Hello Tony:
This link will take you to a page where they rate several models by skill level: http://site.nature-crafts.com/skill_level.htm
If you click on the first on: Chesapeake Bay Flattie, it will take you to the page that talks about the kit. If you go down the page, there is a place to click on to see the manual. By clicking on that you can actually look at and read the manual for this kit.
At the easy level, the manufactures want you to be sucessful so the instruction booklets assume you know nothing about the hobby or any construction technics.
Ben Lankford also makes a book called "How to Build First-rate Ship Models from Kits".