Wright writes.....

[St Enodoc]

Typically it seems to be be " Stick A to B and if it doesn't fit, try  sticking B to A "

 

Or.  " Find a part that looks like A and stick it to a part that looks like B. These will look incredibly  like C and D but possibly E and F depending on the batch number or the wattage  of your bench lamp "

 

Also. " With a little bit of work and plenty of filing the finished model can look like something surprisingly familiar with the picture on the box "

 

As kit building became ever more popular, my very very late associate and friend,  Collon Massingham  of El Crappo Kits, improved on the above by writing instructions in Hindu and Swahili  for reasons only known to himself. 

 

Allan

 

Edited because nothing would stick together regardless as to who wrote it - or who didn't.

Ah, Graham Beaumont and Colin Massingham mentioned in (almost) the same breath - the Abbott and Costello of railway modelling?

 

Many years ago I built an MTK 2-BIL kit and put it on display at a Leeds show. Graham and Colin were looking at it and Colin said "that 2-BIL looks nice", to which Graham's immediate riposte was "can't be one of yours then".

[Poggy1165]

For the record, I would love every kit to come with A1 quality instructions.

 

However, if the choice is between a kit with crap instructions and no kit at all, I'll take the kit every time. In 7mm scale, certainly, that is often the choice. Kit sales are often low volume and of marginal profitability, and if the maker has to buy in a competent copywriter (one who understands the difference between an injector and a chimney) and a half-decent photographer, he may decide it ain't worth the bother.

 

For my part, I have come across voluminous instructions that have errors in them, or  are written in ambiguous language, or do not cover salient points, or refer you to a book published in 1958, so I'm not sure that providing instructions in plain straightforward English is a cakewalk.

[allan downes]

I don't think you've ever been at the 'duffer' stage, John,

 

Just as an aside regarding instructions, might I add this little piece, please? It has nothing to do with loco kit-making, but you mention TV instructions. May I add radio instructions to that?

 

I've not long ago bought a new car (well, new to me, anyway). It's a very fast Ford Focus. Previous to this I had an 'ordinary' Ford Focus. In that one, I could work the radio. Not in this new one! Despite reading the (what appear to be) clear instructions, all I get is either some awful modern station (pre-selected by the previous owner?) where some thick-accented DJ just assaults my hearing with his inane ramblings and plays stuff called ©rap-music and the like, or all that comes out is just a kind of low 'roaring' noise. Try as I might, I can't get TMS or music which is music. 

 

Which brings me to the point of this particular piece of rambling. It could be that the radio instructions are perfect, but I'm too dim to understand them. Every button I press just takes me into another (even more incomprehensible) sub-menu, which, like a diabolical digital maze, is impossible to escape from.

 

Is that the reason why I abandoned kit instructions? They might not have been dire at all - just me who's too dim to work them out! 

 

My radio works perfectly. Just switch the wipers on.

 

Allan

[allan downes]

Ah, Graham Beaumont and Colin Massingham mentioned in (almost) the same breath - the Abbott and Costello of railway modelling?

 

Many years ago I built an MTK 2-BIL kit and put it on display at a Leeds show. Graham and Colin were looking at it and Colin said "that 2-BIL looks nice", to which Graham's immediate riposte was "can't be one of yours then".

 

There was nothing wrong with Colin Massingham's kit instructions. I used them once to mend our washing machine.

 

Allan

[Jol Wilkinson]

I am probably one of the few on here that designed 4mm etched kits and written the instructions for for them. These have all been for John Redrup at LRM and the instructions for these have been amended where customer feedback has suggested a better way or identified a mistake. I believe I can therefore justifiably some claim experience writing instructions and can assure you that it is a is a thankless task, On average the instructions I have written include 10 pages of instructions (including information on suitable wheels, motors, gearboxes, prototype details, reference works, etc.), 4 pages of "exploded" drawings, 2 of numbered parts lists and 1 with a numbered etch outline. That's just for locos, with separate instructions for the tender. All the locos kits have been, with one exception, for LNWR locos.

 

I also know of kit designers who don't build their own designs but get someone else to do it for than and write the instructions.  Whether that produces a better result I can't say.

 

One of the biggest difficulties is knowing where to pitch the instructions in terms of the experience and skill levels that the builder may have. So invariably it will be wrong for someone.  I also know several builders who claim they just have a skim through the instructions and then get on with it. The other designer/manufacturers I know put great effort into their instructions, recognising that they are as significant as the kit design is producing a worthwhile model. Perhaps in the past instructions weren't always so good, but then "modelers"  were probably expected to have some fundamental skills learned at school. My recommendation to any new entrant to kit building is always to start with something simple but that advice isn't always followed.

 

The ongoing reduction of kit building has far less to do with poor kit instructions than with a variety of other influences in this hobby. A general erosion of handicraft skills taught at schools over the  years, an increase in the need for instant gratification through buying things, the "collector" mentality and the size of your model collection (p*n*s envy, also evident in choice of car, designer clothing, mobile phone brands etc.), the mainstream modelling media concentration on RTR manufacturer products, etc.

 

So rather than going on about poor instructions, can I suggest that, as Tony and some others do, show what you have built and inspire others to try. Point out problems you found and how you overcame them, so helping others to succeed.

[coachmann]

I've not long ago bought a new car (well, new to me, anyway). It's a very fast Ford Focus. Previous to this I had an 'ordinary' Ford Focus. In that one, I could work the radio. Not in this new one! Despite reading the (what appear to be) clear instructions, all I get is either some awful modern station (pre-selected by the previous owner?) where some thick-accented DJ just assaults my hearing with his inane ramblings and plays stuff called ©rap-music and the like, or all that comes out is just a kind of low 'roaring' noise. Try as I might, I can't get TMS or music which is music. 

I very quickly exchanged my Mondeo for a Focus while sticking with the Titanium level of trim. I dunno why now because I've never read the instructions on how to activate the talking dash or most of its fittings. A garage owner asked me if it had given me a bollocking yet. They do you know!  My youngest son drives a whopping lorry that criticizes excessive braking and records the fact so his boss can have a go at him back at the yard. If such technological equipment had been around in the 1970's it would have also had a techie-shop steward moderator shouting 'Out of order brother tachograph!' 

Edited August 8, 2017 by coachmann

[grob1234]

Well, I'm delighted. 

 

Just off the phone to Dan Pinnock. Seems like a lovely chap, and he straight away had the correct LNER bogies for my dynamometer car that I purchased off eBay. He's posting the bits to me, and even though he doesn't know me from Adam, is trusting me to pay him upon receipt. Which, needless to say I will.

 

This is true good old fashioned customer service, in my opinion. Not having to go through a load of phone menus to speak to the right person, just straight through to a very helpful gentleman. Sometimes we do bemoan our small suppliers (me included), but in this instance, I can't fault the service I have received. Thank you Mr Pinnock!

[AER_2263]

Some kit manufactures clearly have a gift for writing instructions and I really don't think it's an easy as it looks - producing drawings and writing clear and concise English are skills in their own right after all, let alone designing a complicated kit. Adding in some dry humor at times is an added bonus.

 

So credit where credit is due:

 

Grade A+, top marks awarded to High Level Kits & Rumney Models whose instructions are second to none in my opinion. Clear diagrams and lots of photographs and details.

 

Grade B Highly commended marks to Backwoods Miniatures, Martin Finney & Malcolm Mitchell.

 

Grade B- Could try harder to Brassmasters, who produce some really excellent kits but the complexity of some elements of the kits could benefit from some more detailed drawings at times. Their instructions can be wordy (apparently, a picture paints a thousand words) but perhaps that is all part of the fun, testing the builder? However, the prototype notes included are simply superb and most helpful, a real bonus (reflecting the amount of research the BM team do when designing their kits?). To be fair, their 4F kit does include a lot of 3D drawings in place of the text and the supplied CDs with photographs are very helpful.. 

 

It's all part of the fun at times.

 

Alastair

[Enterprisingwestern]

With regard to MTK, I found the words in the instructions and the parts in the kit fitted together equally badly.

 

Mike.

[kandc_au]

 

 

I also know of kit designers who don't build their own designs but get someone else to do it for than and write the instructions.  Whether that produces a better result I can't say.

 

One of the biggest difficulties is knowing where to pitch the instructions in terms of the experience and skill levels that the builder may have.

Jol,

My answer is: The lowest common denominator.

The more that can at least have a go are more likely to if they can understand and follow the instructions.

As I have said previously with the aid of Youtube info now there should be a lot more having a go rather than just buying and storing these kits!

 

khris

[Focalplane]

Alastair (AER_2263)

 

I had a Brassmaster 4F kit which I sold on when I realized my finger joints and eyesight were no longer 4mm scale compatible.  As you wrote, the CD that came with the kit contains an abundance of diagrams and instructions, including those for the simulated inside motion assembly.

 

All the more remarkable, this was for a limited run of "only" 50 kits!

 

Paul

[Jol Wilkinson]

Jol,

My answer is: The lowest common denominator.

The more that can at least have a go are more likely to if they can understand and follow the instructions.

As I have said previously with the aid of Youtube info now there should be a lot more having a go rather than just buying and storing these kits!

 

khris

In which case you would also need to provide instruction on how to solder, etc. Actually I did that by producing a booklet for LRM called "A simple guide to building etched kits", although I usually recommend one of Iain Rices books for a more entertaining read. 

[coachmann]

 The lowest common denominator is Television level and assumes the buyer is a complete numpty.  Instructions would start with, 'This is not a toy'   Eh????  'It is unsuitable for adults under 14 , those of a nervous nature, folk who avoid anything complicated like soldering, people who suffer from acne while the moon is in conjunction with Uranus, and those who don't know their limitations. You will note this kit is etched in brass and nickel silver...... The nickel silver parts are silvery colour. Do not remove them from the fret until told to do so!!!! Okay?  When removing them, don't use a flick knife, the wifes sewing scissors, a hammer or a tin-opener.....

Edited August 8, 2017 by coachmann

[kandc_au]

Not necessarily so.
People don't need that for a loco. While not ideal it could be glued.
It is more a matter of explaining CLEARLY and CONCISELY what goes where and when.
Now I refer again to the video from before. Tony explained why he changed the sequence.
While a manufacturer provides a sequence that can be followed clearly and it does work....fine.

 

Khris

 

This was a response to Jol

Edited August 8, 2017 by kandc_au

[Focalplane]

So rather than going on about poor instructions, can I suggest that, as Tony and some others do, show what you have built and inspire others to try. Point out problems you found and how you overcame them, so helping others to succeed.

Jol

 

I for one have shared my work and the problems I discovered, through both detailed descriptions on my topics and blog and the occasional photo on Wright Writes.  The detailed descriptions of others have also helped me and inspired me, for example an ingenious way to provide motion to the outside cylinder valve linkage on the Castle chassis.  This is over and above the kit design by David Andrews.

 

Although the RMWeb blog format is not so popular, one aspect of its layout is that of adding categories, such as "Jinty", in which only those posts relevant to the Jinty construction are displayed.  For example, this link is to my 4F category.  For those who don't view blogs the first post is chronologically the last and this may be one reason why many don't like the format.

 

It is a shame that, AFAIK, there is no collective RMWeb topic that accumulates all comments about, problems with, recommendations for, and modifications to a particular kit.  But such a format is probably unworkable, there are too many kits of different models out there.

 

Paul

[kandc_au]

  Television level and assumes the buyer is a complete numpty.

Coach....I wasn't QUITE thinking that low....

 

Khris

[allan downes]

When it comes to kit building a loco for the first time one really should sit back and consider whether or not they have the ability - not the desire - to do battle with complicated parts and mickey mouse instructions, use a soldering iron and how to live forever after with third degree burns and, in  more remote cases, how to open the box.

 

What determined my loco building skills, or more appropriately the lack of them, was the utter failure to produce  a Slaters wagon kit that actually looked like a wagon. The instructions were in diagram format and written instructions that clearly underlined where A should end up and nowhere near where I thought it should,  none of that helped much either, if indeed, at all.

 

Having reached the bit where the wheels go I was both jubilant and stumped both at the same time when discovering four little brass thingies in a separate packet  that I have since learned that in the 'trade' these are referred to as 'top hat bearings' but Slaters never told me that, or told me what they were doing there, what they were supposed to be for, and so the wheels just flopped about best they could, kept falling out and the brake gear  totally ignored as an unnecessary accessory.

 

When it came to the sprung buffers the idea that they should spring back and forth inside a housing was immediately abandoned when seeing the size of the nuts and the size of the threads onto which they were supposed to be attached to - ridiculous, who on earth has a spanner that size....And as for those three link couplings and sprung hook thing. well....

 

Now this coming from someone who has made a healthy living all his life from railway modelling just contradicts that statement to such a degree that I should be placed against a wall at dawn and swiftly dispensed with.

 

And one day, I probably will be. 

 

Allan

[allan downes]

 

I very quickly exchanged my Mondeo for a Focus while sticking with the Titanium level of trim. I dunno why now because I've never read the instructions on how to activate the talking dash or most of its fittings. A garage owner asked me if it had given me a bollocking yet. They do you know!  My youngest son drives a whopping lorry that criticizes excessive braking and records the fact so his boss can have a go at him back at the yard. If such technological equipment had been around in the 1970's it would have also had a techie-shop steward moderator shouting 'Out of order brother tachograph!' 

 

 

I recently bought a new Mercedes that parks itself.

 

On being told of this by the salesman, I asked him why would I want it to do that. I've been doing my own parking for over 60 years - sure I've clouted a few thing, but who hasn't, the principle's the same and so are the dents accumulated - to which he just answered that " It sells cars to people who can't drive backwards "

 

Allan

[Mad McCann]

For my money, a good set of instructions that relate to the actual item being constructed and written up by someone who has actually constructed the kit are an absolute must.

From personal experience, High Level, 52F and Rumney are Top of the League in this respect and I've had plenty of success by following the instructions verbatim. You don't get that in many other places.

 

D.

[Manxman1831]

I tried to write up a build sequence for my 4-8-2 some years ago.  It started life as a replacement body, but developed from there.  Anyways, I tried to remember the order of assembly after a period of six months to go in as part of a magazine article (never done), and as expected got myself totally lost even after referring to my pictures.  Picture Manager has done something weird with the ordering.

 

 

[The Johnster]

I recently bought a new Mercedes that parks itself.

 

On being told of this by the salesman, I asked him why would I want it to do that. I've been doing my own parking for over 60 years - sure I've clouted a few thing, but who hasn't, the principle's the same and so are the dents accumulated - to which he just answered that " It sells cars to people who can't drive backwards "

 

Allan

 

Trouble is, they keep selling 'em to people who can't driver forwards...

[unclebobkt]

There will always be someone reading such an article for the first time, for whom the phrase 'the wheels were quartered in the usual way' will be immensely frustrating...

 

       If I remember aright on the GWR. on the driver's, or RIGHT hand,  side if the coupling rods were to be at 12 o'clock then on the fireman' s, or LEFT hand side, the coupling rods would be at 3 o'clock - the opposite way to the other three. major railways' systems .

  Or, to put it another way, on the GWR. it was the RIGHT hand side that was the leading side, whereas elsewhere the leading side was on the LEFT when moving ahead.

  Typical GWR. idiosyncrasy!

 

       

[stewartingram]

My radio works perfectly. Just switch the wipers on.

 

Allan

 

RADIO - in a car?  Any decent car has a WIRELESS, and an optional extra at that!

 

Stewart

[The Johnster]

       If I remember aright on the GWR. on the driver's, or RIGHT hand,  side if the coupling rods were to be at 12 o'clock then on the fireman' s, or LEFT hand side, the coupling rods would be at 3 o'clock - the opposite way to the other three. major railways' systems .

  Or, to put it another way, on the GWR. it was the RIGHT hand side that was the leading side, whereas elsewhere the leading side was on the LEFT when moving ahead.

  Typical GWR. idiosyncrasy!

 

       

 

If it's GWR, that's probably the way 'North Star' was delivered from Stephenson's and they never saw a need to alter it, not idiosyncrasy so much as laziness and reluctance to interfere with something that worked.

 

Anyway, we need the coupling rods now, not at 12 o'clock or 3 o'clock..

 

Coat?

Edited August 8, 2017 by The Johnster

[allan downes]

Found these instructions on how to adjust your interior mirror in a car manual

 

Allan.