Model Railroading > Kalmbach "Dream. Plan. Build" DVDs

Has anybody viewed these DVDs??

I paid the "$9.99" for the first volume after my 8 yr old son and I watched it. It had some good layout footage which is always great fodder to inspire ones own layout, mainly my son's. Even though a lot of the material is 'old hat' to me, I still enjoy watching it with my son as he is striving to "be just like Dad". Even to this day my son reminds me of "Remember on your old layout Dad...". You can find my old layout here:

http://members.trainorders.com/sandingvalve/CSRR/Modelers_Workbench.html

However when we recently got "Volume 2" I was a little bit disappointed with the material. Most of the modeling techniques were extremely 'dumbed down' and very brief. I felt as though I had just watched the last few years of Model Railroader condensed into a very homogeneous collection of 'video snipets'. Is it just me or is Kalmbach really struggling to keep a toehold in the hobby??

Just by reading and viewing the material here on TO over the last several years there is obviously no lack of talent nor material. Maybe if Kalmbach forked over a few more bucks for article submissions things would be more interesting. In today's age of electronic media exchange, which may be the problem, it couldn't be more easier for Kalmbach to put out something actually worth reading or watching.

Although I did find the prototype segments interesting.

Any takers??

SV

I think the whole MR/Kalmbach magazine series has been dumbed down. Guess the videos just fall in line with the rest of the MR stuff.

That whole magazine has dumbed down alot. I remember seeing craftsman type projects in there that were so well down that an amatuer could get good results on the first try. Now I am seeing the same topics dumbed down and rewritten and rewritten. Take the small passenger article. A redue of one from about two ro three years ago. I have tried submitting many articles. They keep turning them down. I have heard the same from many others. They only seam to go with the same group anymore. When they called for small layout plans, said i had many that i knew worked because i had built them. They were not interested.. Never did see any articles from that call.

After being asked five times to either pay for the first (unsolicited) one, or return it, I stuck the DVD and their stupid coin in the box, sealed it up and dumped it all in the mailbox. Should have duct-taped a brick to the thing. Silliest campaign they've come up with.

The DVD arrived Thanksgiving week, supposedly sent in September. A few days into December they started bugging me about returning it.

My response was the same as grahamline.

One thing that I really did not like was that there was no information on what the cost would be for the follow on DVDs. They said what the first one would cost, but nothing about the later ones.
They won't tell me what it will cost per disk and how many in the series... No sale!

up421

grahamline Wrote:
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> After being asked five times to either pay for the
> first (unsolicited) one, or return it, I stuck the
> DVD and their stupid coin in the box, sealed it up
> and dumped it all in the mailbox. Should have
> duct-taped a brick to the thing. Silliest campaign
> they've come up with.

I received the DVD sometime in November, I have not had time to watch it yet.
I do not like receiving products in the mail that I have not ordered. That said I decided to keep it and not return it, the only time they stopped asking me about it, is when I called them and told them I was going to keep it as "a free gift" since I did not order it.

Charlesn

Volume 2 was $19.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. I have not had a chance to watch the second one yet. I thought the first video was well done - but I am more their target audience for this series - just beginning. Though I admit I did not expect the price to be quite that high for the follow-up DVDs. But for me, as a beginner, it could be worthwhile.

You're right - they sent you the first one without asking first, so it is a gift to you. Keep it if you wish and you need not send them a penny.

I ignored them since I didn't order it or want it. I now have a nice CD case for future use.

charlesn Wrote:
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> I received the DVD sometime in November, I have
> not had time to watch it yet.
> I do not like receiving products in the mail that
> I have not ordered.

I do....if they're free......... :))

That said I decided to keep
> it and not return it, the only time they stopped
> asking me about it, is when I called them and
> told them I was going to keep it as "a free gift"
> since I did not order it.

LOL!!

I did keep the first one, but was disappointed that some of the clips were the same ones in "Tracks Ahead" - or at least I remember them being the same. $25 is just too steep for keeping any of the next releases.

-Ken

Sending unsolicited products with invoice attached is a new all time low for Kalmbach. Quite honestly my first reaction was to reconsider the subscriptions I have to MR and Trains, I agree with others here that both mags have lost value. I watched the video, it was OK but nothing I would care to pay for. The return box, and subsequent requests for payment/return have also joined the land fill.

C27A

I agree with you all the DVD is not worth the look,
& I think that I will not be renewing my subscription
for MR & Trains at the end of the year as they do not
do anything for me now just full of ads, I get more
from the net.
Brian

I think I like this idea! Now if Athearn, Kato, Atlas, Cannon & Co...would send me a "gift"!!!

I will admit, my subsciption to MR is a gift from my parents, they renew it every year at Christmas. That said, I'd would not use any money from my hobby budget to buy MR (seeing the other hobby manufactures aren't sending "gifts", I need the money to buy their stuff)!

I guess we will have to wait for the law of supply and demand to correct or remove the problem.

Rick Bacon 3
Denver, CO

P.S. A very close friend's "O" scale layout will be in the May issue of MR. I would like to think everyone will be shocked! Not the normal "ring of friends" for MR.

I have no problem with MR and Trains, but the DVD was no big deal, and yes, it contained features that had previously appeared on the Kalmbach-sponsored PBS TV show. I found particularly annoying the graphic used over and over again as a break between segments.

It isn't worth the money, and they can send me letters til the cows come home. I ain't going to the bother of sending it back; it's now "the free gift" of which they spoke.

Art

I've watched both DVD Volumes from Kalmbach. I personally liked the content of the videos. I saw layouts that I had seen on Tracks Ahead which was good because I figured 'Hey, now I don't have to hunt down DVDs of the Tracks Ahead series!'. I find them to be informative to a degree. The how to clinics are pretty good. The DCC primer was interesting although I thought they could have included some more information. Kalmbach hasn't bugged me for payment yet. Then of course, when I renewed my subcription last year, I renewed both MR and Trains Magazines for three (3) years each so they don't need to bug me about rushing off $25 to them!!!!

As for both Trains and Model Railroader Magazine, they have undergone some changes over the years. I enjoy reading the articles and seeing the different layouts featured each month. Advertisements have increased but then that could be attributed to the increase of Model Railroad distributers both in store and on the Internet. I've been reading Model Railroader since 1979 and Trains since 1980 and I still look forward to each issue.

Terry
Berkeley, Ca.

The best thing about the DVDs are the segments showing layouts. The modelling techniques demonstrated are pretty basic. It is quite clear that Kalmbach has decided to try to appeal to the beginner or even non-participant, rather than the rather small segment of "expert" modellers. That is sensible in a way if the hobby is to expand but it will obviously not appeal to the experienced modeller. Of course, if everyone goes off in a snit and cancels their MR subscriptions because it doesn't jerk their particular chain, the outcome is pretty obvious -one less magazine/resource for us all.

A side observation. This "dumbing down" is the direction a lot of magazines are taking. You might call it "sound bite publishing." It consists of short, very general chunks of text, a lot of graphics and no depth. It is the People Magazine approach, designed to hit your mailbox Friday and your trash can Saturday. As long as you see the ads, content doesn't matter.

HB90MACH Wrote:
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> I have tried submitting many articles. They keep
> turning them down. I have heard the same from
> many others. They only seam to go with the same
> group anymore. When they called for small layout
> plans, said i had many that i knew worked because
> i had built them. They were not interested..
> Never did see any articles from that call.

Your not in their small circle of friends. I would like to see more of other peoples layouts. Thats what really lights a fire under my ass to model. As far as your articles are concerned I like to see new material. Maybe we can talk Todd into having a articles forum for Model Railroading, Eastern Railroads, and Western Railroads.

rdsexton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
<snip>
>
> A side observation. This "dumbing down" is the
> direction a lot of magazines are taking. You might
> call it "sound bite publishing." It consists of
> short, very general chunks of text, a lot of
> graphics and no depth.

Doesn't this just reflect the direction of the hobbyists? Today, it often looks to me that most people now are buying ready-to-run locomotives and cars, pre-built structures, pre-packaged trees and landscape. These are enormous time savers for those with the budget for such an approach. But for those who want to build their own, both the manufacturers and the magazines like MR aren't providing much support. Who can blame them? You get a lot more profit selling a model pre-built for pennies in China than you do selling a box full of parts. I think MR's just responding to this affluent portion of the hobby -- MR prints what those who are paying the bills want to see. Even though MR isn't publishing all that I'd put in it if I were the editor, it's still a beautiful magazine that is useful, if for no other reason, as a source of inspiration, showing what really well-finished layouts can look like.

Mark J

what is really cute about kambach is that after Katrina thet stopped sending my MR's and TRAINS magazine

When I realized that I had not seen either magazine in several months, the last issue was the OCTOBER issue of both, I contacted them to ask why

THeir response was that the Post office had claassed many zip codes on the coast as damaged and they the Post office had asked that magazines be held until furher notice.

they were the only one s that did this, Railroad and railfan, railroad model craftsman, Model Railroading, Popular science, popular mechanics, Readers Digest, this old house, and the other 25 subscriptions kept coming

They have sent up to December issues, guess I need to bug them for the rest

The jest here is that they would not send my subscription, but send the dvd and hit me for payment. They were keeping my money and asking for more

they never checked or let me know they held my subscription

they have descended to a new low,

Oh by they way our area had wind damage and some areas had water damage about 8 miles away, but noone else stopped the mail

This kind of sleazy marketing really ticks me off. They are such a bunch of devious dirtbags that they did not mention anywhere in their promotional literature, that was enclosed with the 1st DVD, what the "Regular subscription price plus P&H" was. This was done to dishonestly leave you with the impression that you would get the following DVDs for the same $9.00 if you went ahead & signed up for the series. They kept hounding me to return the DVD or pay up. Of course they did not have a check box for "stick it where the sun don't shine" on their reply form and I wasn't going to invest in my own 39 cent stamp to send them a reply, so I just ignored them. If the cheap SOBs had sent a postage paid envelope, I would have sent them a reply. After about 5 mailings from them I noticed their e-mail address on the form so I sent them a nasty (VERY nasty) e-mail and received a corteous reply. I thought that this was the end of it. Today I received another mailing from them, wanting me to send back their DVD, pay for it or sign up for the subscription. My next move will be to wrap up a brick with a short note instructing them to have a very intimate relationship with the person they see in the mirror and sending it to them with the postage paid mailing label that they provided for returning the DVD. If they don't fire the dimwit, college-boy, marketing moron that came up with this idea and quit hounding me, I'm going to seriously consider telling them what they can do with their magazine subscriptions (MR & Trains) when renewal time comes up. If they had ANY class they would put a written apology to their many loyal customers, in their next MR editrorial page, for this dishonest program.

OK I,m down from the soapbox. I'd be very interested in what others think about this. Somehow we have to convince them to NEVER do this again.