Most posts were positive, these gripes were of the minority -
"My kit had the worst instructions for anything I have ever seen in my life. The kit had multiple items I had to go to the hobby store to buy. I have never been so disappointed in a product in my life."
The instructions are not what they once were, but it's not a deal breaker.
"Drove past the plant in Penrose, CO yesterday, looks like it's closed. Was just wondering where it is now?"
Estes hasn't given plant tours for years.
"Why your company won't own up for your costly mistakes? I flighted major companies before and they owned up their mistakes. Other words you digging very deep hole for youself with major problem by doing sweaping this under a rug and forgoting about it. At least city of pueblo, county of pueblo, and state of colorado is behind me 100 percent. You need owned up with your mistake by giving the perks and that extra two week after my 90th day. I not will stop flighting over this costy and cruel mistakes."
Where is this guy coming from?
"I have a hard time of 90% failure. Enough said"
This guy needs to change hobbies - model trains maybe?
"Great little project to do with the kids but this would be a much better experience if the plastic cement was in the package. Having to make another trip to get what you need to put it together sucks."
Rocketry sucks sometimes, then again so does bowling.
You're right. Some people will complain to just hear themselves complain. Some of this is also the result of the age of instant gratification.... and lack of good manners. My .02 at least
ReplyDeleteAs for plastic cement included in kit... Older Japanese plastic model kits often did contain small tubes of model cement -- however you'd have to use it quite sparingly to have enough. Aside from the frustration of running out -- there are other possible issues - like the tubes leaking or the cement simply drying up. Had a Chinese-manufactured plastic kit where the tubes of cement must've broke sometime after it left the factory -- got a strong whiff of the fumes when I opened the box. Fortunately the kit parts didn't seem to have suffered visible damage -- but the contents reeked of fumes for weeks.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the little ampules of contact cement that came in the Star Trek kits from Estes (mainly for the plastic-to-paper and plastic-t0-wood joins, otherwise you were instructed to use standard liquid plastic cement for the plastic-t--plastic joins). I don't remember any problem with that cement -- though the kits hadn't been sitting for an extended period of time (not sure if that cement would've been good if the kit had been sitting around for a decade or more).
Hi Naoto,
DeleteI've got those little red contact cement things before! They don't really work ten years later. I seem to remember Centuri sending along a small bottle of contact cement with their bigger Saturn 1B and Saturn V kits.
As for the instructions -- unfortunately some of the recent updated instructions did have a few issues -- aside from outright errors like telling you to glue the through-the-wall fins before the engine mount, most aren't show-stoppers (in my opinion). On some of the reissued kits, a few changes in the format of the instructions I think were a bit problematic -- the addition of additional visual elements such as the pencil to indicate where you mark, or knife where you make cuts, have resulted in lack of clarity due to cluttering of the diagrams (again, noting that I seem to be "show-stopper" level - but certainly requires you to dry-fit the parts to get a better idea of how the parts go together, and to scan several steps ahead to make sure you're not painting yourself into a corner). I do recall the lesson learned when building my first model rocket -- the Alpha -- I initially glued the shock cord mount too close to the end of the tube (not leaving enough room for the shoulder to fit) -- something that could've been avoided had I been a bit more careful. On the other hand, the mistake did become an important lesson to me (or as Master Yoda would put it “The greatest teacher, failure is.”).
ReplyDeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteI remember that run of kits where the TTW fins were glued on, then the engine mount slid in! I thought: "How did this get by the proof reader!"
You've really got to double check which glue bottle illustration is used. CA or wood glue?
I'm building a "A Heli" right now. there is no explanation how the burn string release works. Good luck first timers!
I do recall "back in the old days" that it was customary for the staff to ask you questions to make sure you've got stuff like glue, sandpaper, or other items often not included in the kit. Granted, I'm probably more apt to see those questions as helpful than the typical interpretation I'd seen by folks (e.g. "they're just trying to get you to buy more stuff").
ReplyDelete