Quote - when would a model become my own?

I have a model of a train paid for.

I have taken said model and chopped it up.into about 8 sections. removed parts of the body. copied other parts and added them. changed the scale of others.

so how much do I have to change to make it my own to do with as I wish,

with out sued?

or would I have to start all over. even if I liked the shape so much that if I did start over it looked like the first one after I had finished chopping?

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to make it "your own"? Do you want to sell it or distribute it? I personally don't see harm in taking someone elses model and mincing it up a bit to create some secondary product you need such as an animation or something like that. In that case you should credit the original author who created the original model just as you would if you had used the original model in its original form. I think most models are intended for people to use them in animations or graphics of some sort. I would think you could do this without being sued so long as you give proper credits or abide by the rules of the creator.

At first glance, I don't understand why anyone would want to sell or distribute something, even in part, which was created by someone else.

Please visit My 3D Freebies

Thank you for your patronage!