the steel off now, copper it is....

A slither of brass appears under the copper under the steel under the polished brass.

I had no idea some clones had such an unnecessary level of finishing, I mean surly it's easier to just polish rather than 3 layers of plating and a polish right???

 

[eyeball kid]

A while back I picked up a nice brass dotmod mech clone, including postage and an rda (which was about £15 alone) I expected little.

As it turned out, it was a beautiful, shiny, heavy mod with a switch as smooth as authentic and same situation with the threads.
I liked it.

But then I decided to patina it.
Thats when I found something strange
Threw it in a jar with another mod that was colouring but after a few days no change. Damn

So I began sanding it back to try again...
The shiny gold stripped away to a steel grey.
That's why it was cheap.

But that's not the end, it got put away, half sanded never to see use again... Until last night

I decided a stainless mod with a golden top and bottom would go well with a stainless atty so began sanding again to find....
Copper!
So now it's some golden metal over steel over copper, seems a lot of effort for a clone

Anyway let's get the steel off now, copper it is....

A slither of brass appears under the copper under the steel under the polished brass.

I had no idea some clones had such an unnecessary level of finishing, I mean surly it's easier to just polish rather than 3 layers of plating and a polish right???

Clones often surprise. We forget that they are made in an area that has every production process known to man readily set up and available on a massive scale. So process that would cost a small modmaker in the west a small fortune to set up and dozens of man hours to complete can be done for pennies. Also the mod is likely made from an offcut from another more expensive product.
The recent mulciber rda clone is already surpassing the original in some eyes as it is actually made with higher quality materials than the original that has a tendency for rust to pop up in the nooks and crannies.
It's nice when occasionally you get a nice surprise.

 

[jsixtysix]

Gold directly on copper goes funny and tarnishes so there's usually nickel in between.

 

[jock1092]

Gold directly on copper goes funny and tarnishes so there's usually nickel in between.

Ah that stupid make sense, I suppose it would be the same reason for brass /copper /silvery stuff /gold
Seems I might have been better leaving it if the outer plating was gold though as it would have needed very little cleaning in that case