Mike Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Over the last few weeks my son Christopher (that's him in my avatar) has been getting more interested in modelling after playing a bit of War Thunder and watching some documentaries with me. He decided he wanted to build another model now he's getting older (still 9 y/o) - He's built two as a wee nipper, a Cromwell tank and an I-16 which he used mostly paint brushes on, although he did dabble with an airbrush at times. This time he was determined to do a good job, and despite a little bit of impatience here and there, he's achieve that in spades, and made his old dad proud This is the Hobby Boss kit that he chose and I bought for him (he's not having any of mine!), and he's built mostly unaided over a number of sessions during lockdown. It's all airbrushed, and 99% of the work is his. He couldn't be bothered with the decals when they came around, so I did those for him, and I think I gloss coated the underside, but everything else you see is his work. Oh, and I had to glue in the landing gear with CA because they were a bit squiffy. He didn't do much with the cockpit other than paint it grey after it was in the fuselage, and gave the same treatment to the gear bays. I was his airbrush servant, filling and cleaning it for him, as I didn't want to put him off so early and the colour suggestions were mine. We had a problem with my RLM76 being empty when I opened it, so we used the next nearest colour from the same brand (Gunze). So, with great pride I introduce my wickle boy's first proper model He's particularly proud of the underside, as it looks like it's seen some action on the front, and you may also notice that we'd forgotten to add the pitot probe and a couple of aerials when I took the pics, so we'll add those as long as we can find them Speaking of finding, we've lost the retraction jack on the nose gear, but it's a sturdy connection so it shouldn't matter, and I've straightened it up since the photos. The next techniques he needs to master (other than patience) is cockpits, weathering wheel bays, seams, and patience. Did I mentioned patience yet? Patience. How awesome is that for a 9 year old though? EDIT: We've got a very happy Christopher here, and he's very touched by all your comments. We thought we'd put another pic up with the last few bits added for good measure, and he insisted on painting in the wingtip lights, so I suggested a layer of silver with translucent green and red over the top. He even got to use my W&N Series 7, so is a true modeller now 59 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shark444 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Brilliant! The kid’s a natural, keep him at it and off the video games! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil1960 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Very nice he remembered me when I was 9 years old! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
750k2 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I've got him by 50yrs and wish I could do as well - very nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Much better than anything I produced when I was 9y 👍 Cheers Markus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, Shorty84 said: Much better than anything I produced when I was 9y Same here! I was still brush-painting in my previous incarnation as a modeller. I did own an airbrush in my teens, but it was one of those Humbrol ones that weren't much use, and it was powered by air cans, which made it too much of a faff to use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince1159 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Very nice job,lovely and tidy..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 For a first proper build Mike, your son did a bang up job! Congratulations for Job Well Done!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wince Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Nice job and better than my own of the same kit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Really nice `262 there, great job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmarx Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 WOW Christopher, you really did a great job! Ciao from Italy. Davide 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Brantley Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 And a fine job it is too! 👍 Give that lad my congratulations on a very nice first model. And the same goes to a patient dad for nurturing his talent along! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 1 hour ago, Gary Brantley said: And a fine job it is too! 👍 Give that lad my congratulations on a very nice first model. And the same goes to a patient dad for nurturing his talent along! Wholeheartedly agree! Looks like we might have a future master modeler in the making. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanC Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Wow. That's seriously good. A stunning little model. He deserves to be chuffed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 Thanks for the feedback folks - he's very pleased with it, and is enjoying the comments, as am I He's also got a P-40 in the spray booth at the moment, and he's managed to get a beautiful gloss on the clear coat. That one's a bit stalled right now, but I'll post up pictures when it's done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoohoo Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Both Christopher and you should be rightly proud Mike, thats a lovely build and great to see new blood into the hobby. At that age I thought I was taking it to the next level painting the cockpit, and I hadn't even worked out about getting rid of seams and glue on the canopy, though I was always inspired by what I thought were the amazing builds shown on a blueprint as the box art on some of the 80's Airfix kits, the 1:48 MkVB Spitfire comes to mind I have managed to get my 9 year old son to put an Airfix red arrows gnat together with me and hoping to convince him to do a follow up soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 12 minutes ago, stoohoo said: I have managed to get my 9 year old son to put an Airfix red arrows gnat together with me and hoping to convince him to do a follow up soon. Funnily enough, sonny-boy has one of those (1:72) that he started a few years back. He wants to finish it off this time, but his next project that he wants to go all-out on is an ICM He.111 in 1:48. Fortunately, I have a spare that he can play with, but I'm still hoping he'll make it to the end 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Crikey, that's good! Excellent work that fellow! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoohoo Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, Mike said: Funnily enough, sonny-boy has one of those (1:72) that he started a few years back. He wants to finish it off this time, but his next project that he wants to go all-out on is an ICM He.111 in 1:48. Fortunately, I have a spare that he can play with, but I'm still hoping he'll make it to the end That gnat was a good fun little model to do and has stood up to a good amount of playing with It was nice to do as the old offering was one of the first models I got when I got into this hobby as a kid (bought it built from a stall on a village fete and thought it was amazing ) The Heinkel sounds like a great project, all the more fun when there's big bombs attached - look forward to seeing the result! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasermonkey Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Awesome! You must both be really proud of that. I'm looking forward to seeing the P-40 too. The creative streak must run in the family. Cheers, Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Proper model! Great painting work! I'm Very impressed. Just wish I was that good when I was 9 YO! Selwyn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 That is a great build for anyone, never-mind a first run by a young un...!!! My 10 year old is doing an Airfix Red Arrows Hawk at the minute. Big congrats. Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerboy Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Proper build, proper job! Stand aside old man the young ones are a coming to try and knock you off your perch!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 43 minutes ago, Selwyn said: Just wish I was that good when I was 9 YO! Me too After a few goes with the airbrush he seemed to just get it. It got to the stage where I just loaded up the paint and showed him what to do, and off he went. His mum was totally shocked, and when she saw the first pics she thought it was one of mine. 2 minutes ago, Farmerboy said: Stand aside old man the young ones are a coming to try and knock you off your perch!! 😭 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 2 hours ago, Mike said: but his next project that he wants to go all-out on is an ICM He.111 in 1:48. Fortunately, I have a spare that he can play with, but I'm still hoping he'll make it to the end Wow, quite a kit for his first modelling steps. But hey, one of the first kits I've ever built was a Dragon Me 262 Nightfighter in 1/48. Not the easiest kit as you may know and it had some strange metal parts which would not bond using my revell glue Still, I slapped it together during one weekend and was quite happy with the result (so much that I bought another one, this time the boxing with the mighty 50mm cannon). It for sure was more than I could chew at this time but it was so much fun nontheless. Today I would need a few month to build it (with a break of a few years between start and finish ) Cheers Markus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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