model building and the internet

silentbob33

For the last couple of years I've been teaching a class for high school students called "History in Scale." I've worked with the students to build a slew of 1/72 Hobby Boss Easy Assembly aircraft. One kid really got into it before she graduated and bought and built several more models that are now on display in my classroom. By the end of the year my classroom looks like a miniature air museum. I try to get a picture of them all at the end of the year then let the kids take them home. If they leave them and they look pretty decent I'll keep them as examples for future classes. I'm also getting my 8 year old son into building as well.

Boy how I wish I was in that class, sounds like a lot of fun!

I worked with a freind a bit on a Tamiya 1/35 M-41. since then, he has been searching for new kits, and berading me with questions! 

For the last couple of years I've been teaching a class for high school students called "History in Scale." I've worked with the students to build a slew of 1/72 Hobby Boss Easy Assembly aircraft. One kid really got into it before she graduated and bought and built several more models that are now on display in my classroom. By the end of the year my classroom looks like a miniature air museum. I try to get a picture of them all at the end of the year then let the kids take them home. If they leave them and they look pretty decent I'll keep them as examples for future classes. I'm also getting my 8 year old son into building as well.

   I discovered Andy's Hobby Headquarters awhile back. Watching his Youtube videos have removed some of the mysteries about paint and weathering for me. Watching them get me excited about trying new techniques I have read about but seeing and doing is how I learn. Very helpful.

In the past, I have helped friends try new things: 

- Completely redid the joints of a Gunpla kit using polycaps.  I did one side, and my friend did the other.  That Zaku was crazy poseable after the “operation”!

- Dot filtering with oil paints.  I had only read about the technique, but a friend wanted to try it out.  So we did it step by step.  His giant Ork Stompa turned out brilliant looking, all grungy and stained.  We were both quite surprised how well it turned out.  The initial dots of oil paint looked frightening, but I assured my friend that is how the process starts.  It took a real leap of faith to do it though.

- Another friend wanted to try building an airplane kit for the first time.  He chose Tamiya’s 1/72 Bf-109E, which was an excellent kit, though a bit too tiny for me.  He asked a lot of questions about construction and painting along the way, had a few missteps which I walked him through (I make lots of mistakes, so I am quite experienced), and in the end he had a very nice model.  He’s now building a steady stream of 1/72 aircraft.

- Yet another friend wanted to try armor, but here is where I messed up.  I thought a DML King Tiger would be fairly easy, but I did not think about the onery task of assembling the indy track links and the interleaved road wheels.  Despite me and another friend guiding him through the build, it was not sucessful.  He has sinced “dialed it back”, and is now building 1/72 armor.

- A couple of friends have come over to learn how to use an airbrush.  My trusty nearly 40 year old Badger 200 single action airbrush is not the easiest to clean, but it works well and makes for a good instructional tool.

- I have also shown friends how to use some of the weirder tools like punch and die sets.  And now one of them is asking about vac-forming, so it’s time to take out the vac machine (a perforated bread pan glued to a wood board, powered by a discarded Rainbow vacuum cleaner).

I’ve also handed out decent model kits from my stash to any adult or kid who would be willing to take them at club displays.  The kids love those Gundams.

But online, no not much mentoring save for the occasional bit of advice.  I think it’s better hands-on and face to face.

What you did for your young neighbor is very commendable. It's nice to see a young person interested in something other than a phone's screen.