Hi Folks

My girls, Jasmine (8) and Holly (6) have been at me for ages to show them how to build a model. What better to get them interested than a tripple truck trail through the Airfix 1/76 range at Jenners Toymaster Elgin.

I cut my modelling teeth on Airfix kits at the tender age of 7 (40 years ago ouch) with the two that I picked for them being a true trip down memory lane for myself. The AEC Matador and 5.5 inch for Jasmine and the White Half Track and 1 Ton Trailer being two of my very first model builds. I bought myself a newer Bedford MK 4 Tonne to munch on with my older and rather worn down, filler filled wisdom teeth !!!!!!



This is to be a simple build first and paint later start to modelling which the girls took to very quickly even though the fit and fix of their two older kits leaves a lot to the imagination. I am happy with this though because their kits have small number of parts with some rather challenging fit issues that got them scratching their tiny little heads over while I watched on and built my own, JB Models kit now produced by Airfix with better detail and much more positive parts fit.

Jasmine






It's nice to know that the kids were not over-awed by the kit instructions and with a simple introduction to the parts and box art, were both quickly setting about their sprues hunting out the first of their build segments.

Holly





Jasmine had a struggle with the matador cab at the begining with a little blurp in the build having to take off the cab doors to swap them round to the other sides









Holly had a bit of a fight getting the tracks all cleaned up, having loads of sprue connections and flashfrom these ancient castings.









Their consetration was great and they were smiling as they fought the tiny parts to get them to stick together. The only tools they had were a small pair of nail scissors, Revell glue in a pin tube applicator bottle and a nail file sanding stick.







I was enjoying my Bedford build which falls together so easily.

Great job,, my 6 year old and 2 year old girls love help build and paint 1/72 scale kits. Its good dad stuff to do .

Very likeable, Nige.

what a great way to spend time together. Remember the first step a kid takes when trying something new: stick out the tongue!

Thats quite the expression of love that those two beautiful little girls should want to share a craft with their daddy. The models they put out in a few years will probably run up there with the best. Smilies to the kids....

NIge its nice to see you getting your daughters involved in this hobby. Its people like them and you that will keep the hobby going. Nice work.

Hi folks

Looking through the pics I noticed a tiny oops and wonder if anyone else has noticed it yet either?



Daft thing is this is after Daddy had given a bit of advice too so not Holly's oops!!!!!

Nige

Yup I saw it. The tracks are on backwards! But I didn't want to put the kids down.

James

That was after I had found holly had the chassis up side down !!!!!! So I fixed them ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, well nearly !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Good job they were not heavy glued so they now fixed for her to start of and be able to go forwards from here rather than backwards tee hee.

Girls will hopefully be brought up to respect others work and take the oops moments on the chin with a big grin .

Nige

Hey thats how we all learn.

Nice to see the youngsters get into the hobby. Maybe some day I will try the same with my daughter (9 months old...).

Hey, if I got a penny for every part I glued on the wrong way or place, I'd be rich by now!

Cheers!
Stefan

Great stuff!

Just keep the DML Smart Kits away from them - it'll put them off for ever

You thought about those excellent Wallace & Gromit kits?

This is very cute. I'm surprised your daughters took an interest into your hobby; I know most girls wouldn't; give them a tank to build next

More of Jasmines work yesterday on her Matador

Spot the dog watching over her .


Jasmine wanted to make sure that she had her parts correctly fitted and this meant she had the underside boxes on and off about 6 times as she was not happy with their placement




She was quite determined to be left to her own efforts and resisted any help offered telling me to get on with my own model as this was her work





The chassis and suspension were a bit of a fiddle for her with the locating lugs for the leaf springs being very wooly. Ah yes I remember how poor the fit of these are. That said she did do well even though she lost her temper a few times.

















Where she is tonight







Nige, Jasmine and Holly

okdoky (!),

This is such an EXCELLENT story of continuing this hobby with a new generation.

"She was quite determined to be left to her own efforts and resisted any help offered telling me to get on with my own model as this was her work"
Your daughter has the right attitude!

Keep 'em coming...

Hi Nige,

You are a lucky man to have your girls sharing your passion in modeling, I wish I would this good fortune in a few years time. Hopefully my daughter would be digging into my stash looking for tanks to build with dad.

Keep the great job going!

Cheers
Kiong

Nige: Wow, you are a lucky guy to have daughters like that. I hope that when I have kids they will want to share in the hobby with me. Hope you three are having lots of fun together

Thanks all for looking in

The thought of all my 350 plus model stash getting raided has mixed feelings ,,,,,,, tee hee !!!!!!!

First is,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "I wanted to build that one !!!!!!!!"

Second ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"about time someone gets round to building these !!!!!!!!!!!!"

Has been great fun letting them do their own thing but it is amazing that the instructions are no real problem and they worked out most of the placement themselves. The hastle they had was getting the parts to stay where they should.

In comparison, my own JB origin Airfix Bedford was an absolute dream to build with very clear instructions and marvelous parts fit and detail.















I can't wait till Howard at KFS brings out the 1/24 kit of this Bedford. I am really looking forward to seeing all this detail and more on the bigger model.

More to follow on Holly's build soon.

Nige, Jasmine and Holly

Nige, Jasmine and Holly, what a marvellous diversion this thread has become. . Your daughters seem to be doing rather well considering their ages. These simple little kits can even for an experienced builder be anything but. ;-) This was the case for many during the recent Matchbox Nostalgia campaign. Good luck to you all and hope to see more progress.

Cheers,
Jan

Of course the real acid test will come a few years down the line when they discover fashion, boys, the latest trends in modern music and all that other teenage girlie stuff .

But in the meantime it's great to see kids getting involved like this and having fun with modelling (Jasmine's clear frustration over "fit issues" notwithstanding, LOL). Perhaps the long-term future of the hobby isn't so bleak after all.

Great thread, Nige. Things like this are always good to see.

- Steve

Jasmine and Holly have even asked if they can come to the model club the next time I go. The girls are getting the benefit of the good weather up here in Lossie and are out playing on their bikes, but have not forgotten about their models.

Whatever they choose to do with their hobby time they will know that they can always tap in to the model stash and crack on with the odd kit or two.

You never know, they might have the modelling bug now for ever.

Nige

More to report from the Holly and Jas.

Holly came in from playing with her palls specially to ask if she could do some of her White Half Track since Jasmine had got ahead of her on the Matador. Good to see a little bit of healthy competition forming in their minds already, even at this tender age.





Again Spot the dog likes to spend time close by us when we are working hard





Deep in consentration Holly got the hang of putting only the smallest amount of glue on the parts and managed to find her first ballistic head lamp from the kit. She did not panic when the lamp pinged off the table and became carpet fodder. She found the lamp after a hunt and went straight on to put the lamp on with no hastle.



One of the rails on the side racks was not fully formed so I will have to show her how to fill the gap.



Holly was hapily singing as she sanded off the flash and sprue tags





Jasmine came back later on with a pall and wanted to show off her work to the boy who had not done any model building



Just like at school Jasmine was keen to show her pall what to do and was teaching him how to cut and dry fit the gun parts





She was giving him the jobs to do and instructing him



It was great to hear Jasmine and Holly explain what to do as I worked on my DAF DROPS scratchbuild. Maybe another budding model builder in the making

Made my day it did !!!!!!!!!

Has been a while since the girls have had a chance to do any of their own models. After they came in from playing out in the snow, and seeing me still building my Sanky trailer, they asked if they could hunt out the models again and do some more building.

Jasmine has to finish her 5.5 inch gun and Holly has made a fine start on the Airfix Churchill Tank.







Holly is working through the TINY wheel sets of the Churchill suspension. All on her own.







One of them has the greater patience at the moment but both are enjoying. There mum suggested a pause for dinner and the youngest has said she wants to keep working on through to get the tank built.

I am well impressed with they way Holly is getting to grips with the instructions on the Churchill. She has got the feel for position and parts selection.

She has 16 of the running gear sets made up already.

Nige

Hi Nige!

I am sure that nobody had any problem if You took them to our next meeting.