Any tips on teaching the young to build?

Start simple Snap together. The really best part is spenting time with them, and teaching them a skill: patienece.

Hi all;
I agree with the previous comments. My kids range from 13 to 22, and they all build models of one description or another. One is into RC planes, another plastic, and the third just likes to blow things up! I started them with Lego, K-nex, that sort of thing, and let them find their way from there. In fact I was out of the hobby for many years and my kids got me back into it.

I agree with letting them pick out their own kit; just guide them when they aim for the fully rigged clipper as a first project! I cannot recommend strongly enough your friendly local hobby shop owner as well; if he/she is worth their salt they'll talk to the kids and encourage them. Bert at Argus Hobbies was great with my kids; he always kicked in a free tube of glue or paintbrush, which made them feel special (as well as keeping me coming back). He also had a kid's window in his shop and they busted their bib with pride every time their creations went in there!

One last thing I can add is to give them tips on things before they start, that way the tips won't come across so much as correcting what they did wrong. After a couple of airplane models I bought my son a tube of putty along with his next one and showed him how to use it; he then went ahead and started filling seams on his own.

Thanks all .
All of you have good ideas and advise.
Please feel free to keep the ideas coming.

Hello,
I have been working with kids and art for some time now. Last year I started teaching them how to build models. What I have found is that you must make it fun. For young kids a YU-GI-OH model from walmart about $7.00 will get them started. What I had them do is paint the whole model Acrylic white then they can paint the model any color. I have done this with some frist time students. Also a clear goal of what you want them to learn about models is a good idea. The kits are aesy to build and they can play with them. I have some pics posted on my website. I hope this helps you out.
MAKE IT FUN !!!
Dale

Hey Berny, I bought my daughter that VW bug. What a messy kit. It's from Revell Monogram and it needs lots of cleanup on it. Wow, I get to teach her about sanding and filling, etc. She ended up picking out Hot Pearl Pink instead of purple. I hope she doesn't get to frustrated, because I told her it will take some time. I'm going to let her do most of the painting though.

My advice is not to push your kid start out with snap togethers and then eventually give him a real one to put together. And make it a father son project. And mabye your kid will like them and stick with them.

QUOTE: Originally posted by leemitcheltree Obviously the Snap-tite kits are a great lmace to start, as well as those funky Lego sets (especially the Lego-Technic!!) because they require the kids to identify the parts and use a step by step instruction book - just like we do. I wish I had Lego like that when I was a kid!! But I still play with my daughter when she plays with her Lego-Technic....... The Snap-tite kits result in a good looking model with a minimum of fuss - perfect for little fingers. Cheers LeeTree

You mean your daughter will play with you when your having fun with your TECHNIC right????

My dad had a few kits up in the closet that he wanted to do with me as a kid, so we did a few and then about 3 years ago, something clicked in my brain and said I should get into modeling. So I took it up seriously last year.

In Modelling as in Fathering... The best learned lessons usually occur by making mistakes. I can offer several suggestions based on mistakes I've made. Let them pick a kit. Offer them help when they ask for it. Make sure they're using things safely. And probably most important - get out of the way !

My younger son had a great time building an old Monogram P-40 kit. I cringed a little when the camo scheme included blue, green (not olive), purple, and even (gag) pink. (He was experimenting with mixing his own colors). It is now displayed with some of Dad's models in the boy's room.

If they want a plane kit that they can play with - The Testors 1/72 Dauntless is a sturdy little thing - but dont count on any propeller blades hanging around for any length of time.

Wow dans1120,

I just had a flash back slam me in the back of the head. I had forgotten all about that, but my parents enrolled me and my brother in "The Young Model Builders Club" back in 1971 or 72 I think. I remember we got a Lunar Lander and a Mercury capsule as our first kits. Wow, talk about that wave of nostalgia rolling over you. But it was a great program and really got he and I into building models. I remember my dad sitting down with us and separating the assemblies in half so we could each work on it. He made a game of it as though we were engineers building a real one. That interactive partcipation made it fun and a positive experience for my brother and I. (I think it was one of the few times we got along) We thought he was a god when he suggested using real tinfoil around the base and legs like the real one had. I think most importantly it allowed us to work on something together and to use our imaginations. Young kids want that interaction with their parents, especially when they get to make some of the decisions.

Mike

I forgot about these before. But my son loves the Zoids models made by Hasbro. He just turned ten today and one of his gifts was a four pack of these things. He has quite a few of them. They are 1/72 scale animal/robot things based on some cartoon. They are snap together with those poly caps. They also are motorized, come molded in multi colored plastic and have stickers for decals. They are very basic, but he loves them.
He may be one of the few kids not addicted to play station 2 or any of those other imagination zappers. It helps that we don't own one!


This post was in response to the "models for a nine year old" thread, wooops! Thats what happens when I post past my bedtime . I guess it sort of applies here. Warning: I'm editing this post at an even later time of the night. I may be trapped in some kind of vicious circle.

Darren

Teach them not to glue their fingers together with super glue

I don't have kids, but my dad would take me to the hobby store with him when he was looking for kits and encouraged me to buy what I liked. The first kits I built weren't pretty by any standard and usually ended up as sacrificial lambs for the firecrackers, but they meant a lot to me.

I don't have youngsters it seems that once an interest has started that if possible and if what they may want to model exists in the real world or in a museum take quality time and let the youngsters experiance this first hand.my dad used to take me to the railroad yards & this helped generate interest. In some cases this may not be possible but if it can these will be experiances that will be memories of a lifetime

Well, I started in Legos early, and ended up gettinga glue kit (Glencoe, I think, lunar lander ) and rockets at the same time. Add to that "helping" my dad with projects like the Constitution (model of a ship, not the written-on parchment - I'm not old enough for that!) We had a great deal of fun, me building the (repetitive) cannons and small, easy to deal with assemblies, him doing the painting, rigging, and detail work.

In the meantime, I was dealing with snaptite kits, simple glue kits, working on up to things like Monogram's Century Series kits and A-7. Guess I decided early I didn't like things I had to rig!

A lot of kids like stuff they can play with. Snap tite kits can be sturdy enough to deal with kidhandling, and if not, there's the metal body Testors cars, at $10-$15 each.

These are great stories,

My stepson is 11 and building his first kit, a snap Ghostbusters ecto-1, he's not very imaginative, so I really have to hold his hand, but once I teach him the techniques, (we're doing it all from primer to sandpaper) I plan on buying him a kit, and letting him have free reign on it.


I know firsthand the dissapointment I felt when I ended up with a crappy job, and my older Brother and Grandfather could build (not perfect, but neat) kits with subtle modifications like jacked up rear ends, and hood scoops.

No One taught me technique, and I never learned it until the birth of the Internet age, I think a semi-structured approach to teaching is good. I ran it kind of like a hands-on art class with him and his buddy (who is doing a revell 78 firebird) They really seemed to enjoy it

Snap-tite kits to the rescue! They got my son started, then some of the older Revellogram kits. He's taking the summer off for baseball, but he's already got a small stockpile of kits waiting for him.

Like father, like son. . .

Wow, tigerman. A flower power bug. I missed that phase in history. I was too busy working on real aircraft in the Air Force.

If she wants to do it, let her. Who knows, next she might want to build a space shuttle and then an aircraft. If it will get her started, why not?

Great story Berny. All my daughter wants to do is drive me crazy and turn my hair gray! Out of my three kids, she wants to build something, a VW Bug with flowers all over. Of course, in purple. Maybe there is hope....

When my two son's were that age they wanted to build models. They soon lost interest and I could not get them back into it after they discovered girls. I now have six grandchildren with another on the way (six on the ramp, one in the hanger). Five are boys and none are into models. They would rather play sports and collect the latest craze cards.

My Granddaughter is into building models. She started off building a F-16A from monogram in 1/48 scale, part of my collection just sitting in my closet, which I did not want to build. It was painted in brown, green and black . Her next project was the 1/48 scale A-10 from Tamiya. Have you ever seen a pink and blue A-10?

None of the completed models would win any prizes, but she was very happy with them. I let her build at her own pace, paint with any color she wanted. I was there to give advise but not do it for her.

She is now eleven years old has become very good at building. I tought her to use an airbrush, how to mix paints and how to mask. Her models still would not win any prizes. Then one day she showed me a completed model of a Chevy S-10 that was beautiful. You could tell she took her time building it and the result was one of her best. In a few more years she will be building better than me, if she doesn't discover boys.

Buy something simple for them to build. If not a snap kit, then a really easy glue kit. Show them the basics, don't worry too much about stuff like cleaning parts up and filling seams or even painting, these things usually aren't a big priority for the 5-7 year old modeler.

Let them build at their own pace, and let them develop at their own pace. If they don't wanna do it, they won't. If they do wanna do it, they will; and they may acquire a desire to do a better job as they progress. Just take it as it goes.


Fade to Black...

hehehe, reminds me of my first years of model-building!

I used to just glue the parts together and usually left the small parts off because I wanted to have them done quick so I could pick it up and look at the planes and play with them. If I painted them, it was always after finishing building them. I've found a green & orange bearcat, an all-silver phantom, and a brown & green lightning in the basement. Holy cow, they looked AWFUL!

Anyway, back on topic, I have a couple recommendations.

I have a few Testors 1/72 SNJ Texans. Not great kits, but they go together easily, they look neat, and they're pretty cheap

Another one of my old favorites is the Monogram 1/48 A6M Zero. I haven't seen any of those around, but I recall that they went together easily, were pretty cheap, and had retractable landing gear, which I especially enjoyed back then.

Lastly, when I was little, my parents got me a "subscription" to something I think was called Young Model Builders Club. They would send two kits a month by mail. I don't know if the company is still around, but if it is, you might want to consider it.

I'll stop blabbing now, I Hope I helped!

I remember when my father got me into modeling he said that if it was not fun then it wasn't worth doing. He gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted to do and I still have that model to this day with its glue everywhere and the fingerprints on the paint job. But I remember having fun doing it and remember the fun my dad and I had together doing them.

Good suggestions from all for you James and I agree with them.

Just let them do their own thing and let them come to you for help on it. Maybe be a little more pro-active if they're going to use your air brush .

Seriously though, I remember at that age I just glued them together with the old tube glue and started playing with them as soon as it set (sometimes sooner ).

Don't expect them to treasure a kit like you do as an adult (I'd die if a kid tried to play with one of mine now!!!) to them it's just a toy they got to build. However you are planting the seeds for a hobby they can enjoy for a liftime if it's something that really interests them. I would get them Monogram airplane kits, any car kit and if they want to do armor, just find some cheaper kits for that too.

Let them grow and if they want you to show them something encourage them but don't push them.

Enjoy the time spent with them!!!!!!!!

Eric

Tigerman hit the nail on the head. Try to let them do the model themselves while supervising more than anything. I have a 9 year old son and a six year old daughter. My son and I build our own models at the same time. This way I can guide and teach him while not being tempted to do it for him. He can only do it for short periods of time though. When he gets bored he packs it up and stops for a while. He has full artistic license to build and paint it however he chooses. Thank god for cheap kits is all that I can say . My daughter has not started a kit as of yet, but she keeps pushing for one. So we may have three modelers in the family soon.

My son and I also build model rockets and RC cars. These are both great alternatives to plastic models. My son did not see the point of building a model that did nothing when you were done. He has gotten beyond that now, but it took a couple of years.

Goodluck

Darren

Obviously the Snap-tite kits are a great lmace to start, as well as those funky Lego sets (especially the Lego-Technic!!) because they require the kids to identify the parts and use a step by step instruction book - just like we do.
I wish I had Lego like that when I was a kid!! But I still play with my daughter when she plays with her Lego-Technic.......
The Snap-tite kits result in a good looking model with a minimum of fuss - perfect for little fingers.
Cheers
LeeTree

The thing that I had to remember was to let them do as much as they could by themselves and try not to worry about perfection, especially that young. Try helping only when needed(Of course oversee their progress) and let the glue fly. Bottom line is to have fun. If they get frustrated take a break.

Sit down with them and do a simple Snap-Tite model, just to get them started. It is surprising how fast they will learn...