If would have to have written in the file, that sharing, or free distribution is allowed. There are a couple of nice Cessna models that were free but now are for sale. What people do in their private lives is their own business, on a forum, it's another issue.
Let common sense prevail. Be honest to yourself. I have been given by a member of this forum, and of Papermodelers.com, a model which he designed, of which only 6 people in the world have. I have been asked by many people to share that model. The answer is a resounding "No".
I would suggest you use the "Wayback Machine" and see if you can find the model, if you can, then that means it is still available, and I would share the link with the person (or at least not feel so bad sharing the model).
The fact is, there is a certain hypocrisy in this Hobby. I think at some time , and most of the people I know, have downloaded scans of models, and studied them. You can't get 99% of these models in the states. I have never built any scans. I have studied them, mostly years ago, when I wanted to learn more. Some companies now have such detailed pictures of their models on their site, you could build the models from the pictures they have on their website. This has been a trend lately by some of the bigger publishing houses. They rely on the customers who want the hard copy. I think they realize they aren't going to get the other people anyways.
Building a scan of a model is kind of a waste of time. You can't show anyone in the forums, they will spot it right off, so a lot of time is invested without being able to show it off. I do think that the European companies have shot themselves in the foot with this, requiring that interested parties buy $5000 dollars or more sometimes, to buy in volume.
Another problem is that it makes it extremely difficult for anyone to make money in this Hobby. I personally wouldn't try to make a dime on paper models and I have only purchased three models in my life. With all of the legitimately free ones, I never found the need to purchase any more. I also design my own models, so if I really want one, I just make it. This I have been doing since I was a kid, I think the first paper model I made was in 1966, when there weren't toys of everything that came out. So I made them. I do admit I destroyed some incredibly valuable album covers and had some siblings pissed off at me. Great source of cardboard for models, old album covers! Link to Wayback Machine below.
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
