I finally got my USS Independence yesterday and opening the box overwhelmed my modelling instinct. This is one great model. The number of parts and the quality of the molding made me want to start the build at once but whoa! I have to study the instructions and parts location first. The reviews were right, this is one great build. I will soon post the start of the construction.
I will look foward to following your build,I too have this kit and look foward to your work.
Looking forward to seeing this build from you Constructor! [;)]
Oh boy!
I hope you are really ready for some serious head-scratching!
As usual with Dragon kits, the instructions are a little ambiguous - You’re gonna need this real bad -
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212602668757747.58662.133782763306405
Thanks warshipbuilder search cannot find this site. Any other way to open it?
Thanks,
constructor
Try clearing your browser’s cache, or just go to the link on the White Ensign Models site.
If it still works, you might be able to go from here -
Eh, I didn’t think Pete’s procedure was really necessary on mine. What I did was hold all three pieces (main deck, left hangar bulkhead piece, right hangar bulkhead piece) loosely together and then put them in place, and THEN start gluing. You didn’t have to fit them exactly until you started gluing, and I just started with gluing the main deck as it holds the other pieces more or less in place.
Let me know if you have any questions; I helped develop the kit.
Honestly, why can’t Dragon do a better job with their instructions? I mean, I buy tons of stuff from them so I have no “dog in the race” in terms of them vs Trump, Tamiya, etc…but c’mon—EVERY review you read that is even remotely impartial mentions their instructions as a con…a REALLY BIG CON…
I mean, do they first write them in Chinese then run 'em through a $15 program that translates them into English??? What gives?
Are they just really stupid in this one area? Do they take their model-buying customers for granted? The world wonders…
I think I’ll start a whole thread just on this topic…
No kidding, huh? I was excited to see the review of this kit in FSM this month. And I was really pleased to read about the quality of the moldings and the level of detail. This is one ship kit that I really want. However, the critiques of the instructions gives me pause.
I was following two nice build logs,on Steelnavy a man named Ray Bean was building one,and on modelshipwrights a poster named Dangeroo was blogging one,but both builds seemed to have stalled for the time being.
Hey Tracy,
I have a question. It is more generic towards Dragon, but seems consistent with comments I’ve seen about this kit.
Why does Dragon seem to have such a hard time putting together quality instructions?
I think in previous threads I’ve seen you comment that you didn’t have a hand in the instructions, but the design of the molds. However, you have more intimate knowledge of Dragon that I do, do I’m lookin’ to you for answers man!! [8-|]
Great question—let’s move that discussion over to my dedicated thread on the subject…I’m gonna continue a virtual picket of them until they do something about it…
Virtual picket? laughs
I’ve been pushing on the instructions a bit; in fact I need to get off my butt and rework the CVL-22 set to give them a better idea.
Instructions can be brutal to do; I know from talking with other smaller manufacturers that it can often be the most frustrating and time-eating part of the whole process. I think Dragon tends to focus on the plastic and the instructions are more of an after-thought, but I haven’t worked with them on site to know how big that part of their operations are. I can say that with the CVL-22 instructions we were e-mailed copies of them on a Friday and told they wanted to get them printed the following Monday… which was our Sunday due to the international date line!
Believe it or not, we managed to get a lot changed in what you see, but it still wasn’t enough. A dedicated thread would be most helpful so that I can show them… I can tell them "people love everything but the instructions"but showing posts is better.
P.S. for the virtual picket: how are they going to know why you’re picketing?
It says so in the instructions…
I have noticed an improvement on the instructions in general. The main problem about the instructions I encountered is that the parts are not in the right angle where the builder can really see where parts will be getting together. Sometimes it shows parts to be joined with the surface hidden, With the many parts emerging from new models we really have to have good illustrations. I know its tough be it is needed by the builder. Thanks Tracy.
Well, in the past I think the focus has been to get the most amount of information in the fewest sheets of paper. They will typically depict an area only once. If they want to satisfy the hand holding market and have better instructions in general they need to re-think the philosophy; start from the bottom and work up and out, saving the fragile pieces for last, and clearly show how it all goes together. Don’t do all the sub-assemblies at the very beginning; have them more in-line and closer to the actual step where they’re installed.
Manschtein: don’t you think it would be better for people to contact Dragon and complain? If people actually wrote them it might be a little more effective than 5% fewer sales out of the gate for no reason they can see, hmmmmm???
I can understand how instructions can be a bear, although some companies do seem to do a lot better than others. For me, the biggest issues I have with Dragon are when the clearly call out the wrong part, they indicate the wrong number of a particular subassembly (for example, according to the FSM review, the Independence instructions call for 8 40-mm (?) assemblies when you actually need 9), or they don’t show clearly where a particular part or subassembly is supposed to go. Unfortunately, all of these things seem all to common on Dragon instructions…
But you know what, I’m going to stop clogging up this thread about the Independence with complaints about Dragon instuctions. I’ll take my gripes and complaints over to Manny’s thread in the ‘General Modeling’ forum…
Typical Kool-aid from Tracy…
…you seriously think THEY DON’T KNOW people have problems with their instructions—really??? If they haven’t heard the feedback already and read the many reviews on their products they certainly aren’t going to be interested in my opinion…apparently they aren’t interested in yours either since you have an inside relationship with them and have already given them the feedback on this issue…
I also like how you paint anyone who has an issue w/ their sorry instructions as the “hand-holding” market…that insults a lot of good modelers in this Forum and others who review their stuff…
Too bad you can’t be more objective and honest about this, but then again you have a conflict of interest when it comes to being objective with them…so why pretend?
Will you hold my hand now?
Eww… no.
They do care… they just don’t care ENOUGH. They hear that people aren’t happy, but kits still sell. Why should they change? If you think that the CVL-22 instructions have issues, you should have seen them BEFORE they sent the proofs to us; the fact that the hull pieces are joined together in step 3 instead of step 8 was because we told them it was a bad order and they changed it. There just wasn’t time to do any more due to the schedule they had set in place before sending those instructions to us.
Look, I’ve admitted fault before on both my part and Dragon’s. You can criticize them, that’s fine. I’m trying to line up support here so that we get more pressure on them so that they feel more reason to change the process and not dump a while instructions sheet on volunteers with only 36 hour’s time to look it over and provide input.
With regards to my hand-holding comment; perhaps over the top, but also based in truth. There is a large element of people who just want to sit down, assemble something, and not have to think or worry about it. That’s not an invalid desire. But, at the same time, the instructions are not impossible to use and figure out.
I am completely behind “this is more difficult than I want to do,” but at the same time, I think anyone who says that should recognize that they COULD do i if they wanted to. I have that with a lot of potential projects; I have a Collect-Aire “Two-Gar” that I’m never going to start because it’s going to be more of a pain in the butt to build it than I want to take on. But is that my failure, or the models?
Now, let’s get back to the original post.