Very nice Brian - why is the kit so bad? I have wanted to add it to my collection for awhile!

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Very nice Brian - why is the kit so bad? I have wanted to add it to my collection for awhile!

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1. The instructions are very poor - photocopies of grainy images of completed sections - in many of them the parts are invisible and unidentifiable
2. There is very little reference material for it - i was lucky to get info from an author who is publishing a book later this year on all versions of the crane - there are still 7 in use in Europe!
3. The crane is not accurate but a combination of features from both the 15T and 16T versions
4. Its not cheap - I paid £60 for mine at Euro Militaire and one went on ebay last week for £155
5. Some of the casting on the support structures is poor - because they are so thin and delicate, fixing this is very difficult, in some areas I did not try for fear of breaking the part.
6. Casting on the some of the gears is poor, I replaced most of the gears and wheels with stuff from RC gearboxes and watchmakers parts
7. DES are fairly unhelpful - they do not have an English speaker (and I speak no French), do not have an email adress, and all enquiries have to be directed in French via fax - welcome to stone age

Fanastic job Brian,I diddn't know there was a kit of this available,you've made a real silk purse from a sows ear !!
Is that an empty headache tablet pack on the bench??
Was it that bad??? :-) :-)

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Fanastic job Brian,I diddn't know there was a kit of this available,you've made a real silk purse from a sows ear !!
Is that an empty headache tablet pack on the bench??
Was it that bad??? :-) :-)

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Thanks guys - the empty pill thingy is where I keep CA while I'm using it - stays wet for ages and can be picked up and applied with wire in pin vise

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Very nice Brian - why is the kit so bad? I have wanted to add it to my collection for awhile!

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1. The instructions are very poor - photocopies of grainy images of completed sections - in many of them the parts are invisible and unidentifiable
2. There is very little reference material for it - i was lucky to get info from an author who is publishing a book later this year on all versions of the crane - there are still 7 in use in Europe!
3. The crane is not accurate but a combination of features from both the 15T and 16T versions
4. Its not cheap - I paid £60 for mine at Euro Militaire and one went on ebay last week for £155
5. Some of the casting on the support structures is poor - because they are so thin and delicate, fixing this is very difficult, in some areas I did not try for fear of breaking the part.
6. Casting on the some of the gears is poor, I replaced most of the gears and wheels with stuff from RC gearboxes and watchmakers parts
7. DES are fairly unhelpful - they do not have an English speaker (and I speak no French), do not have an email adress, and all enquiries have to be directed in French via fax - welcome to stone age

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Very nice Brian - why is the kit so bad? I have wanted to add it to my collection for awhile!

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Has the book you mention in number 2 available yet? I'd love to scratchbuild one. Thanks for your time. -Mark

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Very nice Brian - why is the kit so bad? I have wanted to add it to my collection for awhile!

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Has the book you mention in number 2 available yet? I'd love to scratchbuild one. Thanks for your time. -Mark

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Mark

Look out for Nuts & Bolts 22

Brian