I’ve kept all the numbered ones so far (9?), as well as David Popp’s operation video and the one on Tehachapi (just becasue I’ve always been fascinated by it). I sent back the one on ‘Big Power’, which didn’t even really tell me how to tell the difference between the big guys, and had too much video of trains going by while we layed next to the tracks.
I have really liked some of the how-to sections, I wish they were longer and more detailed. In particular, I liked the one on one of the earliest DVD’s on backdrop painting, for example. There was also one really showing using cardboard lattice for terraforming (as Joe does on one of his). I find that actually seeing these things done really increases my confidence when I get to doing them, better than all the reading I could do. I also wouldn’t mind if the layout tours were longer. I guess maybe fewer, longer segments would be my first improvement.
I agree with FT, at the price they are asking, I think they could slow them down a bit.
You hit the nail on the head Joe!!!They should take a look at the various problems addressed on the forum, and use it as a guide.I often just come on the forum and browse through the various topics, just to learn, and to see what problems I might have encountered, or possibly may, and see what this guy, or that guy did to correct a problem, or what other solutions are being used.
I may not post anything that day,just read and learn.
If MR would make videos based on this, where you can SEE what can be done, often makes problems much easier to work with.I am by far from being very experienced, but then again, I am not a total novice.
I feel that I learn new things everyday, and hope I always will.
By far this forum has been what has kept me going, because I can almost always find something related to what I am ddoing at the time.
I owe thanks to MANY of the forum participants who have answered questions for me, offered advice, shared their experiences with me.
The dpb videos are ok to my opinion but I only made it to Video 4 before they stopped sending them to me. They have provided a lot of info to me, but it is just my opinion.
Hi Jeff,
It was the DVD on BIG POWER I sent back, and since then I can’t get them to send me anymore, so I have given up, I’ll find someone locally who has them and just borrow them if I get a chance.A week after I sent it back, my buddy Denny comes over to help me on the layout one evening, and asked why isent it back, I told him, I just wasn’t interested in it, I am a steam guy, and the big diesels just weren’t my cup of tea.
Denny just shakes his head, and says “Gosh I would have loved to had that DVD, I would have bought it from you!”
I do agree that the one with painting a backdrop was very informative for me, as well as some of the other howto projects.If I am going to pay $29.95 a video, I’d like to see them be packed wuith more “HOW-TO” projects.The layout tours are okay, but I would rather have something
Sounds like an all or nothing approach to sending out the videos … [xx(]
Once you turn one down, you appear to be considered a liability to the program, so you get axed … this approach may “lower costs” in the short term, at the expense of longer term customer good will. The fact you can’t get back in later feels like you’re not that important to them as a customer, once you become “tainted” for the purposes of this program. If true, it doesn’t exactly give you a warm fuzzy …
I wonder if Kalmbach is aware of how the DPB program is being perceived by modelers once they get a disk they send back? It appears that this “one strike and you’re out” philosophy leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. It would be nice if that’s what they’re doing that they said so up front. One would like to think that if they were aware of the frustration this causes, they might change it. I’d like to think so …
Or at least say in black and white very promiently somewhere: “If you return this DVD unpaid, that terminates your involvement in the DPB series. No future DPB titles will be available to you.”
Maybe someone back there at Kalmbach will read this and decide to do something about it … we can always hope!
You were clear. But so were some others who said that they sent one back and have been unable to get them to send any others. Apparently, Kalmbach doesn’t have any kind of policy on how they manage these subscriptions. That is too bad. [%-)]
I said that I haven’t sent any back because I don’t want to get left out of any future volumes. I think it would be nice if Kalmbach would have a clear policy on this. I would also like to see the option to buy any individual DVDs based on a list of the contents.
I definately liked the last DPB video on DCC… I am in the process of building a DCC around-the-room layout, and I have all of the DPB series plus 10 or 12 other videos. Of those, the ones I would certainly NOT part with is the last DPB edition on DCC, and the Joe Fugates series… as those five DVD’s are “keepers” in my film library!!! At present I am eagerly awaiting the last in the Fugate series… (I really hope it’s not the last one !)
I never could find a menu on the first DVD. All it would do was start at the beginning and keep going. So that was the end of that. The Model Railways (from England) and Joe Fugate’s DVD’s work just fine. I would like to see operating sessions.
I would like it if they would advertise the videos on their website, with the contents of each video, and let you select those you’d like to have.Just about every other video producer-supplier does this. Perhaps offer them like buy two, get a discount on a third one, or buy three and get a nice discount on a 4th one, something like this.
Kalmbach must have a lot of the “Big Power” DVDs sitting on shelves - I too returned mine (Had it been “Big STEAM Power” I’d have kept it, but diesels aren’t my thing.
I got the next DVD right on schedule, though. They’re still coming, and I look forward to each one.
My wife and I both enjoy them. We usually watch them twice, because we tend to fall asleep in front of the tube. We have to run them twice to see most of them once! [(-D]
I get a real kick out of watching the Kalmbach crew on camera. The phraseology used (like David Popp, who really likes the word take, as in “first you take and paint the…”), the on-camera stiffness of some of the guys, the way a couple of guys are talking to the camera but looking everywhere BUT at the camera (a la early Carl Sagan), and so on make for a very entertaining ninety minutes or so. And no, I’m not trying to be critical of their on-camera skills. To me, that adds to my interest in the DVDs, it doesn’t detract.
I have around 14 of the series. I guess I made the “mistake” of sending back two of them recently,and have been kicked off the list. The steel production video was interesting,though it could have been more comprehensive.
Early on, I sent back #4. Now I’ve sent back the DCC video, which is a total of 4 rejected DVD’s. But if I really don’t need them,why buy them? I would like to continue to receive the series,but I’m not going to beg them to send more. I have been a modeler for a combined total of 18 years, so I’m not a rookie, but I have really enjoyed the original Dream-Plan-Build # videos. But then they started sending other “series”, which is ok with me, as long as there is not a penalty for not buying. I loved the Conrail / Horseshoe Curve title. But the recent Tehachapi DVD is just a shortened version of an existing title from Highball Productions, so I don’t need it.
I have absolutely NO interest in layout operations, yet I bought the DPM operations, the one with David Popp. It was an excellent layout, and in my opinion,well produced.It is certainly fun to watch. As for the “stiff” appearance of some of the people who are demonstrating and explaining techniques, I would rather see someone do this who truly loves what they are doing,than some polished professional actor who couldn’t care less about our wonderful hobby.
I know it is a business decision to stop sending videos to those who decline to purchase,just as I had to make a business decision to send some back.
Thats too bad it worked out this way. Why can’t they offer them for sale directly from their website, thereby eliminating the postage costs incurred by unwanted titles being sent back. And back titles, as already suggested by another poster. If they gave a fair description of each feature on the DVD, I’d be willing to buy if
Hey Brunton ! I hope you don’t think I was being critical of your post concerning the “stiffness” of the Kalmbach people. I didn’t see your post until I had posted mine. But it sure does look like I was making a smart aleck retort to yours. Sorry! [:O]
I tried to type this post yesterday but the plant started going south on me so i’ll try it again today. I would like to refer back to what is good and what could be improvements made to the Dream Plan Build videos.
First of all, i find that the DVD series is and can be a good learning tool. I don’t read much because it makes me fall asleep after the first few paragraphs and I usually miss the finer points i’m reading about. I find that watching the DVD’s grap my attention and i retain more information watching a DVD rather than reading about something.
I find that not all, but most of the information they discuss is just too general and the information vague. What I think they should do to improve on the DVD’s is to go deeper into a lot of the subjects they potrait even if it means more time spent on a certain techique. For instance Andy S’s (I still can’t spell his last name) take on car cards, AAR listings, and how to use them was an excellent, informative, narraration which has no equal. But then on the other hand, the narraration on the last DVD about DCC was just too broad. They didn’t show how to wire locomotive lights, set CV’s, or install sound decoders, nor did they show how to set up a computer for train detection. These kinds of things are very important to know and a step-by-step procedure should have been included if they are going to discuss these kinds of things. “Refer to the manual” is not an answer if they are going to introduce anything that may be new to a lot of modelers. They should have gone ahead and shown us how they did it with each item they discussed.
I think that they are always in a hurry to get out the next DVD and don’t take the time to get into the finer aspects of the modeling techniques they teach. If Kalmbach w
I have turned down 1 special project edition (DCC), and all the real rails editions. I still get the DVD’s on a regular basis!
That’s about 10 DVD’s I’ve purchased from them. And all the one’s I kept, I find some useful information on. Sometimes seeing it done on live video is so much more informative.