Errors and Omissions

I've searched the site for a section dedicated to errors in drawings and haven't found much. I know from experience and talking to fellow club members that errors on drawings are very common, and one would have thought that corrections would have been made given the length of time since they were first drawn. However, I accept that changes of ownership through the year's would have complicated the process. I was told many year's ago by Martin Evans that the drawings are only a guide!!

A set of drawings isn't cheap these days, neither is correcting some of the mistakes made due to inaccuracies. Many hours must be wasted by model engineers around the world discovering the same errors. This forum probably comes up high on a search list and would be a great way to help.

Just recently a post and thread was started regarding suppliers. Unfortunately this thread was closed which is a shame as it's always good to know how suppliers perform....good or bad. Model engineering is a unique hobby, and expensive! Any help regarding suppliers can only be a good thing. If a post within that thread unacceptable it can be removed without closing a potentially useful thread.

Worth considering?

Well worth the effort to save a lot of frustration, going on my own experience, and hopefully some kind soul will take it on.

The late Alan Stepney used to maintain a list of drawing errors on his website drawn from details submitted by various contributors. Although his website has disappeared since his passing an archived version can still be accessed at 'http://alanstepney.info/index.html', although no longer updated.

Dedicated forum topic for such things here and another for MHS drawings that hardly sees any activity

Thanks Jason; I wasn't aware of either of those.

Thanks for the info Jason. I did a search "drawing errors" rather than look at the topic list and all I found was the MHS topic, which as you say is virtually inactive. Maybe that could be linked/incorporated to the main topic, because I gave up when saw it.

Can I suggest some possible reasons for a supplier NOT correcting errors?

Drawings, including all errors, are copyright for 70 years after the author's death - so Martin Evans, LBSC, Don Young, Keith Wilson are all still in copyright. Even Henry Greenly's drawings have only gone out of copyright a couple of years ago, and if they were redraw by his daughter they are probably still copyright.

An error on a model may be down to the builder, so if only a few people complain a supplier may not be certain whether the error is real.

The supplier may not have the expertise to correct the drawing - eg a classic - LBSC's 'Maid of Kent' valve gear. K.N. Harris and Don Young both published modifications - which to choose??

Drawings can be altered providing the author or their estate are happy for it to happen and that the person "publishing" the drawings also has the right to publish them.

Edited By Chris Trice on 15/03/2019 15:06:06

It would not affect copyright or need anything special to include a simple A4 sheet with the bundle od drawings listing any errors etc that had shown up over the years.

Or as most suppliers have a web site why not a section on there much like this

Edited By JasonB on 15/03/2019 15:27:42

That's exactly what I thought should happen Jason, and to be honest I really don't know why it hasn't given that most of the drawings are so old. The internet has/could make life easier for many of us, it just needs one supplier to take this on board and maybe it would catch on. The goodwill by such action would be welcomed by us all.

I'm sure there are many modellers in societies around the country who have found discrepancies and kept it to themselves, apart from having a moan in the club. I'm not sure how all club secretaries could be contacted, but if a memo was sent to all asking for faults found by members to be sent to a central database for all to access, I'm sure it would be welcomed. The database would need to be advertised of course and maybe this forum and magazines might be the place for it.

At least it would flag up a potential problem/s for someone thinking of making a specific model. They could then make their own mind up as to following the advice or not.

It's thoroughly worthwhile to advocate a collection of errors on drawings yet there's the inevitable "but".
It's been tried many times before with varying degrees of success ~ ultimately though none has survived to become the definitive source.
One which began with great support and still contains a vast amount of information was on Model Eng Clearing House (M.E. Proboards). http://modeleng.proboards.com/
A search there for "errors on drawings" shows some of the postings:-
**LINK**

It really is a treasure trove of information and enlightenment on just how many errors on popular drawings have been identified over the years. I compiled a detail list of errors found on a certain hot air engine and notified the author. He replied that the errors would be corrected on the next print but as far as I'm aware they never were. There were however posted on the M.E. Clearing House Errors Pages.
Martin Evans (a.k.a. Martin Errors) was not alone in publishing designs full of errors and omissions as perusal of those pages will reveal.