SPA Modeler

I had a most wonderful experience yesterday, just had to share it.

Our friend came over with her 6 yr old daughter. I am her honorary uncle and she loves to go downstairs and help me run trains. Unexpectedly, she asked me to show her what I was doing with my "race car" (my F1 Lotus I'm working on, she must have remembered from her last visit). She asked if she could help me.

Well .....no, not that one, but in short order I had commandeered an Academy 1/72 F4F-4 from the stash and we were off.

What an amazing child. Within minutes, she was able to locate parts on the sprues from looking at the instructions (and I mean fast and confidently) and identify the part numbers. In short order I had her signed off for solo with the sprue cutters:



We glued some parts together and she did some brush painting with Vallejo and Tamiya Acrylics.

Funniest moment: (choosing paints from my rack)
Honorary Niece: Can I use this color?
Honorary Uncle: No, that is nasty smelling paint I don't want you messing with.
Honorary Niece: How about this one?
Honorary Uncle: No, I'm afraid that is only for my airbrush, Kiddo.
Honorary Niece: Ok. Can you show me which ones I can use, then?

Thought I was going to split a gut.

I only wish I had this sort of patience and understanding when my own kids were little. Darn it, darn it, darn it.

Obviously, the F4F-4 is now hers, and it is boxed up waiting for her next visit.

Man that is truly GREAT Greg. Enjoyed the back-and-forth conversation skit as well. I hear you on the patience with our kids thing. I tried to teach our son and just wasn't patient enough with him. He did, however, pick up Lego building. Kid builds Legos like they're going out of style and he's FAST at it too. lol

Thanks for feeling the feeling, Joe!

Funny you mention your son and the Legos. I mentioned to "mom" my amazement at niece being able to ID the parts from the instructions. Mom said it's because of Lego experience.

Maybe another shot with your son sometime, Or maybe he is just not interested in models, that happens too. I'll bet he didn't learn to build the Lego's by osmosis!

That’s awesome, Greg! Reminds me of me when I was her age when I started this hobby. Except, my grandfather got me started on snap kits after the glue kit fiasco. My grandfather never done model kits but fixed clocks. Oh yeah, my paints were those little square bottles of enamels.

My daughter built a few with me when she was that age maybe 8.

Greg, that is precious. Let's hope she stays with it. You are making some great memories as is she. My youngest grandson (and mom -- our daughter) got "me" a VW camper bus snap together, prepainted kit for my birthday. This afternoon we are tackling that. With his vision problems, it could be interesting. But, we will persevere. OH, he asked for shushi later today.

Nice story Greg.

Hope she stays at it, but it's all positive. Way to go, Greg.

Man, what a great story Greg! I'm so glad that you shared it with us. It gave me a wonderful feeling and boy, lately I have needed one badly! Thanks so much!!

Greg, this post of your experience came at just the right time! I too had been feeling in the dump due to this lingering covid, but this was so uplifting to read. I do hope she sticks with it and that you can take her to shows to see other people's works too. Don't forget to post the finished model when she completes it!