I’m an initial “subscriber” to the Dream, Plan, Build DVD series, and have been a strong supporter of the issue - until lately.
My first problem was when they went to the el cheapo DVD cases, and I complained, and they went back to plastic cases - but much thinner and cheaper than the standard ones.
Then, the layout DVDs became fewer and fewer. And the “coins” previously issued with each DVD became sporadic.
Then the last 4 DVDs - in the cheap plastic cases with faulty packing - came to the house looking like they had been trampled on by a herd of angry customers.
And in addition, I just don’t want to pay $24.90 for a DVD about modern railroading when I really want to watch something that will stimulate my “Dream, Plan, Build” juices.
Soooo, tomorrow I will call Mr. Kalmbach and ask that he remove me from “the list”, and I will return the latest DVD post haste.
Hey, I’m just “venting” here, so if you don’t agree with me, please just ignore my complaining.
I just cancelled mine also. It was fine when i was getting one video every 3 months or so. then they started comming every other month. the last straw was when i got 2 in one week.I returned both of them and canceled. The original Dream Plan Build layout dvd’s were good and getting better. Then they started shipping “extra” videos. Sorry, but at $25 per dvd I could not justify the expence.
I totally agree with you — so much so that I made the call several months ago. Figured I could spend the 25 bucks on ‘pieces parts’ for the layout as I just am not that interested in another video on some big diesel engine.
Something to dream of, something to challenge my skill, or plan an added feature ---- great!
Yeah. I feel your pain. Though I’ve never subscribed to the video series in question, I have had more or less the same experience that you did in some form or another. As for model railroading, I’ve always designed and built my layouts myself using the knowledge I’ve gained doing other things or from ideas I’ve gotten from model railroad books and magazines, so I seriously doubt any company that produces such items will ever see a dime of my money…
Seems to be a similar marketing plan as operated by other video services such as Columbia House, Time-Life, etc. They entice you with “one every six weeks”, then they start coming sooner and sooner, then its less than one month between copies. I guess there must be enough suckers who don’t notice, so they keep on doing the same thing. Others too.
I already have quite a few hobby related videos, but I never watch them. I think I even have some that I’ve never watched once. While they are of subjects that I am interested in, I just can’t get motivated enough to sit down and spend an hour or so watching them. I usually fall asleep! Guess I’m too used to having the TV on, sitting on my workbench when I’m working or surfing the Net. It’s on and I hear it but don’t devote all of my thoughts to what’s happening, so I don’t fall asleep. I think of the TV as a reading light with sound!
Something about the voice of the narrator that Pentrex uses sends me to sleep every time. So soothing! I don’t know if I have ever been able to watch a Pentrex video (which are excellent) from start to finish.
Not sure I understand why these sort of rant threads aren’t just deleted. What do they accomplish except adding a boatload of useless negativity and product bashing to the forum?
Agreed. Unfortunately, it’s not just these forums, either. Seems like lately rants against manufacturers, dealers, magazines, and the forums themselves is a fashionable way to start a thread.
With respect to the OP, I imagine your cancellation will communicate your disatisfaction to MR more than will this thread. Or a private communication to the MR staff might also be more effective.
Some of the other forums have become outright hostile, where no manufacturer can seem to get it right no matter how good the product, and no magazine worth the paper it’s printed on.
Were I a manufacturer or publisher I’d be feeling pretty defensive and less ambitious these days.
I just figured that the DVD’s had run their course, after sending back a couple that didn’t seem relevant to what I was doing and not recieving any more since then.
Evidently doing that dropped me from the program automatically.
I only have three of them that I picked up at a garage sale. As far as useful modeling information, they did nothing for me but I’m not a fan of modern railroading or showcased layout tours. I prefer to get my info the old way through various magazines, books, and free online sites that are run by non-commercial interested modelers who don’t try to push certain products. The above is my opinion and is not meant to offend anyone who thinks different.
I keep all of the regular DPB DVDs, because my wife and I can watch them together. It gives her a sense of the hobby and it confirms that I’m not as nuts as some “train weirdos (as she calls us).” I watch the specials and send them back. The ones about modern railroading get the notation “Diesels are boring” on the paperwork. I know some guys dig diesels, but for me they are as interesting as 21st century cars (not very). I figure that eventually they’ll get the message about content.
I do wish they’d get a good video editor. Some of those construction segments really drag.
I also get tired of the way they build so much out of plastic. As my wife says, “you can’t take the plastic out of plastic.” She’s right! On my layout the engines are brass and the rolling stock is wood and/or metal. All the structures are wood. I do use plastic people and Jordan automobiles; other than that, plastic is hard to find on the B & B C R.R.
Threads that give personal opinions on certain products, services, companies, etc - whether they’re positive or negative - are very helpful to me in that they urge me to do in depth research on a product, service, company, etc before blindly jumping in and purchasing it or using it.
As the original poster, I feel the need to respond to those who disliked my using the forum as a “complaining ground”. I totally disagree!
If you were to check my previous 400 postings, you will find that perhaps 3 or 4 have to do with difficulties, while the rest are my attempts to be helpful, ask questions, or to welcome new folks to the hobby. In other words, I am not a chronic complainer and do not spew negativity just to get my words on the internet. I am very much aware that there are a few souls who regularly present a negative viewpoint, but rest assured I am not one of them!
Please note, this is a FORUM, a place where folks can speak their mind, agree or disagree, ask questions, provide opinions, and discuss issues so that others may be better informed about our hobby.
I applaud Kalmbach for putting this Forum together, and having been a reader/subscriber since 1955 of MR (and a subscriber to ALL of their other train mags), I am one of their most avid supporters. But even they are not looking to get a “gee everything about the hobby is wonderful” tone to it. As I said in the original posting, if you don’t agree or have anything to add to my original posting, then just allow me to vent and go on your merry way.
As long as you are not offensive or inflammatory in your content, critical posts should be allowed. Otherwise we’re all just a bunch of Kalmbach “yes men”.
Sorry to hear the DPB series isn’t working out for you.
While I agree the series delivery could be improved a bit (more aggressive pacing, and more tight closeups of techniques), I’m a big fan of the series and own them all. I’ll keep getting them, if for no other reason than to keep adding to my railroading video library.
I applaud Kalmbach for doing this series, since I’m a firm believer in using modern media to teach about the hobby. I just wish they’d used more standard techniques for selling the videos (like providing a catalog page on the net where you could go buy them).
I guess i am going to have to say that the negative comments about this negative thread some what confuse me also ( would that make it a double negative?.) As some one who has just started getting these dvd’s i have found these threads helpful, i was able to find out the actual price of the series, which was not mentioned with the info that came with the first one, also found out that if you sent more then 2 in a row back that you would not be sent more, which again was not mentioned, and i can say that after watching volume 2 that my wife and i noted that although Howard Zane’s got a really big layout for some reason they only showed a small part of it and we wished they had showed some panning and wide view shots also, and we thought it was funny that the guy building the laser cut wood church got the roof and the steeple roof crooked, but on the other hand i did learn a few things about laser cut wood kits that i did not know, and considering that i have a few of those in my kits to build box then it was worth it!. I can give another example of how a negative comment would be helpful, when i did my river i used ws realistic water, now haveing read some about it and reading the lable on the bottle i knew it never got really hard, what i did not know was that if you placed a work boat and some canoes on the river that they would stick like they were glued on!, now since then i have posted what would be i guess considered a negative comment about it, and that if you use it you might want to seal the surface with acryic sealer, now had i read those negative comments before maybe i would not have a boat shaped divit in my river,or had to glue a canoe back together! so to me some times those negative comments can be informative and contructive, just my thoughts here.
I didn’t mean to suggest that you shouldn’t express yourself. Your post is actually pretty tame and not that inflammatory at all. I think many of us, though, are just getting weary of the rant threads, and this appeared like it might head that way. So far it hasn’t, so that’s good.
I don’t think we should all just sing Kalmbach’s praises either. I’ve been somewhat vocal about where I think MR could improve. In retrospect your post is no different, and is certainly within the parameters of healthy dissent. But I can most definitely empathize with Brunton in that usually these threads invite a dogpile that ends up in a steaming pile of negativity.
Without naming names, I can say that on one of the other forums, specifically in the N scale sub-forum, half the threads have become thrashings of every new N scale release. No manufacturer is safe and no product good enough. I’ve stopped visiting because of that. Most of these are very minor errors that can be easily corrected by the buyer. Then there was the 40+ page rant against the Walthers N scale 0-8-0… While the engine does seem to have some real problems (although several owners have demonstrated fairly easy fixes for them), if I were Walthers, I’d probably not be anxious to produce another N scale steamer; seems the N scale crowd is just too demanding and unforgiving.
It’s that baggage through which I viewed this thread. Perhaps I was too hasty to judge. Sorry! I do hope this thread maintains its civility.
I have no reason to rant about the Dream, Plan, Build video series because I think it’s the best thing Kalmbach has come up with since white bread. Yes they are a bit pricey and do arrive in the mail more than I would like them to but I have good uses for the DVD series.
I have learned more modeling techniques from the videos than I did reading about a modeling technique from books and magazines. Reading puts me to sleep after the first few paragraphs but watching a video graps my undivided attention.
Another thing I will use the videos for is when I host a home layout tour. I’ll have a TV set on in the train room for visitors to watch footage from the DVDs while looking over my layout. A friend of mine has a TV set in his trainroom and when he has a layout tour, there are a lot of people that watch the videos while milling around the layout. It grabs their attention as much as the layout does.
They are also great for reference items. I can always go to a certain segment of any given video if i want to find out about a certain detail on a locomotive or fine tune a modeling skill that was presented in the video.
I can say that i don’t have anything bad to say about the DVD series and hope i can collect them all some day…chuck
If nobody complains, then MR won’t know that there is a problem.
My problem with the DPB series is the marketing strategy, which, as some have mentioned, mimics the Time Life books-tape-video-whatever series. I believe this to be one of the sleaziest forms of marketing known to man (or woman).
I received my first (and only) DPB dvd without out having requested it from Kalmbach. According to postal regulations (in the US anyhow) if someone sends you something you didn’t request, you are under no obligation whatsoever to either return it or to pay for it. I chose to keep it.
Then, Kalmbach kept sending me “friendly” reminders that they would appreciate it if I either returned the dvd to them (so they could forward it to some other poor schlep) or to pay for it.
I went to the USPS website and copied their regulations regarding unsolicited products and pasted it into a polite, but firm letter to MR and I haven’t been troubled by them since.
I actually like the dvd, it is just the sleezy way they chose to market it that gets me riled up.