Is there a website that one can use to find OOP instructions, whether it be plastic kits or aftermarket decals?
I recently got some decals for the Hawker Hunter. Unfortutionally the decals and decals instructions do not match up.
And as an afterthought, does anyone know where to get instructions for the air graphic conversion kit super sea sprite, sh-2g?
Thank you
JCM
Hello!
Well the first question would be: Did you look here: www.scalemates.com ?
Good luck with your search and have a nice day
Paweł
Yes, look here.
https://www.scalemates.com/topics/topic.php?id=2294
It’s hit or miss but a good place to start.
Bill
Also you can try to reach out here. I have had a couple of members provide copies of missing instructions for me, and once I helped another member out. It’s hit or miss as well, but you never know.
This is an open ended question like “where can I buy a newspaper?”
Depends on whether you want a local paper, international newspaper, conservative, liberal, Sunday funnies, etc.
Many OOP instructions for cottage industry items might be lost to antiquity. The creater may have passed away and perhaps the only instructions left in the world are those owned by older modelers who don’t throw instructions. But some of them may have passed away themselves or are no longer online due to age.
Some manufacturers make available an instruction database of their current and previous products (Revell of Germany comes to mind).
Sometimes the instructions are not available due to licensing issues. For instance, I found a Moebius Models Iron Man model kit at a Goodwill store for $2.99. It did not have instructions and I contacted Moebius. They told me they did not have them available and even if they did, they would not be able to send me a copy due to an expired license.
I did find a copy online and saved them and printed a copy too.
Another trick, which may not be relevant here.
Looking at the kit history on scalemates; kits get reboxed, repopped by a series of companies. So if you can’t find the instructions for the Academy Hunter, the Italeri will work.
Good luck,
Bill
On Scalemates, you can reach out to other members who own the item if you join. I’ve had several reach out to me for such things in my stash and I’ve sent them scanned directions, plus posted those same directions on the site.
I have found them sometimes just using google. I type in the model kit and add instructions to the search terms. Google underatands this. I usually see about three or four hits