I can fully understand where Rick is coming from. Not a lot from the rip off point of view, but more of a personal nature.
When you put your heart and soul into bringing one of these little engines to life, I personally consider it part of myself, and it would be like selling say a finger or a toe.
I used to make and sell model engines, for my workshop upkeep, but that was a different matter, they were turned out six at a time on a production basis, and everything was geared to making it easy to produce but still retain quality, profitability and selling price was based around hours done and materials used.
With all my personally made engines over the years, I have only ever sold one of them, made from castings, so that doesn't really count. You might think I have a massive collection weighing down my shelves. I would have had, if I hadn't given them all away to friends over the years. They were just too precious to sell, but gave great enjoyment to the people I have given them to, and as far as I know, every one is still in the hands of the original recipient. From a model shop owner in Frankfurt, Germany, to my friend in Moscow.
The last actual engine I made was about 8 months ago.
http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1492.0
One of those silly little rocking engines. It now has pride of place in my 30 year old nephews study, running off a hidden fish tank pump.
He was very impressed with my work one time he came to visit, so I gave him a free choice of what engines I had in my shop. Rather than going for say one of my 'Paddleducks' engines or one of my turbines, which he could have had with no arguments from me at all, he chose that little gem. Enjoyment for me to make, even more enjoyment for my nephew, because he knows how much I had put into it, and by me giving it to him, was like me giving him part of me. Something to be cherished.
Some things are for selling, others, never.
Bogs