tm9-801.com

Does anyone own a copy of Portrayal Press's:

Truck 1-1/2 ton Chevrolet 4x4, WW2 (G506)

Operation, maintenance. 267 pages. High quality reprint. #TM9-805 ... $39

That they could scan in a page, or comment on the quality of the images?

There is a Chevy TM on ebay for the same price, and it shows images... they look to be gray scale which is a lot better than the other PP TMs I have.

Nevermind!

www.tm-ww2.com has their shit together!

For $33 I got PDF (high quality!) of the TM9-805 AND SNL-G-506.

THIS IS HOW YOU RUN A BUSINESS!!!! Portrayal Press can KISS MY ASS! hahahahahaha

Just to update on the order. Once you buy a TM, you can have a disc mailed or get a free download. I just got the email with the links and am in the process of downloading the TMs.

This is how you leverage the Internet to sell your product!!!! I have the OPTION of paying for discs or a download to burn on disk.

When I got my SNG-G-508 from them a year or so ago I asked specifically about downloads.... great to see they got it done... I'm sure many others also like this type of service.

Here's a sample of the TM9-805. There is a watermark, but it's unobtrusive.



WELL DONE.

Here's a sample of the SNL-G-506




No moire, high detail. Not the big black splotch that certain other TM vendors force you to endure

Turns out your postings about Portrayal had a certain foreshadowing... Don't know if you've heard, but Dennis (owner of Portrayal) is closing the business, due to health problems. There is a really nice write up about him in the latest Supply Line. His manuals may have been surpassed recently by newer technologies and new competition, but he provided an invaluable service at a time that no one else was interested... Many MV collectors own him a debt of gratitude for providing manuals that they couldn't get anywhere else.

Yeah he was the only game in town for a llooonnnggggg time. I did get many TMs from them (SNL-G-508, TM9-801, TM9-1801, 1/4 and 1 ton trailer parts books) but over the years the offerings never really seemed to grow, CCKW/Chevy wise.

Its sad that another long timer is going... but one would hope that there would be some sort of transition into the year 2000. Make the Manuals available on DVD/Download, heck put them online and searchable like the TM9-801 I have. I'm sure that he has some really good TMs that never made it into reproduction. Now they will go to his friends and I doubt that they would have any interest in making them available as copies.

When I go, I am leaving all my TMs to the Army Historical and Education Center in Carlisle. If they don't want them then sell them. By then I will have digitized them and put them on the Internet (whatever that is in 30 years).

If PP doesn't sell its interest (aka the business just 'ends') it would be a great service if the owner made the companies works PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Legally, almost of the the books he sold were ALREADY public domain (any work of the governments is typically public domain anyway) and its black letter law that making a copy of a public domain work(s) confers absolutely no copyright to the person making the copy... ie the work doesn't go FROM public domain to copyright simply because a xerox or digital scan is made. The work must be transformative.

This is also true of the people who sell CD's or repro manuals. Claiming to own copyright is laughable... you don't.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf

"Copyright Protection in Derivative Work
The copyright in a derivative work covers only the additions,
changes, or other new material appearing for the first time in
the work. It does not extend to any preexisting material and
does not imply a copyright in that material.
One cannot extend the length of protection for a copyrighted
work by creating a derivative work. A work that has
fallen into the public domain, that is, a work that is no longer
protected by copyright, can be used for a derivative work,
but the copyright in the derivative work will not restore the
copyright of the public-domain material. Neither will it prevent
anyone else from using the same public-domain work
for another derivative work.
In any case where a protected work is used unlawfully,
that is, without the permission of the copyright owner, copyright
will not be extended to the illegally used part"

But it would be a lot 'easier' if he simply posted in the MVPA rag that the PP books are all public domain.

As stated above, even if he sold the business... PP has no copyrights to enforce... but it would be a magnanimous thing to do for the hobby.

I'm waiting for the MVPA archives to start publishing documents... the are in the same boat.