HELLO TO ALL !! COME SEPTEMBER, I AM STARTING A MODEL CLUB FOR KIDS AT A LOCAL HOBBY SHOP. MAKING PLANS AS WE SPEAK (TRYING TO GET KIT AND SUPPLY DONATIONS, REFERENCE MATERIAL, TOOLS, ETC.) DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH A KID’S CLUB OR ANY ADVICE OR IDEAS?? ALL WOULD BE WELCOME. THIS IS SOMETHING I’VE PLANNED FOR A FEW YEARS BUT HAVE JUST RECENTLY GOT THE OPPROTUNITY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. PLANNING ON MEETING SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS. NO SNAP-TOGETHERS --WE ARE GOING TO START WITH GLUE KITS AND TEACH THE KIDS ALL THE BASICS AS WE GO ALONG. WISH US LUCK !!!
Bob. All the best, sounds like a great idea. (But please dont type an entire post in CAPITALS- apparently its the internet equivalent of SHOUTING at someone) [yuck]
What a great endeavor! I wish you success on a gargantuan scale!
What a great way to get kids off the computers…I mean…er…uh…[:-^]…[(-D]
Both Michael’s and AC Moore’s have plastic models, and with the 40-50% off coupons in the papers every week, it can really help cutting down the cost!
[tup]
I don’t think the LHS they’re meeting at will be to keen about bringing in kits from Michaels and AC Moore. [:O]
IPMS may still have snap tites for make-n-takes but those are available only to IPMS chartered clubs. Some manufacturers will supply lesser kits for these endeavors. The best route would be to engage the LHS owner to contact his distributor for donations. It keeps the owner in the loop. Bringing in outside kits would be like bringing a bag lunch into a diner then asking for a glass of water to wash it down.
Have the LHS contact Revel/monogram, AMT and Accurate Miniatures directly. All three have Make-n-take programs well established and provide the kits free or for a fraction of the cost. The programs do advance to glue together kits. Best thing to do is talk to them.
I love seeing this. I always get a good laugh. I didn’t hear a thing so I always wonder who dreamed up stuff like that.
sounds nice so where is this hobby shop?
We purposly sit around and think of things that will annoy you [:P]
Thanks for the support from everyone so far. The hobby shop is in Farmington ,Michigan. I am a member of IPMS and we have done the make and take programs before. This time we are going to start from the beginning with glue kits. I thought that if we met every Saturday morning instead of every few months(like the make n take), then we could keep their attention a little longer. We plan to give each kid their first model for free and then we could help them pick out models that would best suit their likes and skills. I’m hoping this gets a least a few kids interested enough to keep it going through the fall and winter months. Thanks again for the support and keep any ideas coming !!!
Look–NO SHOUTING !!!
Not necessarily! The kids are still going to need glue, paint, brushes, tools, etc. If you can help the parents defray some of the “start-up” cost, it might help bring in more members. With the price of gas and all, any little bit helps. I hear the same line from parents of new, very young guitar students–“We’ll we know this guitar is not that great, but we want to see if he sticks with it before we buy him a good one…”
Sure, the LHS might not be thrilled, but look at it this way-they’re making an investment by bringing the kids in; it would basically be the same as giving each kid a free kit to start them up–the kid is still gonna need to buy stuff to build, finish, and complete it. The hobby store would be cutting off it’s nose to deny the kid entry for bringing in an outside kit.
What if the kid got a new kit as a gift and brought it in? Who’s the wiser as to where it was purchased? It still helps the hobby store to invite the kid in–besides, if the kids are anything like any of us on here, they’ll be spending MORE money than they even have to spend in that same LHS for years to come! [swg]
How about using those 1/72 Hobby Boss easy models, they are cheap and easy and build into nice models…maybe the LHS owner can order them and sell them to you with a discount.