F-22 Raptor - Airfix Quickbuild - Edwardkenway and grandson aged 6 - FINISHED

[Edwardkenway]

Just a small side project took on with my 6 year old grandson.

Much to his mums distress I'm introducing him to the joys of model kits 😂

These quickbuild kits are so simple! no glue or paint required!

He and I completed this F22 in an hour therefore leaving no time for his 6 year old mind to wander. I was there as a consultant, explaining the instructions as he did all the building. 

he thinks it's cool and has already chosen what he want to do next (a Lamborghini Aventador)

My little bit at keeping the hobby going and trying to get kids interested in actual not virtual pastimes again.

Thanks for looking in😉

 

[Canute]

Great way to get a kid interested in our hobbies. And having his grandpa helping. Good move.

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

Much to his mums distress I'm introducing him to the joys of model kits

You can always tell her it's cheaper than video games as well and teaches history to boot........

[Edwardkenway]

That's basically what I told her, I can't wait to see her face when we turn up with a "proper" glue and paint needed model😂 and then there's the train layout he's just got to have!! I'm besides myself just thinking of what my grandson "needs"🤤

Edited November 21, 2020 by Edwardkenway

[Canute]

Don't let him see any layouts from over here. Guys end up building "empires" in basements or spare rooms. Poor kid will go ga-ga.

 

I'm a little familiar with the gorgeous layouts built in the UK and they are exquisite (two fellows in my train club model British railroads on HO gauge track). I'm always impressed with how they fit so much operation in fairly small (by US standards) layouts. You two will have a lot of fun with a train layout.

[Old Collingwood]

And building paper mache  tunnels hills etc   - tried it as a kid  (not very good though)

 

OC.

[Egilman]

21 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

And building paper mache  tunnels hills etc 

Used to do that on this side of the pond as well, but today the old standby is plaster gauze & chicken wire, much much faster and workable.... No way to mess it up....

[Edwardkenway]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

Don't let him see any layouts from over here. Guys end up building "empires" in basements or spare rooms. Poor kid will go ga-ga.

 

I'm a little familiar with the gorgeous layouts built in the UK and they are exquisite (two fellows in my train club model British railroads on HO gauge track). I'm always impressed with how they fit so much operation in fairly small (by US standards) layouts. You two will have a lot of fun with a train layout.

Oh no problem with space, where he lives there's a 12'x12' brick built outhouse with power and heating, I've already earmarked it for future use and told my daughter 😏

49 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

And building paper mache  tunnels hills etc   - tried it as a kid  (not very good though)

 

OC.

 

26 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Used to do that on this side of the pond as well, but today the old standby is plaster gauze & chicken wire, much much faster and workable.... No way to mess it up....

Be nice to get back into terrain modelling again as I've not done it for many years. 

[Jack12477]

I learned model kit building and Model Railroading from my Dad after the war (WWII that is). He used to sit at dining room table and build HO gauge model RR rolling stock from kits - not much ready to run - in those days. Built a wood model Piper Cub float plane from kit, I asked him to let me build one and he got the same kit for me. Also built a moderate sized HO railroad layout in basement, still had one in townhouse when he sold the townhouse at age 98 (lived to be 102 years & 2 months), split the rolling stock between me and one of his grandsons. I went with N scale due to apartment living when Rapido Germany brought it out in the late 1960s .  Dad's older brother next built a layout but built hundreds of freight cars and cabooses in HO. I still have my N scale track, switches rolling stock, engine, etc  but no layout now. 

[Jack12477]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

old standby is plaster gauze & chicken wire

My Dad and I used cardboard strips stapled together to form a matrix then newspaper strips dipped in very watery plaster mix. Toe max hills it was also wadded up newspaper with the plaster strips over it. 

[Edwardkenway]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

I still have my N scale track, switches rolling stock, engine, etc  but no layout now. 

Wow, you could still build a layout then? sadly and rather  stupidly with hindsight, I let all my track, rolling stock and locomotives go (with a little sad tear in my eyes) to make room for our second child, and at the time the money I got for it came in handy. So with my grandson I can start again😉

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Edwardkenway

[Jack12477]

I took down my layout when my youngest child, son, needed the space to setup his US 1Trucking (brand name) slot car/truck layout, HO scale as I recall. My layout was only partly started then, 3rd attempt. I repurposed hiss table for my shipyard workbench.  I used the old L-girder construction which is easily modifiable. It is incredibly strong.

 

I inherited Dad's more classic/collectible engines and passenger cars, few freight and a monstrously heavy wrecker crane all cast metal, plus some odd pieces of track. The Rapido track and switches were unigue in design, still have them.

 

So yes I could rebuild an N scale layout, if I ever quit building ships, cars and planes. 😉😉😉😉

 

Starting new with your grandson would be fun. Dad always enjoyed "running the trains" for his grand children, one grandson took up the hobby and now his son is enjoying his trains, mostly Great-grandpa's trains. 

 

BTW Dad started with Lionel O, sold that when American Flyer introduced S-scale and went into S-scale. He skipped TT-scale, sold the S-scale and went into HO.  I got the bug from him 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Jack12477

[Edwardkenway]

Mine was a 00/H0, track was mainly Hornby and the rolling stock and locos were Mainline by Palitoy, used to get loads as two of my aunties worked at the palitoy factory 😆.

I had three continuous loops and an end to end branch line with a reasonable marshalling yard.

When I'd got it wired up fully I could have had four trains running simultaneously but alas it never ever got finished 😔as life always seemed to have other plans

Edited November 21, 2020 by Edwardkenway

[mtaylor]

Grandad's and kids... planes, trains, and automobiles seems to sum it up along with a lot of good memories.

[Old Collingwood]

16 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Grandad's and kids... planes, trains, and automobiles seems to sum it up along with a lot of good memories.

Certainly does mate.

 

OC.

[Roger Pellett]

People today don’t understand how important these creative activities are to kids.  As a child growing up, I had an erector set, some Lionel trains that I still have, and my Dad’s workshop. All contributed to lifetime interests and career choices.  

 

Electric trains are a good good way to introduce kids to electrical circuits.  Back in the. Day before miniaturized electronics  it was amazing what Lionel was able to do with wires and magnets. 

 

Roger

Edited November 21, 2020 by Roger Pellett

[Old Collingwood]

3 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

People today don’t understand how important these creative activities are to kids.  As a child growing up, I had an erector set, some Lionel trains that I still have, and my Dad’s workshop. All contributed to lifetime interests and career choices.  

 

Electric trains are a good good way to introduce kids to electrical circuits.

 

Roger

Was the same for me as a Ten year old with Scalextric slot cars on those tracks with the 12Volt  connections from a transformer  running through those male/female conectors  that were a pain to keep in good order.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

17 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

As a child growing up, I had an erector set

Me too, Roger. Still have in the original red metal box. Pretty beat up but still there

Edited November 21, 2020 by Jack12477

[Edwardkenway]

For basic construction Lego was brilliant, then there was the Meccano sets but as Roger mentioned dads workshop/shed was a goldmine for curious boys and most definitely led me to my choice of career (construction)

[Canute]

The new high end stuff uses digital command control with small digital boards in every loco and a small control center. It is slick, with all the bells and whistles(literally) in the engines. Ours has programmed signals ( more computer programming) on the layout

 

You can still do the direct current stuff too. My club maintains a Thomas the Tank Engine layout for the little ones to run their individual trains. Its always fun watching them break into big grins as their train starts up. Of course, they only use two speeds, off and warp factor 6. We replace the locos every 6 months.😁

 

Foam insulation boards make up most of the hills and such on my club layout. The hydrolcal, chicken wire, screen mesh terrain is still around, but the foam is somewhat easier, like building a layer cake. We still use a plaster mix to fill the gaps and the foliage is ground foam instead of sawdust and lichen.

[lmagna]

I tried a few of the "Snap Tight" kits with my older grandson when it seemed he might want to graduate from Legos which he LOVED. In his case it was Star Wars and the like so no REAL history. Even today he can relate the history and events of the Star Wars universe better than he can world, (Earth) history. He enjoyed them but never seemed to really connect. We then tried D&D type figures and in some ways he liked painting those as well. Tio be honest he was pretty good at it. Then I tried some 1/12th Halo figures, Master Chief, and a Warthog that I think was about 1/32nd or something. He was interested in building them but never finished the figure and never was interested in weathering or even painting the Warthog. 

 

A couple of years ago he passed almost all of the stuff on to his half brother who we are also raising so now other than a few probably collectable figures he is almost 100% video games and things computer related. He is turning 18 next month and our younger grandson is 13 so not much chance I will ever have true grandchildren to spoil and send home to their parents at the end of the day.

 

Going even further back to my sons. I tried getting them interested in RC ships like I was into at the time. They liked driving them but never developed an interest in building them. Like the kids Ken mentioned they had pretty much two speeds warp and stop, (When they run into something).

Edited November 22, 2020 by lmagna

[Edwardkenway]

2 minutes ago, Canute said:

Foam insulation boards make up most of the hills

I found that fantastic for wargame scenery as it's so easy to carve a plateau on a hillside for troop placement. 

[Egilman]

4 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

My Dad and I used cardboard strips stapled together to form a matrix then newspaper strips dipped in very watery plaster mix. Toe max hills it was also wadded up newspaper with the plaster strips over it. 

Yep that's the old old standby, before medical plaster cloth became widely available.... Works just as well... Today it is wide gauge gauze with hydrocal, leaving the medical supplies alone....

 

5 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

I still have my N scale track, switches rolling stock, engine, etc  but no layout now. 

I've still got my HO, and all the supplies to build another layout, just have to find the time which is a very scarce commodity these days.... (have some classic steam engines and coach car sets (electric) from 40-50 years ago that haven't even been out of their box yet)

[Edwardkenway]

4 minutes ago, lmagna said:

so not much chance I will ever have true grandchildren to spoil and send home to their parents at the end of the day.

But you had the same experience apart from send them home, imho it's the being with them that's the fun bit, especially when we're all getting told off for making the front room messy then moving on to the conservatory to do the same😋😂

[Edwardkenway]

12 minutes ago, Canute said:

The new high end stuff uses digital command control with small digital boards in every loco and a small control center. It is slick, with all the bells and whistles(literally) in the engines. Ours has programmed signals ( more computer programming) on the layout

It's amazing how with this technology you're able to run multiple locomotives on the same loop at different speeds

[Canute]

Folks are always asking for an Addams Family type crash, with the DCC setups. All very sophisticated in the equipment, but operations is a snap. You can have a lot of fun with a small layout with the kids.

[Egilman]

55 minutes ago, Canute said:

Foam insulation boards make up most of the hills

Yeah, you don't have to wait for it to dry before you rough shape it is the first advantage then the hydrocal finish is a light skim coat over already formed hills...

 

There is a lot of things you can do modeling wise with insulation foam panels, a very versatile product....

 

I never got into DCC much, I always thought of it as an imagination limiter..... but a money maker for the manufacturers...... Making things easier is always of more value in this society....

[Landlubber Mike]

Awesome job guys!

[popeye the sailor]

my grand kids are into legos at the moment........but I think the oldest may end up as a 'gundam' kid.  he love transformers and he does well with the 'science kits' {we got him a couple last Christmas}.   never got to far with my two boys......the ground moved a few times,  but nothing rock solid 😜     

[lmagna]

On 11/21/2020 at 5:27 PM, Edwardkenway said:

especially when we're all getting told off for making the front room messy then moving on to the conservatory to do the same😋😂

And then up to the bedroom. I have plenty of that kind of practice. But then I may not have it down solid yet even in my old age. It seems that I get stuck with the cleanup all by myself while the child who was more than happy to help me make the mess is happily outside playing with whatever it was and not available. Of course my wife gives me that, "I didn't make the mess" look, so I know better than to go there for help! 

Edited November 25, 2020 by lmagna