# Building a Regner Max 2



## Rob1962 (Oct 26, 2009)

*Hello,I want to build my Regner Max 2 but the instructions are in German there are some pictures. I contacted the US Regner dist but there are none and wont be anytime soon, Very time consuming to use Google translate there looks like about 800 separate words, Any help or info would be great thank you. 
.*


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

I once translated the Regner MAX manual for "Steam in the Garden" into English. I don't know if they ever published it, but check with the editor Dave Cole.
Regards


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Rob, that was exactly the same problem I had. A different model but the same manufacturer,. Without even going further than opening the box and seeing the instructions I knew there was going to be a problem. After several attempts to contact the US supplier, and having received no answers and offered no help what so ever I simply packed it up and returned it. My desire for the model was easily overcome by the uncaring response from them. I guess they had the attitude, here it is, take it or leave it, just like they did later with the Climax. I am referring to the false advertising that "all axles are powered". Sorry if my self respect surpassed the need for a new toy. 
To be totally honest, the instructions that came with the Lumber Jack that I purchases a couple of years earlier were in english, and very easy to follow, What changed??? 
Even the simplest things purchased in the USA that are sold in other countries have several different translations of the instructions included. 
Rant over, thank you. Nick Jr


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Do you guys never read the messages of other people? *The instructions have been translated into English*. I can send them to individual builders but I am not sure if I can post them here, as I did the translation for Dave Cole from "Steam in the Garden". Oh, and by the way, I lived in Germany for 55 years and already built steam locos over there, so my German should be sufficient to understand/translate the instructions/manuals.
Regards


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## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Mad for ‘Max.’ Trepidation about building an engine — even from a kit
Vol. 24, No. 4, Issue No. 134; July/August 2014
Author: Dave Cole
Page: 33


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

I have not had anyone recently purchase a Max nor email me about instructions for one recently.

Although the Max does not have a English instruction manual, there are many photos and illustrations to follow fairly easy. From the many that have ben assembled, none yet said they had troubles following the photo sequence. If you need something of a translation, I can scan to a doc and translate the whole thing at once. Though as you may or may not know translation doesn't work great for technical manuals. 

Nick - You should note that when you bought the Lumberjack almost 8 years ago from the first owner of The Train Department a English manual was available after you purchased I was told as they were scanned and translated and but is now included in all Lumberjack kits today and in the last 4 years since I tool over The Train Department.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Jason: Had you read and understood what I wrote, I DID receive instructions in ENGLISH WITH THE LUMBER JACK KIT. I didn't realize it was 8 years ago. If that is correct, then the english translation for that model happened long before you took over the Train Dept. 
The kit I sent back was a few years ago, the one with the engine mounted on top of the boiler and chain drive to the wheels, forgot the name of it, and it went back to Va. 
Thank You


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Unfortunatly, Regner doesn't see the USA as its primary market and we get second billing most times. A shame to say the least. That said, I need to pull the lubricator tank off the Lumberjack I built for my friend as the oil control valve does nothing and appears that its miss drilled to where the needle valve does not go squarely into the bore on the other side, thus the engine uses oil worse than any Accucraft I have ever run! German translations aside, one cannot really beat the overall quality and slow speed ablities of the Regner product. I applaud Jay for putting up with the inablity for Regner to get into the current century with English translations for thier whole website and any/all instruction manuals. Mike. P.S. I had to build my friends shay kit with a manual in German. Frequent calls to my uncle that speaks the language saved the day.


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## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Well Nick Jr, it was me that you purchased the Willamette Shay from and wanted it delivered immediately, before I even had the opportunity to BEGIN the translation process. I am a native English speaker and since I speak WAY more Japanese than German, translating the document by OCR scanning, then cut and pasting into google, then translating the auto-translated English into actual readable English, took me longer than the three days that you allowed me to work on it before you returned the open kit and threatened me with VISA collections. Ken Johnson and then I after him chose to provide translations. REGNER chooses at their will what translations they provide, shoot, Manfred's father wouldn't even sell stuff to the American market.
{NFT}


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> instructions in ENGLISH WITH THE LUMBER JACK KIT


Just to see what happened, I googled "Regner Max instructions". Nothing helpful came up - except the link to the PDF of the english-language Lumberjack instructions on Regner's website. I poked around and didn't find any Max document.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, with all due respect Regner may not consider USA a primary market, but other over seas companies that manufacture much smaller profit dollar items print their literature in a minimum of 3 different languages. I think the only thing that Regner cares about is just the US $$. Which if I may add is the same reason that Jason 'puts up with Regner', call it profit or commission.
In one sentence you mention 'over all quality' and in another sentence talk about the 'miss drilled hole for needle valve in the oiler'. So again with all due respect which is it? And the slow speed abilities are done with gears, no magic there, Sorry to disagree with you as I have no argument with you personally.

Dave: I did want is shipped as quickly as possible. BTW I also paid the return shipping without ?, I was just glad to get rid to it. You didn't even have the courtesy to return any of my calls or Emails to explain the situation, and if you say 3 days, so be it, but I had lost my patience by then, no cheap investment. And to this day It seems there are still no translations. And I didn't THREATEN you with anything, I just told you I had done so. Did I mention it took me 5 days of calls and Emails just to place the order.
I ran my own business, Telecommunications, voice and data, from 1985 till just the beginning of this year when I retired. I always learned as much about a product, and had it in my hands and tested before I was going to present to a customer before doing so I wouldn't be embarrassed by any ? If you had taken the time to do the same you would have realized it was in need of further attention, and would have either done something about it or warned me in advance of the need for such attention. As Jason should have with the Climax that was falsely advertised as 'All Axles Powered'. The ultimate result was "too bad". 
I always looked at the sale in the customers eyes to make sure they were satisfied to the fullest, or I surely wouldn't have been in business as long as I have. I also included with each presentation a list of customers that have the same equipment and service I provided. I expect to get what I paid for and nothing less, and since receiving an english version of the instructions for the Lumber Jack, years earlier I expected nothing less with the Shay. 
And it seems according to Pete in the previous statement, they still don't give a **** bit for the USA Market at all. Thank You


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

I'd think that translated instructions aren't particularly important. Many of the steps involved in building a kit, such as lapping slide valves or setting the valve timing, are common to many models.

Considering the large community of LGB meter gauge modelers out there, and many Regner models fitting right in with LGB's model range, that's a big factor in the brand's appeal for me. I'm considering getting their upcoming RhB 2/3 + 2/2 Mallet, which should go perfectly with the RhB wagons I have already.

I speak almost no German, but many technical words are obvious, and careful assembly is good practice anyway. There are worse things in life than learning a (small bit) of a new language!


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Nick Jr said:


> Mike, with all due respect Regner may not consider USA a primary market, but other over seas companies that manufacture much smaller profit dollar items print their literature in a minimum of 3 different languages. I think the only thing that Regner cares about is just the US $$. Which if I may add is the same reason that Jason 'puts up with Regner', call it profit or commission.


 
Nick, Regner is a German company, if you know anything about these small German companies you will then know that they don't write English manuals or French manuals or Japanese manuals. They didn't even want US sales for more than 20 years. These are just a few of the languages where Regner is sold through an importer. Their market is still mainly Germany, this is not a huge production, worldwide millios of dollars sold were talking about. We are talking about selling 2-5 models of a 40-50 model run if its even that high to the US. All the special edition models , maybe 5% comes to the US if that. The Easy line is more of a long term solid sales where you have 8-10 per year typically. Yes 8-10 locos sold for the YEAR. Those have English manuals. On the flip side Germany does not have German Accucraft manuals. Nor does Roundhouse support another language other then English, never heard you complain that the Germans have to deal with English manuals. 

Being that I have build a few Regner kits, I can say that I can easily follow the isometric drawings fairly easily to build the kits. If something is questionable I then translate the text for that step.

As to Regner caring only about the almighty dollar, this is not a huge sales point, nor is it a huge profit for me as a business. For the importing and expenses to get product here, there is slim margins. So being you think I am in it just to make the money your flat out wrong. I decided to take this all on because as Zubi said on the other thread, all the supporting people in this hobby are old and dying off. I decided while I was younger and had the ability to float my work, I wanted to make sure that this hobby was well supported with product and items that you just cant get and fine everywhere. I've received overwhelming support from around the globe. I bust my ass working 3 jobs to support my family, The Train Department takes the most effort and work of everything I do and is the least return in money. In the end I still have a mortgage and bills to pay, nevermind that I have 2 kids in daycare so I can work from home on the days I need to and actually be productive. I could buy an Aster Challenger every year for what we pay in daycare for 2 kids. My wife works full time and if it wasn't for her I'd not be doing this as she is my health insurance. 

So Nick, what would you do with Regner? Stop importing it, because since the Father died I've not spoke to anyone on the phone in 2 years and emails are maybe 5-6 per year? I don't even bother asking for updates as they go unanswered. If I have a problem or issue, I send an email and my next order I usually have those parts. Do I know they are coming? Nope not until they show up. If its more of a question then it just doesn't get answered. Sad but true. How about the manual? Would you translate every manual for Regner being they don't want to? How does that work out in time for recovering the cost? Its not added into the price of the kit. As Dave mentioned the one manual he was working on took about 3 days, so say that's actually 8-10 hours. For a loco that is sometimes the only one sold in the US, its time that's not always there in my schedule. 


Then on the other end I get the comment from Bob Weltek, basically a kick in the face to a conversation he had no part in. But that's the way lately on the forum here, this forum has declined in the last 10 years. Very little actual input of new work or running trains, and a lot of complaints about all different things. Just look at the last 10 threads and where they al ended up. Almost every thread somehow ends up into a flame war or someone complaining about something. As to Bobs comment, I guess when you do a lot with your life, people just look at it as well they think they know everything. No I don't know everything but I'm not afraid to try or just go do it. I was brought up to learn how to fix and do things yourself, not to have to rely on everyone to do everything. That made me learn a lot of trades. I've worked in a few different industries and learned a lot in each. Many of what I've learned crosses into all different aspects of my life and what I do today. I worked in the auto industry for 10 years from starting in the dealer to working for the computer company that is the DMS for the dealers. I was a landscape foreman for 5 years until I took over The Train Department (which at the time ONLY was selling Regner). My father has taught me carpentry, electrical, plumbing general maintenance around the house. I've build sheds, garages and additions. Done siding, roofing, window/doors, upgraded service panels and so much more. And for a short time HVAC hot air and HW baseboard for a year with my uncle when he was in a bind, that is when I learned to solder a lot better. Went to school for marine engine repair. I have rebuilt a few boat motors from inboards to outboards and have been doing maintenance on my dad boats for the last 20 years. A lot of that follows to working on my cars/trucks. In HS I took shop class and continued metal shop and machining through what I do today with trains. I've been teaching myself CAD so I can do more with my own kits. I needed to do a lot of welding on my track I am building and since none wanted to do the work and get paid for it, I bought a welder and taught myself to Mig weld. 

We all are learning things until the day we die. Its just what you choose to do with it. I've never been one to just sit back, I have to be doing something.


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## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete Thornton said:


> Just to see what happened, I googled "Regner Max instructions". Nothing helpful came up - except the link to the PDF of the english-language Lumberjack instructions on Regner's website. I poked around and didn't find any Max document.


I did the exact same thing and it seems I might have been a bit luckier. Digging through the results links list I found what seemed like they would be helpful building the MAX. It does take going 3-4 pages deep in the search results and following quite a few dead ends but still there is MAX stuff out there. I did not search the German Live Steam Forums. No doubt there would be some good threads and they would be easy to translate using Google's Chrome browser (right click context menu.)

Continental Garden Trains
Regner Max including upgrade info
http://continental-garden-t.motionforum.net/t1062-regner-max-including-upgrade-info

Garden Railway Forum
Regner Max Revisited
http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=9650&start=0#top

The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum
Upgraded Regner Max
http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=38111&start=0

This is a bit a tansgential thread but it lead to MAx YouTube videos MLS; Regner Max - butane burner kit
http://forums.mylargescale.com/18-live-steam/20108-regner-max-butane-burner-kit.html

Even followed links to YouTube videos on the MAX. Surprised at how many there are through a "Regner MAX" search. Most are short; just running it. Couple are longer and seem to have tips and tech info. I did not watch them; This was the longest about upgrades. While not building instructions per se; This is the longest one and in English.


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## StackTalk (May 16, 2014)

Jason,

I think perhaps I've bought $100 worth of stuff from *The Train Department,* most recently those Regner copper crush washers that Ryan so generously described and recommended for anyone interested. TRS could treat knowledge like that as a proprietary information arrived at the hard way through trial and error if they chose to do so, so I am appreciative of them for sharing . . . and of you for stocking.

I "felt" your post as I read it and what I can add as a small business owner is that _you should be commended for what you do, _as there appear to be only a small number of commercial interests keeping this hobby alive . . . and you are one of them.

If I had any criticism - which I do not - I'd keep it to myself or else express it privately to the people involved.

Please don't ever go and see a psychiatrist as I am sure he or she will talk you out of what you've been doing in a heartbeat - and then where would we be? 

By the way . . .

Does anyone in the live steam train hobby have a sense of humor?

Most folks take everything far too seriously 'round here, in my opinion and most of the things I have said that were meant to be funny have fallen flat. Now I know for a fact that people laugh both _with_ me and _at _me in other places, so it 'aint' me! 

In another place, a fellow described building an extraordinarily highly detailed train station complete with photographs. He showed pictures of the loo with toilet and high water box, pull-chain, copper pipe, tile floors and walls, etc. It was so evocative of the real thing, that one could practically smell the place!

So I suggested maybe putting a small vial containing urea in there with a bit of camphor. You think anyone laughed? Nope. I bet the guy was insulted. 

I don't want this post to be about me.

* * *

A while back, I bought a *Speisewasserpumpe mit Excenter* raw materials kit from *Bengs Modelbau*, another fine Germen manufacturer of small steam engines (not trains) and accessory items.

Bengs does not translate anything either.

Did I b1tch at them?

Google translate is your friend.

I painstakingly translated the document myself. While not a perfect translation, it gave me what I needed to know. I have no experience with Regner kits, but they have to be easier to put together than a raw material kit.

Cheers,

Joe


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

J, your disertation doesn't excuse the lack of appreciation for the American market that Regner has. You should be fully aware of the product you are selling.. You state "you have built a few Regner kits". As the supplier of their kits you should have built ALL of their kits. Even possibly alerting those prospective customers of the short comings and providing solutions to them. 
I 've delt with over seas manufactures of the equipment I installed and maintained, and they were more than glad to offer tech assistance to help in the performance of their product always looking for future sales. Happy customers lead to future sales in the long run. The 'hit and run' tactic doesn't last. 
The lack of other manufacturers posting in other languages doesn't excuse the failure of those that don't. 
If the margin of profit is so small and you are doing it for the beneveloment of the craft, then why you would not translate the manuals for the benefit of the customers? But you stated there was no profit in the hours taking the time to do so, hours vs profit tells the tale.
If you learn respect for your customers and provide the service required you MAY be in business as long as I was, of course provided you are not the SOLE PROVIDER of the product, since there is no where else to go. 
You have also stated that "this forum has declined the past 10 years", yet your are allowed to promote your company and services while not only NOT supporting it, but knocking it down on other forums, and right now and right here. Doing so also degrades all of us that participate in it. That is something I just don't understand that is allowed to continue, but if someone says something you consider not to your liking you have the moderator delete it.

This thread will either be locked or my latest comment be deleted, time will tell. Nick Jr


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## scottemcdonald (Jan 11, 2008)

All,

I just looked at SitG Vol. 24, No. 4, Issue No. 134; July/August 2014 online. Dave Cole mentions that he used Henner's translation in building his. The article (review) discusses Dave's results of building but the translated instructions are not reproduced in the article. Probably due to copywrite issues with the original instructions. (That's just a guess.) Checking with Dave to see if you can get a copy as Henner suggested would be the prudent thing to do.

Scott


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes Nick it has declined, just research the archives and tell me that back then there wasn't 10x the amount of active people building and playing vs today and alot more building. So yes it has declined and saying its declined is not saying its turned to **** but saying that ITS DECLINED IN ACTIVITY. You read and analyze everything I say just so you can try to throw it in my face, you have been doing that for years and on other forums and all see it. Its how you pretty much got thrown from the 7/8ths lounge but mostly left on your own after telling off the moderators in messages and emails. I know that you don't care for myself or Ryan of Triple R and continuing to try to fuel fires with negative comments has gotten real old on the last few years. Friends and local people that know you see it and have commented to me. If you don't like something leave it alone, its simple adult behavior.


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## StackTalk (May 16, 2014)

Nick Jr said:


> J, your disertation doesn't excuse the lack of appreciation for the American market that Regner has. You should be fully aware of the product you are selling.. You state "you have built a few Regner kits". As the supplier of their kits you should have built ALL of their kits. Even possibly alerting those prospective customers of the short comings and providing solutions to them.


Your expectation that Jason should have built every Regner kit seems as unreasonable as it is impractical. Did you not read that Jason has three jobs and a family to support and that *The Train Department* is essentially a hobbyist business, the least profitable of his endeavors . . . ?



> I 've delt with over seas manufactures of the equipment I installed and maintained, and they were more than glad to offer tech assistance to help in the performance of their product always looking for future sales. Happy customers lead to future sales in the long run. The 'hit and run' tactic doesn't last.


Can't argue with the above when it comes to volume businesses. We'd expect batter support from Siemens or Volkswagen, for example.



> The lack of other manufacturers posting in other languages doesn't excuse the failure of those that don't.


More lack of understanding and pragmatism evident.



> If the margin of profit is so small and you are doing it for the beneveloment of the craft, then why you would not translate the manuals for the benefit of the customers? But you stated there was no profit in the hours taking the time to do so, hours vs profit tells the tale.


More unreasonable expectations.



> If you learn respect for your customers and provide the service required you MAY be in business as long as I was, of course provided you are not the SOLE PROVIDER of the product, since there is no where else to go.


What a bitter person you must be in person?

<snip>



> This thread will either be locked or my latest comment be deleted, time will tell. Nick Jr


Personally, if I were a moderator here, I would just delete your post and this repost of it.

You have unreasonable expectations and it would certainly be no fun doing any business with you, that's for sure.

Alternatively, leave your post here as it does say something about what sort you may be?

Cheers,

Joe


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Jason, you are the LAST person who should lecture about Adult Behavior, or should I remind you about your attack on me about "three truck shays" I'll leave that right there, and Joe I am a very happy person. And if the moderators were watching, they would have deleted your post as your last statement is a personal attack, which I believe is not allowed here. I have been sanctioned previous, but doubt if any of you or Jason will.
I will now withdraw from this thread. Up to this point it has been just about business practices or lack there of.
Now it seems to have degraded into personal attacks and I refuse to participate in that. I have made my points very clear if one would just read them with open eyes. Thank You


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> Now it seems to have degraded into personal attacks and I refuse to participate in that.


Sheesh, Nick. You are turning in to a serious Grouch in your old age - TOC will have to look to his laurels. 
I believe you started the personal attacks by describing how unhappy you are with Jason and his business. Which you said previously in other threads - give it a rest, will you. Nobody is perfect, but slandering them all over a public forum will not make you any friends.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> if you know anything about these small German companies you will then know that they don't write English manuals or French manuals or Japanese manuals. They didn't even want US sales for more than 20 years.


To get back to the point . . .
Some years ago, when we all started running our Accucraft C-16s, we found a german supplier of boiler parts: Ralph Reppingen. A fellow modeller in Austria tolds us about his M5 check/clack valves, and there was a blank M5 plug on the boiler. So we embarked on a project to acquire some.
Ralph didn't speak English, and his website is still entirely in German. (He's still around, making German live steamers for the German market.) I learned that a check valve is a _Ruckschlagventil_, and as I had a little school German I was able to start a conversation. But I needed both Babelfish and the help of the esteemed Bert in Austria to get the process rolling. We finally got our check valves.

The point is that he had no intention of marketing his product outside Germany - it wasn't worth the trouble - as far as I can tell he still doesn't. We insisted, but he wasn't going to learn English just for us!

You have to set your expectations correctly. Regner is willing to sell us their locos and kits, but isn't set up for a full marketing blitz. Or maybe the dealer should pay for a translation of the instructions and charge for it?



> back then there wasn't 10x the amount of active people building


I think you can blame the availability of lots of ready-to-run equipment. I think there are 10x MORE people running live steamers than before. Just look at how Dr Rivet had to split his steam-us into two separate weekends so there would be track time for all.


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete funny thing is Nick stopped talking to me before I took over The Train Department. Hes been unhappy for years and has not changed. Odd that it just happened overnight like he flipped a switch, later I found out he has done the same to 2-3 other people both local and from this very forum.. Maybe even more. Even if he changed I do not need people like that in my life.


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Ilived 30 years in Germany,I am still able to translate,let me know!


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## Rob1962 (Oct 26, 2009)

*Geeze sorry to cvause all this Ruckuss*


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