So I got my son to start modeling. The end result, he is always pleased. The doing? He’s still in trainging. Latest example. We’ve done a couple together and I wanted to see how he did on his own. Stiill under supervision, but he would get to do all the work. He’s doing a ARII Curtiss P-40E Warhawk. Alot of rivet detail in the body parts, but fairly easy to assemble, right?!
Motor assemble, easy. Wing assembly, easy. I called from work Monday to tell him to paint the engine. We had gone overe the paint scheme and he wrote it all done. I only wanted him to paint the engine, I guess I didn’t make myself clear.
I got home Monday night to find a completly built, freshly brush painted burnt orange P-40E .[:O]
Finger prints through the paint, backwards exhaust, backwards landing gear and a perfectly painted instrument panel.
Well I got most of the parts off that were wrong and did a very nice job getting the enamel paint off with Mineral Spirits. I was impressed at how easily it cleaned up with a quick wipe down with Mineral Spirits followed by a drying the area with a clean cloth.
Now we’ll continue on with building this one with a bit more supervision and a can of Mineral Spirits nearby.
He’d be happy with finger painting it if you left it up to him. The point of getting him into modeling is to show him, with a little effort, you can have some better rewards than just hurrying up and getting it done.
Ha! Primer. He thought the color was cool, but he didn’t like the application. The one thing it did is get into all the detail and really bring them out for him to see.
My 10 year old son was/is similar. His first project was finished in two afternoons. He said he couldn’t wait for Dad to come home, so he went at it. Well, my heart stopped beating and I lost my breath in horror as he showned me what was supposed to be a Mustang. [:O]
I told him very nice, but maybe Dad can help you with the next one and we’ll spray paint the body, he agreed. We worked together “slowly” glueing and painting the pieces. He doesn’t seem to like waiting for the paints to dry, so I had him move from one thing to another before glueing and handling each freshly painted item. I came home the next day to find the car all glued together… a whole tubes worth and tons of paint finger prints in the nicely painted body. [:(]
The more I tried to tell him how to do it, the more fustrated he got and said he’ll never be able to build nice models. I thought awhile…
His next build, we sat together at the table, he had his model and I had mine. I said -“I have two things to tell you and I’ll leave you alone, watch me and try following along. If you need me to help, just ask.” He sat their with his eyes glued to me as he tried to copy every slow move I made. There were many times I heard - “Dad, can you cut this for me? Can you fit these pieces together for me? Do I paint this first or glue the parts on first?..” Two weeks later he was running to show Mom his great looking model that he built. It’s not perfect, but it’s a huge improvement and he’s now slowing down on his own. Maybe after 10, 20 or 30 models he’ll get the hang of it… Or maybe he’ll be like me, still learning after 100+ [:D]
My ten year old decided he wanted to try building a model aircraft, specifically a Spitfire (he saw one in a computer game). Great, says I, I used to build models and I can show you.
He built a total of 2 and a half and has gone back to the computer game.
Now I’m seriously hooked on styrene, and my son was the pusher! [:O]
It sounds like he’s developing a discerning eye. Please post some photos of his work when you get the chance. I’m sure he’d love the feedback he’ll get here.
His next build, we sat together at the table, he had his model and I had mine. I said -“I have two things to tell you and I’ll leave you alone, watch me and try following along. If you need me to help, just ask.”
Great idea, thanks. I got two P-47s we can do next.
As for pics Lefbery, I didn’t take any of the elusive orange war plane, but I will try to get some of the forward progress.
It’s not always easy getting them to slow down and pay attention to detail.
But hopefully with time, practice and patience (especially my patience hehe) it will happen.
My daughter (age 7) has been building since she was 5 or so. It started out small, but now she pretty much works on her own. She has her own airbrush and hobby table set up in my shop. She’s got everything except an X-acto knife. She’s learned that Xuron nippers and a sanding stick can do the same thing. She’s also got a small razor saw she uses, and has learned to use a Touch-N-Flow with Tenax 7R. A little safer than using CA.
Amazingly, she airbrushes better than she hand-paints, but she’s really into drybrushing. Patience is not a problem, as she knows how many hours I spend in the shop doing FSM projects.
Sitting down and doing a pair models side-by-side (ok, confession time…our first side-by-side was Herbie the Lovebug) really sets the stage for a kid to figure out that the slower they go, the better the model looks.
Once you get that point across, it’s Katie bar the door!!
My 5 year old daughter has built a few simple kits, all snap tite, well, let me rephrase that, I have built a few and she has painted them [:D] I involve her in the build as much as possible, but sometimes it takes more strength than a 5 year old can muster to snap those parts together! She really enjoys the painting, and she paints everything, clear plastic, colored plastic, it doesn’t matter, she will even paint the tires! My theory is if she has fun doing it now, I will let her enjoy helping build them and painting them, and she will get better when she starts saying “this is gonna be my best one yet”, until then, she can paint them as many colors as she wants, as long as she is having fun. I don’t think any child would want to keep doing something if parents are to hard on them, not that I am saying anything against you guys, I just know if I push my daughter to turn out perfect models, it would seem more like a chore and not something fun for her. Just my [2c]
This is the point I’m trying to get across. At this point Reily does a lot of things just to do them. No real effort is put into any of it. This is a means to show some real positive end results. Put a little effort and get some reward.
Gee, I hope I didn’t give anyone the wrong impression… that I was trying to enforce my son to build his models “my” way only.
Rather what I was trying to do was guide him as to “how-to” build models without causing a big mess. Such as when he paints the engine and then tries to glue it into a freshly painted chassis. I tried explaining to him that he’s using enamel paints and it’s best to let them dry until tomorrow or the next day. Work on something else while those parts dry. But when he didn’t listen to me and then asked - “Dad, how do we get the glue and paint finger prints off the windshield?” after I told him to wait for me to come home, is what bothered me. It seemed the more I tried explaining what, how and why, the more he refussed to listen or try doing. So that’s when I finally said, it’s on you, if you want help ask me for it and I’ll be glad to help. If you want to learn how Dad builds his models, just watch and build along with me, I’ll go slow.
He still paints them some weird colors sometimes and glues things on in the strangest places. But thats the way “he” wants it. I’ll help him with the directions sheet, finding and fitting parts, cutting, sanding, whatever he has trouble with… but only if he ask me for help.
But as always, it’s his models and he can glue it up and paint it any way he wants. It’s when the glue and paint gets on everything else in the kitchen that Mama chews “me” a new butt hole.
Benchman, you misunerstand. He enjoys model building. HE enjoys it more when he does it right.
HE wants to know what looks good and what doesn’t. HE wants to do them better but has trouble focusing for long periods of time. SO when we agreed he was going to paint the engine and he ended up with a finished product, WE talked about it.
I don’t berate Reily with you did this wrong and don’t do that when it comes to modeling. We talked about where he got the color idea and then researched other color schemes online together.
I agree with you, if that attitude were taken with me when I was a kid, I’d would have never continued modeling.
Well, I will honestly say I did misunderstand. Since I do understand now, I feel I owe you an appology. I’m sorry for thinking you were a pretty mean person… Good to know people are spending constructive time with their kids. Good luck Mr. Mean
Burnt orange!!! As an alum of Texas A&M I would be quite averse to even allowing that particular color into my house hold.[;)]
Actually it’s great that you and your son are sharing this great hobby. I’ve made attempts to get my step-son into this hobby, and we actually did build an AMT/ERTL Imperial Shuttle and a Monogram 1/48 P-51D, but he doesn’t seem to be particularly enthralled with the hobby. I plan to bring my daughter into the hobby as well, but since she’s not yet born, I have a few years to wait.
Aggieman, having my niece just recently graduating from Baylor and my youngest sister running the UT library, I am torn.[;)]
Eizzle, no need for an apology. I can see where that can be construed. I am looking for advice on how to do it better. Our next project will be a pair of Academy P-47s.