[WWI] " Do kids still build models........?

[Jim Landon]

<< ...The 3 OT kits he did were the quick build series 
of pre painted plastic kits that measure out to about 1/32 scale and are like a 
snap tite but use small screws to hold them together. ...>>

My grandkids have assembled quite a few of those. They love them and now that they are 6 and 8 yrs old they can manage without any help from me. Then they stage dogfights with them. Then their younger siblings play with them and the planes all have at least one missing or broken part. "Grandpa can you fix this?"

I've tried to work with the 6 and 8 yr old boys on regular plastic kits of 1:144 jet fighters and 1:72 WWI planes with some success but the problem is they are only at our house for a couple hours, and their parents will often say they have to go outside and play. So most models get started but never finished. When they come back in a week or so they usually have forgotten the models they started or don't care to finish them.

They have very full well-rounded active busy lives so I hesitate to insist that they build models.

When I was a kid in the late 1940's and early 1950's I did NOT  have a full well-rounded active busy life so building models was my kind of activity. 

What was the question?

Jim 

From: davecww1 at cox.net
To: wwi at wwi-models.org
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:57:23 -0400
Subject: Re: [WWI] " Do kids still build models........?










My 6 year old son has been building models for 
about 2 years so far, basically he started with a spider Man kit which I helped 
him to paint, then I bought him a bunch of the Toy Biz marvel Comics kits 
from the 1990's which are a little harder for him to do but he uses sprue 
cutters and sanding sticks to get them nice, and he even spray painted the 
Silver Surfer by himself.  The 3 OT kits he did were the quick build series 
of pre painted plastic kits that measure out to about 1/32 scale and are like a 
snap tite but use small screws to hold them together.  He did the sopwith 
Camel, Fokker Triplane (all red like in Flyboys) and the Fokker D.VII.  I 
still have the SPAD VII somewhere for him to build, just wish there was a 
Nieuport 17 in the series...maybe next year i'll let him work on a Testors 
Nieuport 17 or a Glencoe Pfalz I have around.  
      And Warren brought 
back some long forgotten memories with Snoopy and the Red Baron.   Now 
that I think about it my first OT kit was a Monogram kit of Snoopy's Sopwith 
Camel, a snap tite kit with yellow plane, red cowl, black & white snoopy and 
his dog house for a stand, all plastic parts were molded in color, no painting 
required.  it had an electric motor to turn the prop .  I got it in 
the early 1970's when I was about 6 or so and unfortunately have never seen them 
reissued.  Would like to see this one again so I could buy it for my 
son.
Dave
 
 " Do kids 
still build 
models........?

                                               
J.R. Boye "
 
J.R.,
       I think 
that the only kids that build models anymore are the ones who
have parents 
that model, or attempt to, such as myself. I am sure there are
exceptions. 
Growing up in the 60's and 70's all the boys I knew built a
model at one time 
or another. It seemed a natural thing to do with either:
a) our parents 
having gone through WWII and the resultant exposure we had to
it via TV, 
movies, books, etc. and b) the 50th annivesary of WWI with the
attendent 
hoopla, etc. (Of course, with me, it was Snoopy and the Red Baron
on "It's 
the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!)
 
Warren 


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