It seems to me that it would have just as easy to get the outside appearance right, from the first, as it was to dick it up. The fools could have copied a Shoei for God's sake.
Good point...not to mention you can buy an original one for a price that is not astronomical ,especially if it is a semi only kit gun and get your needed info from there.
If shoei can get one stamped up why not them..?
Of course I am not, nor have ever been, in the small scale gun manufacturing business, but as a business owner i can apprecitate the need to make compromises in order to make something work..especially from a financial perspective .
Most projects begin with an attractive ,affordable, and sustainable pricing point as the objective and then you design around that.
With a specific price as your goal post you are constantly dancing with the devil trying to balance demand & desireabiltity with affordability and it can sometimes doom a project when you get tunnel visioned on price.
You can convince yourself that what you are creating is "close enough" to satisfy the market you are seeking.
We all know that quality sells, but quality comes @ a price that some will freely pay but many will not, so you are stuck trying to decide which direction to go....sell a few for a lot or sell many for a little...... or you try to span the gap and sell to the inbetween and I think that is where they are and perhaps this is where they planned to be.
If it looks the part ,is constructed well, and runs reliably that may be all it needs to sell to the target audience so perhaps it will be a home run for them in that aspect .
And as a fellow entreprenuer who sticks their neck out on a daily basis I hope it is a success for them but there will be many / most collectors who will likely not be looking to buy and I am sure they were aware of that when they set out to build it.