Poor instructions?

[ccoyle]

I just read through this entire thread again after seeing that another member was directed here.  I feel it is worth pointing out (again) that it is really very hard to make generalizations about the instructions in kits made by various manufacturers (with maybe the exception of the soon-to-be-defunct Midwest Products boat model line).  The simple reason is because manufacturers and their kit line-ups both change over time.

 

Take Caldercraft as an illustration of this point.  Their first dozen or so kit offerings really had very spartan instructions.  It's only their most recent kits that have had detailed instructions.  If you were to buy a kit of Caldercraft's Snake, for example, based solely on your positive experience with their instructions in Pickle, you'll be sorely disappointed; Snake is one of the older kits with far less detailed instructions.

 

Same goes for Model Shipways.  The instruction manuals in their older kits have a lot of pages, to be sure, but they don't really tell you how to accomplish many of the steps.  They'll tell you to 'plank the hull' for example, but won't tell you how to plank the hull.  MS instructions assume a certain amount of ability on behalf of the builder.  But, again, their newer kits (those designed by Chuck, for example) have much better instructions.

 

Another thing that can make it an absolute booger to make generalizations about this or that kit line is that some manufacturers have, over the years, acquired and sold kit designs that they didn't themselves design in-house.  Many times they didn't take the time and expense to update those kits, and that includes the instructions.

 

Many manufacturers are aware that their kits and instructions need updating, but ship model kits aren't a lucrative business, and if they already have a box of, say, 500 less-than-stellar instruction manuals for HMS Lollipop sitting in the warehouse, rest assured they're going to box up and sell those instruction manuals in 500 kits before they pay to have them redesigned and reprinted.  It's about economics.

 

If you really want only the best instructions, you can't go too far wrong (here I am making a generalization after I just warned about making generalizations) in taking the advice mentioned earlier in this thread: newer is better, and by 'newer' I mean as in newer kit design.  The last few years have seen a real uptick in the quality of instructions being included in kits, especially from MS, Caldercraft, Victory Models, and some of the newer European manufacturers.  Cruise the various catalogs and web sites and work from the latest releases backwards - the farther back you go, the more likely you are to get more terse instructions.

 

Kit instructions - it ain't as easy as saying Brand X instructions are better than Brand Y !

[Cathead]

Which just goes to illustrate another point made in this thread: do some research before you drop money based on a pretty picture. Caveat emptor applies to models too.