My son has a birthday this month. He will be 14 on the 23rd. His modeling skills at this point are very limited, as he is impatient, and wants it done NOW! I need some advice as to good modern kits to start him on. My ideas were:
Tamiya:
M-113
M-113 fire support vehicle
Centurion Mk 3
Trumpeter:
Any of their T-54 through Type-80 kits.
Are there any more suggestions out there. I am sure there are kits, but cant for the life of me think of them. He will be getting a bunch of building supplies also. I want to get him re-started in the right way. Thanks guys your the best.
I know this isnt armor but have you tried some Revell cars? They arent expensive…give a nice big surface to paint, has plenty of parts but not too many.
I know I enjoy cars because I can build 3 things at once and not have to wait 48s before i can touch the thing as a whole every time i do something simple.
You can paint the body, do the interior while thats drying, and the chassis while thats drying.
It’s a thought. He helps me and my friend work on my 73 challenger,(Stripping it down to chassis and body for work and then paint.) Dirty work and seems to enjoy himself. Will keep it in mind.
Tamiya’s KV-1 is a decent kit, decent detail and goes together fairly quickly with no hiccups in fit. Turret halves need a good sanding on the joint when put together but thats about it. Nice little kit, I have been satisfied with it, and it’s not too expensive either, so thats another plus.
I’d put Tamiya’s Merkava Mk1 on your short-list too. Lots of interesting shapes and angles, and… I’ve seen a 10yo (with only a couple of kits under his belt) assemble (but not paint) the entire kit in a single evening. The Leopard 1A4 is a neat little kit too. It was my first 1/35 scale kit 25+ years ago.
Regarding the M113 - the earlier kits are not bad - given the choice I’d go for the ACAV kit over the original “plain” M113. The later “Desert version” representing an OIF era vehicle has a few updated parts but lacks the interior of the earlier models.
The M113 FSV is not bad - the turret gives it an interesting look, though it also lacks the interior found in the earlier kits.
Any of the WW2 or modern Jeep (aka “Mutts”) kits are good models that go together quickly. There’s not too much of a stretch between an M151A2 and a car model.
No way, man! Enough with the video games already! Get these kids busy with their hands and minds, not just sitting on the floor all day staring blankly at the TV screen!
Building a model with Dad can be an interactive experience and one of learning and creativity. Plus, a GREAT way to teach the benefits of patience! Not like a video game! I suggest looking on ebay–there’s a ton of old Tamiya kits up there for a pittance, really, and you can find almost anything there for the him. Some cool reference material–picture books of tanks, might awe him of a parrticular type of tank, and then before you know it, he’ll be on the site here posting WIP photos![swg]
My first kit was a Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog, its an easy kit to build and cheap too. I know this is the wrong forum but the 21st Century Toys models that Wal-Mart sells are awsome for $9.97. They are 1/32 scale so they are big, and they have great details (engraved panel lines,two great looking pilot figures, moving control surfaces). There is a minimun of small parts but no lack in detail. They are even tough enough to be played with. So far there are 4 or 5 diferent planes. They are exactly what we need to get kids back into modeling, affordable, simple, and fun, glue together models. Maybe 21st century toys will move into making armor too!
I agree with Rob. You could take that further into the Jeep’s replacement. Start with the Academy M998. If he wants more of a challenge try some of the other variants. He could try camo of keep it simple and paint desert sand.
The jeeps and hummers are the simple and cheap answer I think to start.
Are there any particular models that he likes or wants?
I realize this is the armor forum, but does he like airplanes, cars, ships, or Gundams also?
From my own experience, I know I built a lot of poorly finished and painted kits before my skills started to improve, but I had a GREAT time putting them together – enven when they weren’t painted.
One of the models I was proudest of at that age was a Tamyia (I believe) 1/35 scale Willey Jeep that I built when I was 13. I didn’t paint it, but it was molded in olive drab, so it still looked pretty good to me, especially with those white stars on it. [:)] I remember it going together pretty well.
All great suggetions! HALO 3 has been asked for and declined. As the Doog said, I am trying to pry him kicking and screaming from the video game genre. He hasn’t played a video game for about a week, and is acting like a junkie looking for a fix! He likes Sci-Fi and Planes too. I dont care what his builds turn out to look like, as long as he has fun doing it. He watches me alot, and seems interested, but rarely wants to sit down and build. I think it is because he doesn’t have his own materials. Once he has those, I think he may jump right into it. Lets hope. I believe if kids sat down and built more models, some of the troubles, they have would go away to a degree. It is good therapy in my opinion.
My reasoning for recommending a Jeep/Mutt and not a HMMWV is cost. If he does not get interested in model building, at most you are out a $10-15 Jeep kit. A Tamiya HMMWV kit runs around $30 or more depending on where you look.
My son’s path into the dark side was Warhammer figurines.
Nowadays I would ask him to help me out with my figurines, and I trade them against 1/35 AFV’s [8D]
I had one other thought. When I was a kid (I’ll be 34 soon), my parents took me to lots of historically significant places, and I usually got a model when there. I got a Wright Flyer at Kittyhawk, a model of the USS North Carolina when we visitd her, and I got the Jeep model in Europe after riding in a WWII for most of a day during a tour of the Battle of the Bulge area with my grandfather.
So maybe there’s something cool from his recent past that he’d like to build.
I’ve got an almost 2-year-old son whose favorite word right now is “airplane.” [:D]
Warhammer 40,000 would be a good suggestion as it has a video game version. He can start making the leap from the video game to the board game. And of course he has to have the slickest painted figures to play against his friends.
Both my sons enjoy this game, they have tried to get me involved. I’ll build and paint, but I don’t have the energy right now to play. I have chosen on army and build that and let them use it.
We do 40k. He likes the figures, but I usually end up painting everything, as “Your better at this than me Dad.” My responce is, “It takes time Bud. I didn’t just pick up a brush one day and start painting like this. It takes time and practice.” We have quite afew armies.
6 dreadnaughts, 15 Rhino’s, 6 Landcruiser’s old and new, 2 defilers, 6 predators,a nd alot of other stuff. About 4500.00-5000.00 worth of stuff. I am trying to get him into other genres too. I am tired of painting all those darn figures! I have a ton more still to do, and to buy!
Maybe start him out with a small arsenal of modelling supplies. I went to KMS tools and House of Tools and picked up hobby knife sets for $15. Pick out a testors acrylic paint kit (I tried the military colours and they actually work pretty great), sometimes the paint kits come with sandpaper and other things in them. My Dad bought me a testors finishing kit which had some gloss auto paints, hobby knife, sandpapers, cement and window cement. Maybe him having his own stuff will help him get more into it.
So maybe get him some supplies and also an easy kit to put it together, maybe some 1/72 armour? Its actually easier to paint (I find) because of the little surface area, a monotone finish and a wash and weathering turns out great. I started out with some 1/72 Airfix and Fujimi armour kits. Pretty good for beginners and achieves a decent model with minimal skill.
Just my 3 cents.
Oh and Happy Birthday to him, its also my best friends B-day today too.