Many kits have been produced in various colored plastic for years but I’ve been seeing more and more pre-painted kits on the market. In fact I bought a Bandai pre-painted Start Trek kit last year. I was quite impressed how well it looked even with the obvious seam lines. It gave me an idea.
I have always wanted to get my 10 year old nephew into modeling. He’s been given a couple of kits before but would loose interest and not finish them. My idea was to pre-paint the kit on the sprue before giving it to my nephew.
I found an old Revel Spitfire and airbrushed a camo paint job on it. I applied the decals and did a little weathering and sealed everything up with a flat sealer. I probably spent less than an hour on the whole process not including drying time of course.
Well let me tell you! When he opened the box his eyes just about popped out of his head. I supervised the construction as we used medium CA applied with a toothpick to speed up the assembly time (I questioned how long his attention would last).
The model is now proudly displayed hanging in his room and if you don’t examine it under the microscope looks professional.
A much better fate for the majority of models that are left unassembled in a kid’s closet or hacked together only to be thrown out as they grow older if you ask me.