Father and Son project: Revell Fokker E.III 1/72

[jeroen_R90S]

So, a bit of an unusal entry I suppose... my two sons, 6 and nearly 4, sometimes like to build a model from my smallish stash. I built a Matchbox Fairey Seafox and now working on an Italeri 1/72 Ju87 with the oldest, while the youngest to a little Revell model of the Millenium Falcon a few weeks ago as a gift from our local hobby shop.
He's a bit too young for the actual building, but he loves to paint with both paint and the little brush that comes with the Extra Thin cement ;-) When he's miffed about something he'll ask me to paint small details (it has to look like that on the box, no excuses!) and obviously I'm helping him with thinning paint and assembly, as he's just too young for that.
I though this little father-son project might just ensure future membership for this great forum as founded by Des (though I'm not pushing anything, somehow somewhere WWI made an impression on me as a kid, too, and I'm 40 now).

So, on to the actual build.
After finishing the Millenium Falcon, he was quite proud of it as you can see:


So, our next project, selected by him:

Probably well know by most of you, this is the old Revell Eindecker in a new-ish 2008 box, which means it'll at least have usable decals.

Sprue cutters are a relatively safe way to help a 4 year old remove parts from the sprue, though I help clean them up a bit and position the cutters. As I found before, I sometimes find it quite hard not to do too much myself, like removing flash and painting bad spots, etc etc.
Alex painted this all by himself! (proud dad mode on!)


Interiour bits:

He did ask me to paint the seat as he wasn't satisfied with how it looked...uh-oh! 

One advantage is that the Revell Aqua paint I use is very thick, to it can be thinned with tap water. After that it brushes well and covers quite good too!

Again, other than some tips on how to handle the brush, all his work!

When he's in the mood to continue, I'll see if I can post some in-action pictures of him actually working on the model

Somehow this brings me back to my own time building models with my dad, though in a few years he'll probably be hooked on computer games

Jeroen & Alex

[Manni]

This is great! I have a project with my daughter, too. I love these moments when we sit together. Have both fun.
Bye,
Manni

[jeroen_R90S]

Thanks, Manni! Fun is what counts the most

[RAGIII]

Great to see your Father Son build. Looks like he is off to a great start!!
RAGIII

[aliluke]

That is really, really cool! I wish my Dad had had the same passion when I started making models at seven or so. Go Alex!

Cheers
Alistair

[Borsos]

Wonderful! Once my elder son and I started an Italeri Porsche, I think we should pick it up again some day...
Congratulations on such a nice and tallented son, by the way!
Andreas

[GAJouette]

 Jeroen,
Looking forward to watching this project. The best of luck to you and the "Little Guys" my friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[gbrivio]

Good to see kids on modelling. I wish you all fun in the building, I know you will have.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[Monty]

This is a really great thread! These youngsters may not continue modelling into their teenager years, but with this grounding will definitely be modellers when they grow up! Well done!
Marc

[jeroen_R90S]

Thank you everyone for the kind replies! I'll let Alex know the encouragements

Like I wrote earlier, I don't want to push anything, though I do occasionally offer to go and work on the Eindecker, and Alex sometimes likes to continue, sometimes not. So it's been a while, but here's a little update on the project:

We continued assebly, mostly using my old tube of Humbrol glue, as I can put a blob on a piece of tape and let Alex use a cocktail stick to apply the glue to the parts. The fit is rather iffy, too, and this helps with bonding, too. The little white line behind the cowl is my "fault", there was a big gap there and I just could not let it be 

The it was time for what he likes most, painting. We started with Revell Aqua flat white where the white band will go. Then I mixed some sand yellow with the remaining white and he painted the lower surfaces of the wings with that, simply thinned with some tap water. Neat stuff to brushpaint, that Aqua! Revell calls for overall field grey, but I let him pick, and he wanted the lighter colour on the wings.


Then it was time for some complicated masking, which obviously I did for him:



And after that it was time apply the field grey, not being too pickey I simply took some colours I had on hand and mixed Revell 67 grey-green with flat white (about 50-50), put in some tap water and held the model for Alex -after that I masked off the forward part and let him paint Revell 99 Aluminium. I think he has a talent!
I also quite like the grey-green mix so I wrote it down in my colour mix book -I just might to an aircraft with field grey on it once!



Today it was lovely weather so I painted it gloss with an acrylic spraycan, together with his older brother's Stuka in desert colours. Last time with him I skipped the gloss and the decals would not move nor stick so it wasn't fun, so I explained to both of them I needed to do this so the "stickers" would actually stick.

Now to find some time to read and comment on all the other builds here....... and finally get my own D.VII done! All this father-son modelling takes away from my own modelling time, but I'm not complaining ;-)

Jeroen

[gbrivio]

Good to see your project proceeding well.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[RAGIII]

It is great to see this Father and Son project continue. I am sure Des would be pleased to see a youngster involved in the Hobby! The Eindecker is looking great. I cut my WW1 modeling teeth on those Old Revelle Molds and this is bringing back fond memories!
RAGIII

[macsporran]

Excellent parenting, Jeroen. Also good planning for the future!
I spent ages with my two little boys building Airfix and Revell kits and they've now both come back to the hobby after settling down with their respective ladies. One is 31, the other 28 - and it makes Christmas and birthday presents so much more interesting for me to buy!
Sandy

[lone modeller]

What a wonderful tribute to Des: and a very good one too given the age of your son. I am certain that Des wouold have appreciated this contribution as much as all of the others because he always encouraged modellers at all levels of skill to give things a try. Your son is starting well - I really hopes that one day he will continue on his own.

Stephen.

[Bluesfan]

How's it going? I've only just spotted this thread - it's great; as you say, they may drift away from models later on, but it'll be there in their memory and come back when they're older.  They're definitely well ahead of where I was at that age; but then they have a very good guide haven't they?

All the best
Mark