diff --git a/etc/examples/5-complex-model/README.md b/etc/examples/5-complex-model/README.md
index b76e83b68c9672c6c6d4d35d1ee8bdc1b49526eb..fc5db9d382828c39129a298a99ef46177d1086a4 100644
--- a/etc/examples/5-complex-model/README.md
+++ b/etc/examples/5-complex-model/README.md
@@ -15,11 +15,23 @@ alias hazard='java -Xms4g -Xmx8g -cp /path/to/nshmp-haz/build/libs/nshmp-haz.jar
 This will increase the minimum amount of memory Java requires to 4GB and will allow it to claim
 up to 8GB, assuming that much is available.
 
-First, clone the CONUS NSHM repository. Assuming you are in the current working directory
-(above), the following will create a copy of the model adjacent to nshmp-haz:
+First, download the
+[CONUS NSHM version 5.2.0](https://code.usgs.gov/ghsc/nshmp/nshms/nshm-conus/-/archive/5.2.0/nshm-conus-5.2.0.zip)
+and unzip adjacent to nshmp-haz. Note that in subsequent examples, the name of the model
+should match the unzipped directory name (e.g. `../../../../nshm-conus-5.2.0`).
+
+Alternatively, clone the CONUS NSHM repository. The `main` branch is under active development and
+may break some of the examples, so you need to checkout a stable version of the NSHM. Assuming you
+are in the current working directory (above), the following will create a copy of the model
+adjacent to nshmp-haz and checkout version 5.2.0. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](../../../CONTRIBUTING.md)
+for more information about contributing to nshmp-haz or nshm-conus.
 
 ```Shell
 git clone https://code.usgs.gov/ghsc/nshmp/nshms/nshm-conus.git ../../../../nshm-conus
+cd ../../../../nshm-conus
+git fetch origin refs/tags/5.2.0
+git checkout -b ver-5.2.0 5.2.0
+cd ../nshmp-haz/etc/examples/5-complex-model
 ```
 
 To compute hazard for a few sites at 1.0s and 2.0s spectral periods, execute:
diff --git a/etc/examples/6-enhanced-output/README.md b/etc/examples/6-enhanced-output/README.md
index 08143bdacfe5eeed59a2d6839b84b7a8fe3f0aed..b8d8a0ad6d2401a1a2235cd4b15b677c52c78028 100644
--- a/etc/examples/6-enhanced-output/README.md
+++ b/etc/examples/6-enhanced-output/README.md
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ __Working directory:__ `/path/to/nshmp-haz/etc/examples/6-enhanced-output`
 
 While mean hazard is of broad interest, it can be useful to preserve individual components of a
 total curve, particularly with more complex models. Execute the following to write curves for
-each source type and ground motion model (GMM) used in the CONUS NSHM (cloned in the previous
-example):
+each source type and ground motion model (GMM) used in the CONUS NSHM (downloaded and unzipped,
+or cloned in the previous example - use version 5.2.0):
 
 ```Shell
 hazard ../../../../nshm-conus sites.geojson config.json
diff --git a/etc/examples/7-disaggregation/README.md b/etc/examples/7-disaggregation/README.md
index e6578d88e4862d1e2fba34b041988f81e03b0536..aaf2a4812b64ca73ccbcc1bbcc449a77a07ac76d 100644
--- a/etc/examples/7-disaggregation/README.md
+++ b/etc/examples/7-disaggregation/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ alias disagg='java -Xms4g -Xmx8g -cp /path/to/nshmp-haz/build/libs/nshmp-haz.jar
 The command line arguments for `DisaggCalc` are the same as those for `HazardCalc`. The target
 return period for a disaggregation is specified in the config
 [`disagg.returnPeriod`](../../../docs/pages/Calculation-Configuration.md#calculation-configuration-parameters)
-field. For compute the disaggregation in this example, execute:
+field. To compute the disaggregation in this example (use NSHM CONUS v5.2.0), execute:
 
 ```Shell
 disagg ../../../../nshm-conus sites.csv config.json