Coping with Quick Build Kits

I decided on the QuickBuild kit to save time. I had heard positive things about the quality of these kits and I have not been disappointed. However there is no easy way to relate what you get to the Slow Build instructions and plans. The quick build engineers produce a fuse shell and wings which are part-complete, and various critical components are left for you to finish. The problem is that they leave various jobs for you to finish sprinked throughout the slow build instructions. So you need to read the instructions and drawings as if you had slow-built it all yourself, ticking off what has been done, and noting what has not been done.

The image below shows an extract from my Instruction booklet. Where the work is obviously complete, I write "Q" next to the paragraph with a tick. Where there is work that still needs completion, I put a *TO DO* sign in the margin. This is a detailed and time-consuming task - there are no short-cuts, you just have to work slowly through the plans, comparing the instructions and drawings with the half-built kit. Remember this is one hell of a lot less time-consuming than actually doing all the work (but perhaps not quite as satisfying if you build for its own sake).