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missing assembly instructions

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missing assembly instructions
Posted by NVSRR on Saturday, December 19, 2020 9:01 PM

I have a rail yard models  trinity multan sulfur tank car kit.   No directions though.  Where can I get a set?

 

Shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

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  • From: SE. WI.
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Posted by mbinsewi on Saturday, December 19, 2020 9:25 PM

You think you can look at images of moltan sulfer tank cars and figure it out?  

I mean, it's a tank car, should be easy enough to figure it out, BUT, I have no experience with resin kits.

Heres what I found on a search:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/rail-yard-models-assembled-kit-111-292595839

Mike.

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, December 19, 2020 11:44 PM

Rail Yard Models closed at the beginning of March 2012, and it appears the URL they used has been for sale since.  I'm afraid you may have to rely on the kindness of strangers to get a scanned or copied version of the relevant instructions sent to you.

Barring that, if you take pictures of the components it may be possible to figure out an approach to construction that at least contains a minimum of pitfalls...

 

 

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Posted by dti406 on Sunday, December 20, 2020 9:54 AM

Gene's kits came with a mini-cd with the instructions on them rather than a set of printed instructions. So the cd may be in your box and you can print out your own instructions. I do not have one of those kits but maybe some other modeler can e-mail you the files off the cd.

These are difficult kits to make what with all the detail parts and Gene's instructions need to be followed in sequence to come up with a completed model.

Rick Jesionowski 

Rule 1: This is my railroad.

Rule 2: I make the rules.

Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 10:35 AM

dti406
Gene's kits came with a mini-CD with the instructions on them rather than a set of printed instructions.

Does that imply, as I hope it does, that he burned all the instructions for all the kits onto the one medium and then just popped a 19-cent duplicate into the box of every kit?  

If that is so, then even the "unopened" kits on eBay should have the documentation available for transfer, saving as files on hard-drive storage, and printing out (to PDF if need be).

I do have IDE drives that will read the smaller CDs, and I believe it is still possible to find the 'adapter rings' that let them be used in at least some of the slot-loading drives.

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Posted by dti406 on Sunday, December 20, 2020 12:07 PM

Overmod
 
dti406
Gene's kits came with a mini-CD with the instructions on them rather than a set of printed instructions.

 

Does that imply, as I hope it does, that he burned all the instructions for all the kits onto the one medium and then just popped a 19-cent duplicate into the box of every kit?  

 

If that is so, then even the "unopened" kits on eBay should have the documentation available for transfer, saving as files on hard-drive storage, and printing out (to PDF if need be).

I do have IDE drives that will read the smaller CDs, and I believe it is still possible to find the 'adapter rings' that let them be used in at least some of the slot-loading drives.

Yes you are correct, all the kits came with the mini-cd, and I have a search for Railyard Models on E-bay, and there have not been any kits up for sale in the last 6 months, and those have been the PS 4785's and X58's that have been done in plastic recently.

But anybody who bought a kit should have that cd in their hands, I have a bunch but not that car. I have the ones for the PRR G41and X58 along with the PC G47 & X79, the PS 4785 CH and various Hot Coil Cars.

Rick Jesionowski

Rule 1: This is my railroad.

Rule 2: I make the rules.

Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 3:34 PM

dti406
I have a search for Railyard Models on E-bay, and there have not been any kits up for sale in the last 6 months

There were two last night (both 4785 Conrail hoppers, one red, one gray) --admittedly at a blistering-looking asked price of just under $80 each -- but listed as 'brand new in a box'.  I'm considering making an offer on one, to get the CD and copy the content, then re-list or peddle the actual kit.

I don't know if it matters but I used 'Rail Yard Models' as the precise search term on the 'Bay.

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Posted by NVSRR on Sunday, December 20, 2020 6:59 PM

none of my drives are IDE  nor flat.  they are side load.  the software has to be able to understand it is a mini disk.     I dont have the disk.   So I take it all the directions are on that disk?

 

Shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, December 21, 2020 9:18 AM

A mini-CD can be read correctly by any drive mechanism that will mount it; the center hole is common dimension, the pickup will detect the beginning (which is on the inside diameter of the track information, nearest the hole), and the volume will then presumably mount to a desktop and display a files directory the same way the computer has been set to do for 'ordinary' data CDs.  If you have a sideloading 'drawer' drive with a center spindle you 'snap' the disk onto, you're all set -- the little one snaps on just like bigger ones.  If you have a slot-loading drive, you can probably use one of the 'adapters' (it's a "donut"-profile disk with the correct outer diameter, thickness and concentricity to load into a slot, with the mini disk clipped into the hole in the middle).

The 'instructions' themselves are likely PDF files.  There may be some kind of cataloguing system intended to 'autorun' when loaded that lets you choose the particular set of instructions you want -- that may not work on current Windows or other operating systems, but you should still be able to access the PDF files, even if they have cryptic names, and just open them one by one if necessary until you find the 'right' one.

It is remotely possible that an emulated system may have to be used to get the files off the CD and saved correctly, for example if the instruction files have some proprietary protection that only lets them be read with special permissions.  That is not a major issue; there are even a couple of 'free online services' that can create a VM in 'the cloud' that will work for this purpose.

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, January 25, 2021 12:52 PM

As an update to this topic that may be of more general interest:  I was offered a reasonable price by an eBay seller on a Rail Yard Models kit that explicitly includes the instruction CD.  Once that kit arrives -- slated for around the 3rd of February -- I'm going to see how the CD runs in a portable CD/DVD reader connected to various types of computer, and whether more 'universally' readable formats for the contained instruction files can be generated.  At the very least I expect to be able to extract some kind of .iso disk format that could be used to burn some form of replica instruction disk.

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 29, 2021 11:43 AM

Well, regrettably, at least by the time of kit 107.5 the mini-CD instructions do not include "all" the different kits.

My CD is a Memorex 'pocket CD', marked with a Sharpie to indicate it is for '107.5'  I had no trouble whatsoever loading it in an external DVD drive (it can't be 'slot-loading' but even the cheap drives based on 'walkman'-style players will work) and mounting it and accessing its contents on a Mac running 10.6.8.  All the files opened correctly and clearly.  PCs should be able to access it as readily.

 The CD contains only five items, all in PDF format:

A prototype discussion, 4785 PS-2CD History.pdf

The catalog to date, Catalog.pdf

Drawings, Drawing-107.5-6.pdf

Instructions, Instructions_107.pdf

Special decal instructions, RailGraphisInstructions.pdf

The volume on mini-CD is in ISO 9660 (Joliet) format, showing a capacity of 18MB, and 100% of that capacity shows as being used by the five files.  This argues that there was not a mini-CD at some time that had all the instructions for all the kits on it.

I suppose it was worth the expense to establish that this is the likely truth about the Rail Yard Models documentation; we'll have to wait until someone actually acquires a sulfur-tank CD to be able to have the documentation.  In the meantime, anyone who needs copies of the 107.5 documentation can PM me...

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Posted by dknelson on Saturday, January 30, 2021 10:56 AM

To my knowledge Gene Fusco is still in the hobby although it appears he has left Intermountain.  There must be others who are similarly possessed of a kit but not the instructions.  

 

Dave Nelson

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Posted by NVSRR on Saturday, January 30, 2021 5:29 PM

Dave,

I am sure others have missing directions.  Especially if they came from a second hand sellers.  ebay as example.  Which is where mine came from without the directions.

 

Shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, January 30, 2021 5:41 PM

I hope you find the mini-CD.

I have experience with only one Railyard kit, and the instructions were top-notch.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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