5 Year Old's First Model - 1/72 Hurricane Mk.1

[wafu_vasco]

Hello All,

       I still remember my dad buying my first model for me, which was a Matchbox 1/72 Hurricane Iic. My 5 year old son has been desperate to make his very own model, so he sold some old toys on eBay to save up the money. He then gave away half of his saved money to put towards his baby sister's savings. Today, he finally had enough money saved and so picked out an Airfix 1/72 Hurricane Starter Set. After his generosity, I really didn't have the heart to take his money so I footed the rather small bill!

 

      As a disclaimer before starting this thread - as the parent, I have carried out or very closely supervised anything with the potential to be hazardous. Clipping, gluing, spray painting, I've either done for him or guided him through. Anyhow, for any other young forum members or those with kids, we thought it might be entertaining to post updates of where he is and how things are going on this special first kit. Today, we primed the sprues, painted the pilot and internal pieces, and fitted the wings and wheel bays together. We also read through the history of the exact aircraft and one of its pilots - my son was very relieved to find out that the Hurricane in question is alive and well at London's Science Museum, and that the pilot survived the war and into old age. 

 

      The painting has all been just base colours, with ink washes applied directly over. My son has done all of the painting himself. I've found this forum's community to be 100% friendly and supportive - a happy first for me in forums - and I do hope you guys will all continue to support my son with your kind comments. We both know this is far from perfect but given his age, I'm immensely proud of how well he's done for his first go. Although to be fair, he's painted a couple of old wargaming miniatures to get his eye in first! Here's where we are so far:

 

[Max Headroom]

Doing good there👍🏻

 

My my only advice would be to have some sort of cutting board to save your work surface from 'collateral damage'!

 

I find the Humbrol #2 brush supplied with that kit is ok and now have quite a collection from the starter kits. Enough to dedicate one to a particular colour. 

 

The potlets of colour are fine. If need be, wet the brush with tap water before dipping into the paint.

 

I look forward to updates from your son and an even more happy face 

 

Trevor

 

 

[Smithy]

What a wonderful thread! Memories for us all of our first fiddling around with plastic with the old man.

 

The little fella is doing a great job and you've probably made a convert!

[Sabrejet]

Good work! That's better than I was doing at 5!

 

Hopefully he's hooked. 

[Dazzio]

 

  Looking very good there! Your son has painted the pilot better than I ever could! That's why I never include them... Not because I'm lazy... Honest! I'll be keeping an eye on this build, looking forward to what your son can build. Hopefully it won't be the last?! Silly thing, but it seems a little impersonal referring to your son as "your son", Wafu.  I do apologise if it sounds rude, I haven't seen any names mentioned, that's why I've not used one.

 

  It was around his age that I first saw the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight over my house on their way to the Southend Air Show (way back when). I remember talking to the Firefighter (chap called Andy - RIP Mate) who lived down my street about them and he told me they where the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane.  He told me all about the Hurricane and that's when I had found one of my favourite aircraft. That's one of the earliest memories I have. I hope you spark an keen interest in your Son Wafu, much like Andy did with me.

 

  Kind Regards,

 

  Dazz

[Black Knight]

Well done that young man

A very kind, generous and determined young guy. One of the best types

 

Don't get paint on the areas where the bits stick together. Airfix make their kits a very tight fit and a layer of paint is enough to make the parts not fit together tightly and neatly

[Murdo]

What a great story. I hope the wee fella really enjoys his build, it's looking excellent so far.

 

Well done him!     

[yarvelling]

Great idea for a build thread   Just an idea that I found very neat with this new Airfix Hurricane - if you paint all areas of the interior cockpit area silver (spray, or brush), and then use the 3mm flat Humbrol brush to paint the Humbrol 78 interior green in-between the raised moulded areas (that are now coated with silver)... the 3mm brush fits very well and, and buts-up nicely to the raised silver lines, and makes for very neat cockpit wall painting, allowing the (raised) silver framework to show through  
For the very little that actually shows through the canopy (even if posed in 'open' mode), it looks good... far better than trying to paint the silver lines over the background green
HTH....
Steve.

[M1ks]

This is absolutely fantastic, good for you as a parent encouraging and helping and good for him being actively interested.

That indeed is a spectacularly painted pilot figure and far far better than my very first attempts at model making.

Give him a huge thumbs up from me especially for choosing what is my all time favourite british WWII aircraft.

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by M1ks

[skyradial51]

great to see the youngster enjoying this great hobby , he's doing a grand job there for such young age.good to see your encouragement as a father ! Keep up the good work !!

[RidgeRunner]

Great to see! Keep encouraging! I started at about the same time - an Airfix F-104 in the mid 1960s

 

Martin

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great work  keep at it.

It's always great to see a younger generation into modeling. 

My first kit was an old F-4 phantom. Probably a Revell or Testors 1/72nd. I can remember the only paints i had in 1979 were still in the Psychedelic color range. So my phantom turned out in purple, neon green, and a couple of other colors in my "Hippie Camouflage."

    I wish i still had it. My Next model was a 1/72nd F-14 Tomcat. I did a school report and used it as a 3D model in 4th grade 1980. Oh the memories. 

[RidgeRunner]

As I remember my Starfighter only got white upper wings and decals. Nothing else 

 

M

[dave665]

Brilliant stuff. Not sure who is enjoying this most your son or you... or those of us following this thread.

 

Excellent start. I congratulate your son on his figure painting skills. 

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dave

Edited August 30, 2017 by dave665

[junglierating]

Clearly your son has the deft hands of an avionics wafu 

[perdu]

THE BOY DONE GOOD

 

In the proper manner, he is doing a very nice job there

 

I know it is instinctive to disbelieve us when we say 'better than mine' but my hands will not allow such close and tidy paintwork

 

I might ask him for advice some day

 

And it would be good if we could praise him as ... (his own name), trust me, we would

[CedB]

Great to see a new recruit to the hobby and such a thoughtful and generous one too

Good work on the pilot - they're really hard to do well and he's looking 'proper' - nice job!

I'll follow along if I may.

[Beard]

Excellent work, that pilot puts my efforts to shame.

I have a few kits that I'll never make (actually that applies to all my stash 😊). If you'd like them, PM me and I'll pop them in the post.

[invidia]

Thats great, doing a fantastic job, the pilot looks great, i cannot paint figures, if i remember my first kit was a matchbox hurricane, many years ago. 

[James G]

Great stuff! First father-son model is very special. I still have fond memories of building them with my dad, and looking forward to the first with my son Arlo (currently 4 months old so will be a little while...!).

[keefr22]

12 hours ago, wafu_vasco said:

My 5 year old son has been desperate to make his very own model, so he sold some old toys on eBay to save up the money. He then gave away half of his saved money to put towards his baby sister's savings.

 

That is just lovely...!! 

 

As is that little pilot - pretty skilllful brushwork there! 

 

Please keep posting updates, this Hurri will be a little gem!

 

Keith

[wafu_vasco]

Where to start! I'm absolutely blown away with the kind responses we've received, thank you so much! I read them all out to my son and to my wife this morning - my son was even happier than he was buying his first kit, and my wife was welling up! Before continuing, my son, Leo (I should have named him earlier but was being OTT with internet family security!) has drawn this picture to say thank you for all of your kind words - the photo isn't very clear but it says 'Thank You Britmodeller.com' in the top corner, and is his rendition of some Hurricanes and Spitfires:

 

It was great to read about everybody's first model kits and to receive all of your helpful advice, although I'm afraid that desk top is already long gone! As I recall from my first kit, I had it completed in about 20-30 minutes. It was that bad! Matchbox made a big marketing thing back then of producing their kits in different coloured sprues, so my Hurricane had a green fuselage and brown wings. All liberally covered with glue fingerprints and badly positioned decals. The canopy was so obscured with glue that it was impossible to see inside, which was perhaps the only positive! I took it to school a couple of days later where one of the tailplanes was lost, although bizarrely I found another 1/72 scale tail plane in the playground which wasn't mine. Even more bizarrely, the aerial and pitot tube survived intact. But I digress...

 

A small update for this morning - Leo has assembled the cockpit interior and fitted the first decal. I broke the bracing struts whilst attempting to demonstrate filing down small parts, but managed to fix it by dipping the ends in superglue. So, the only bits I've done in the photo below are gluing the pedals and control column in place. Thanks again for all of your kind words, it's a far bigger response than we were expecting and it is truly appreciated. 

 

[perdu]

Leo is still doing a very good job and I'm sure we all like the drawing

 

Leo keep on with it, you will enjoy making models for ever, I bet

 

Well done

[rob Lyttle]

Great thread. Well done so far,, Leo!

I been trying to remember my first one but can't recall - it would've been shot up along with many airfix"" midgees" in battle!

Any body remember the Bedouin warriors? There were camels...!

I remember doing the scammel tank transporter, and messing up badly with the tractor main bogies.

Despair turned to joy when my Dad came to the rescue with a repair that left the assembly fully functional and moving.

Sorry to clutter the build, but I predict a long thread here, with a lot of 3rd party memories thrown in!!!

🌟🌟🌟

Edited August 31, 2017 by rob Lyttle

[Ventora3300]

You have one keen modeller there! ! When you are that age, 1/72 is a great scale to work in - eyes and fingers can handle it! Well done and best of luck to you both and I am looking forward to the final result. I have found the regulars on Britmodeller a fantastic source of information, techniques and inspiration.

Regards,

Mike

Edited August 31, 2017 by Ventora3300