CD-Rom instead of printed instructions

[Iceman]

Ok this is a rant.  

 

Up and coming trend with several cottage companies producing resin kits and/or conversion kits is to replace printed instructions and reference material on CD's rather than offering printed versions.  OK, I get that printing costs have gotten to be expensive, and if edits or updates are required then they have to be reprinted, but for Pete's Sake, I am paying a considerable sum for the kit and then I have to print the materials, sometimes they have been condensed, two pages fit onto one PDF file page, etc.  It is just a pain in the ass that is not necessary.  Quality of the kits are very good to excellent, but PLEASE, can we get back to printing the instructions.

 

OK I am done.

 

Kirk

 

 

[Iceman]

Understand, but I would be willing to pay a bit extra for good quality printed instructions, producers may wish to consider adding that as an option because in the future I will be weighting that in my decision to buy or not.  If Tamiya or Zoukei mura decided to replace their instructions with CD's, I can guarantee their sales would fall off.  While of course they enjoy a much larger market than do the smaller cottage producers, they still offer a considerable value to price product offering.

 

Kirk 

[Iceman]

LOL, with the quality of Wingnut WIngs and ZM manuals, I agree that I would consider that in a nice Leather-clad binding for my bookcase or coffee table, just for that special occasion!

[James H]

I have to say that I've drained the battery on my iPad down several times whilst following the on-screen instructions for the RB Models Ohka Type 22. I do prefer printed mater, but with this kit, you don't get the CD/DVD. Instead you get a download link for the manual. I have this on Dropbox so that I can follow it on iPad and on my Mac.

 

This kit is small fry compared with the instructions on disc in the HpH releases! Those are behemoths in comparison. The first thing I do is to get them printed on A4 with laser printing, and then collate/bind the manual for use. 

[Wingco57]

And when sitting in room number 100 you can always have a plan B when you are suddenly out of toiletpaper. Try that with a CD, must be painful.

Not that I can speak from first hand experience mind you

Cees

[radub]

As James mentioned above, I include donwloadable instructions with my models. The reason is "cost". Printing is expensive and a printed instruction sheet would add another 5 euro (or maybe more) to the price. You will see this with short-run kits, almost bespoke or artisan models. We do runs of 100 or 200 resin kits. Some of our resin kits have a production run of only 50. On production runs of more than 1000 kits, getting the printing done in bulk is cheaper, but on very limited runs, printing becomes a  significant expense that can "sink" a project.
So, I decided to NOT include a CD with the kit but rather make the instructions available in pdf format by download. We did not come to this decision lightly. At our club meetings we asked some fellow modellers whether they preferred a printed instruction sheets at an extra 5 euro added to the price tag or a downloadable instruction sheet at no extra cost. The overwhelming majority, maybe 9 in 10, said that they preferred the cheaper option. 

There are numerous advantages to downloadable files. To start with, my laptop comes with no CD drive now, so a CD would be useless. But on that laptop I can download the instructions in a few minutes. I can also download the instructions on a mobile phone, tablet, e-reader, even a game console. Furthermore, I have a few older "obsolete" phones and tablets (android, ipad, kindle) in the house and a couple of them are now in my workshop and I use them constantly to access electronic information, photos, articles, etc, while working. Another major advantage is that with a pdf on a screen you can zoom in and enlarge any image that may be unclear and see better how parts should be assembled. 

Radu 

[Wingco57]

Thanks Radu,

That makes sense, the most important thing would be to be able to print the instructions in a usable manner such as A4. So you don't have

to deplete your batteries as James has.

Cees

[Iceman]

I get it gentlemen, but I am old school, starting building models in the late 1960's.  I prefer nice printed materials to come with the kit(s), technology has it's advantages but then again what is the average age of modelers today? has to be 50 something I would think.

 

Kirk 

[morley bill]

I agree with Iceman I built my first model in 1955 and admit to been a dinosaur I don/t have any way of playing a cd rom in the modelling room and certainly would/nt buy any kit with these instructions included   Bill..

[James H]

I'd rather have a downloadable manual than a disc.

 

Like Radu, my computer (Macbook Pro), doesn't have a DVD drive, so I have to fanny about by taking the disc to work, dumping it onto a pen drive, then porting back to try Mac, and then up to Dropbox.

[simon 64]

not so bad if you have access to a pc in your man cave (i don't) so I tend to check before i part with the old modeling cash.

[BradG]

5 euro to print instructions? Are they gold plated or something? Instruction sheets don't need to be this full colour booklet like WNW do, that's just a marketing gimmick. Simple, easy to follow black and white instructions like included in your stock standard Hasegawa or Tamiya kit are really all that's needed. Even if you were printing those commercially at an office supply store, they're usually only 10c per A4 and if you're only doing a short run kit, hell print them on your PC at home and it will cost even less. Add $1 to the price and be done with it. Probably cheaper than buying a bunch of CDs.