Tim K Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 On a wet summer day Alex (8yrs my favourite Grandson!!) chose a Harrier from the Starter Kits to put together. How fortuitous because the kit was based on a Harrier from RAF Wildenrath 1974. As a RAF Cadet (School) I had spent a wonderful week at this base in 1974 with other UK School based RAF Cadets. My daughters kitchen table was going to be the construction site! Other things bought, a tray, some nail cutters, cocktail sticks, a set of make up brushes, nail files, silver and gloss Humbrol acrylic range and cheapest Asda superglue. My aim was to build the kit quickly enough so that Alex's attention span didn't flag, something that we could both enjoy and didnt turn into a trial... Organisation In the tray, glues away from the kit pieces, seperate food trays for parts to be glued and those glued, washing hands, washing brushes and crossing off on the instruction sheet all helped to keep some asemblance of organisation. Putting together We followed the instruction sheet closely and used my experience as to when to paint, when to glue and when to leave. It also allowed me to practice some skills - dry brushing and use of water colour pencils. Alex cut the parts from the runners using scissors and he\we nipped the lugs off with straight and curved nail clippers. Gluing we used the kit glue and cocktail sticks. I usually gave most joins a run of superglue to speed the process up. What Alex could do and what I had to do, evolved during the build until Alex was cutting the parts out, nipping the lugs off and then sanding these parts. The fuselage join needed a phased gluing with "plastic' and 'super glue' with clothes pegs. This was done while we were putting together the under carriage fuel tanks and rocket pods. Painting We used the kit paints and the kit brushes. We used 4 straight strips of masking tape. Painting I drew the out lines and Alex blocked in the colours. He was surprised beyond belief - when I asked for his mum's hair dryer! The paint dried so quickly esp. with the hairdryer that we could paint almost continuously and the paints at this level were excellent one coat covered mistakes. Breaks for sandwiches water tea were generally governed by Alex. Stickers!!/Transfers Alex thought the transfers were stickers, so he found it very frustrating, to have to place them in water and then put them on the model, this took more time that he could give... We discussed whether to put the wheels on or not, I persuaded him to keep them off because they would break far too easily doing touch and goes and attacking his Lego. I did some touching up and practised some of my skills when he was a sleep. Mistakes not many but gluing one of the fuel tanks the wrong way round was mine! Two days and the job was done it will be interesting to see whether Alex wants to make another, when Grandad comes to look after him during the School hols? 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 Fantastic. Love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 Good work, by Alex and Grandad both! Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted August 11, 2019 Author Share Posted August 11, 2019 Many thanks for your replies Tim K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howlindawg Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 It looks like Alex did a great job. Well played grandad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 This is great - way better than any of my efforts at age eight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberraman Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Old school modelling at its best. Sometimes its easy to lose sight of the fact that modelling should be fun especially when you add up the costs of all the materials, after market stuff, decals and hours of research we tend toward nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerman60 Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Nice job, I have also a grandson (Daan) and he like's to play with Lego. He's now 5years old. Wil wait till he is 8 or 9. Han NL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Best ever! Beats twiddling your thumbs on an Xbox controller any day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Looks good from here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Well done Tim, you've down a seed, let's hope it grows as Alex gets older. 👍 Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Good grief Tim! Reading your post was like reliving last weekend with my 7 year old Grandson, who incidentally is also called Alex. We built an Airfix Br.109 together, but we didn't get as far as painting it as he then wanted to move onto building his Revell F-16. Well done to both of you. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WARDOG Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Well Done! Fresh blood keeps our hobby alive and the added benefit of Grand-father/Grand-son bonding is priceless! WARDOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Quack Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Lego and modelling - that`s what childhood`s all about....come to think of it, things are pretty much the same now that I'm retired...... Congratulations to you both on an excellent result. Hope you have many more such weekends. Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 Thank you for all the kind and positive comments cheers guys Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.1127 Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 I love this, just my type of modelling... a quick build with plenty of time for running around the house simulating dispersed operations from the sofa before commencing a strafing run on the dastardly Lego mini-figure insurgents... with lots of Pegasus roar for good measure. The model itself looks brilliant. Thanks for sharing this uplifting reminder of the fun than can be had with this hobby. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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