Everytime my grandchildren come to visit the can’t help but notice all of the models I have on display. Our lower level aka “The Man Space” is my space and its decorum is all mine. As you might guess it has an aviation flavor which includes plenty of plastic scale models, posters, appliques, pictures and military memorabilia. Having such a space one can only expect certain questions from little children…

“Why do you have so many planes Grandpa?” Well this afternoon’s visit by my oldest son and his family had their oldest Hannah asking if she could build a model with me. During a previous visit I said we would build one together during her next visit…kids have memories better than an elephants! Well, fortunately there was a Snap-Tite car model kit in the stash and it was quickly moved from its place on the shelf to the work bench. My stool was moved a bit closer towards the bench for Hannah to work comfortably.

I handled the snipping of parts from the sprues, she did as much as she could during the assembly. “Some of those parts are hard to put together Grandpa? She did more of the assembly than I expected given this was her first experience with a kit. Her favorite part was of all things was applying the decals (stickers) which she did by following the pictures on the box and the instructions!  There were a few “Where does this go?” but all in all she did 99% of the decaling and about 45% of the assembly herself.

After the model was completed, I added a drop of CA to each wheel hub to keep them from falling off. The model was wrapped in bubble wrap and packed carefully back into its box. A little masking tape to keep the box tightly closed, it was then packed inside her backpack for the trip home. She is looking forward to two things…taking it to Kindergarten for Show-n-Tell and meeting me at HobbyTown the evening of our next club meeting to pick out another Snap-Tite kit for our next session.

Hannah and her first model car.

To allure kids, spend some time with them, a Make-n-Take is a great experience, but one such as I had with my grand daughter is PRICELESS!

With five grandkids…I’d better start buying snap kits by the case!

TIP!: Weed the sticker sheet. Remove all of the background from around the stickers (decals) before they start to apply them. This makes it easier for them to remove them from the backing and helps them identify them better by shape.