The 2009 Kids' Kit Building Class

by Bob Conshafter

I can't really talk about our class this year without first recognizing that this will be the first year that the Kids' Class happened without Mike Miodonski. Mike led the Kids' Class effort every year for as long as anyone can remember and it was obvious that he really enjoyed doing it. During last year's class, Mike indicated to me that he would like to see me ultimately assume responsibility for leading the class and, sadly, this has come to pass.

Mike was always very accommodating when it came to my ideas on improving the class and he always gave even-handed feed back as some of my ideas weren't always so great. Perhaps you can visualize Mike's facial expression when responding to something that was too wacky!

Mike always had a good feel for people and what was needed in any situation and, as past President, had the necessary diplomacy and tact that the position inherently needed. He was always willing to lend his time and attention and I remember him helping me with an online job application for Ingram and tearing apart my airbrush. Mike truly lent his spirit to the hobby and the club and I hope I will be able to maintain some of that spirit as I lead the Kids' Class. God bless you Mike.

We started this year's class with 28 kids and I made a plug for our Buffcon Show while emphasizing that our builders could enter their model in the show. You may recall that we had an around the room question in December: "How can we bring the joy of modeling to a new generation?" Now was definitely the time to try. I showed some examples of show awards to the kids and we had plenty of Buffcon flyers available. It was nice to over hear one builder say, "That's what I want to do", when I mentioned awards. This year I introduced 2 oz condiment cups which I thought would be a little smaller and easier to use for glue and paint and could be stowed easily in the totes. Not so! At least not for plastic glue, apparently any accumulation will melt right through the bottom! Back to the Jello cups for the glue with a disclaimer for paint-only for the small cups.

Every year we usually have some attrition with our builders. When the awards ceremony comes around, we typically will have a few no shows and this year was no exception. We had four and a few of those either started the 2nd week or the 1st and then were missing or on and off for the rest of the meetings. I'd thought I would bring this up as I've always thought that our goal with the Kids' Class was to have every kid come away with a completed model and a positive experience with modeling and as much as I would like to see this, I've had to accept that it simply will not happen for a few and take solace in the fact that at least 24 of our builders did complete their projects. 24 out of 28 ain't bad.

Of course, there are any number of reasons why some kids don't finish and I thought I would take a moment to look at that. Perhaps the builders are a bit young and simply don't have the desire to follow through on a model. This isn't uncommon with some of my own projects that I've started in the past. More likely, it seems to me like kids today lead very busy lives and our class competes with already scheduled family trips, birthdays, Lasertron, school related events, and the always unpredictable illness and Saturday snow day. I'm sure there are a few more things to add that I haven't thought of.

This is my eighth year with the Kids' Class, (I'm the new guy among our mentors) and I learn something every year. If you're anything like me, when you start out working with a kid on a model, you probably have an idea in your head about what you think that model to look like when it's finished. Over the years, I've learned that this is totally irrelevant! It's all about what our young builders want! With this said, I always mention that they can paint and decal the model any way they want and the model doesn't have to look like the box art. I've learned to be careful and not help out so much that I end up being the builder and defeating the purpose of our endeavor. Having motivated builders at my table allowed me to do the x-acto knife prep work and feed parts to the kid for sanding and assembly with some time left for painting, even with one absence. It's nice when that happens but, at other tables, the situation may not be so rosey.

I try to focus on the basics like demonstrating which side of the nippers to use and some techniques for sanding with the emery boards or the sanding plate with round parts and putting parts together in, more or less, parallel or perpendicular fashion as needed. At my table, we built two tanks, a ship, and a bat boat. The boat came with figures and I brought in some figures out of the spares box for the kids with the tanks and they had fun working them into their model. I think something as little as a few figures stimulated their imagination and added to the fun and motivation to finish a project and, perhaps, think about the next model to build.

Of course, there are no guarantees on finishing; I had an eight-year old tank builder return from a week off from school for Winter Break with everything he needed and I asked him why he didn't finish painting everything and he replied in a carefree way that only eight-year olds can, "I didn't have time". That's my plan for explaining why I don't finish my own projects! I'll just gleefully explain to myself, I didn't have time! I'll mention a few things our mentors did to stimulate interest in modeling for young people. Last year, we had 35 kids, the maximum, and no empty tables were available. This year, we had 2 tables available and were able to have a model show for the kids made up of models that our mentors brought in. The kids loved it. There were tanks, planes, cars, and even Frankenstein. A friend of mine had airplane and car posters from wall calendars and we gave each child a choice of 3 to have. It looks like they really liked those posters and I'll work towards finding more for next year.

I took care to emphasize that everyone should check with mom and dad first before putting anything on a wall at home. I no sooner finished when I was asked, Can I put this up with crazy glue? Remember guys, no good deed shall go unpunished! I'm waiting to hear from an irate parent somewhere. Brian McFee really had the right idea when he brought in old issues of Finescale Modeler to give away. Great idea Brian! I can't think of a more enduring way to stimulate interest in the hobby when not engaged in building. I'll have more on this shortly.

Finally, Bob Collignon had all of the kids display their models on a table for a photo shoot and it was obvious that everyone was having a good time milling around the table and marveling at each other's accomplishments. We concluded with our awards ceremony where each child received a certificate of accomplishment signed by our President, Tony Gliszczynski, with the IPMS seal and a five dollar gift certificate from Niagara Hobby and Craft Mart. One of our unsung heroes of the Kids' Class is actually Paul Hines. Every year, for as long as I can remember, Paul has made all of our awards and they look really top notch. Thanks Paul.

When I host the awards, I usually have the builder tell everyone what they built, what was hard or challenging, what was the most fun part, and what they would like to build next year. It's always nice to hear kids have an idea like, "I want to build another Russian tank". This year we had a number of TFOM's or Things Falling Off Models! At least one car wheel and hood came off during the ceremony and we have reports of at least 6 or 7 machine guns falling off of tanks during the build. A good time was had by all thanks to the following mentors who volunteered their time: Bob Collignon, Frank Blonski, Tom Faith, Stan Keysa, Matt Keysa, Brian McFee, Chuck Nichter, Dick Schulenberg, Tony Gliszczynski, and Dave Schwab.

Initiatives for 2010

Operation Finescale: Brian McFee had the right idea of getting modeling magazines into kids' hands. Please bring in your old modeling magazines (of any type) and give them to me, Bob Conshafter, or our President, Bob Collignon and we'll hand them out at the next Kids' Class. Those old Tamiya brochures work as well.

Calendar Photos: Bring in any photos of cars, ships, tanks, or planes and we'll get those to the kids.

The Box O' Guys: Let's say you've got some figures (any scale) sitting in the spares box that you know you'll never use - bring' em in and I will have them available at the next Kids' Class. The kids have a lot of fun integrating them with their model.

Decals: I'm building a decal book to create some options for our builders and to compensate for donated models that may have decals missing. The old star and bar is always handy. Perhaps you've got some old decals sitting about that you can get rid of. We could use'em.

Models and a Parting Gift: We will accept any and all models and channel them accordingly to support the class. We are currently low on tanks, and ships. Next year, we will take smaller models from our current inventory that would be built too quickly for a six week class and have each child choose one to take home at the awards presentation. This may be a good way to keep the interest going beyond our class. The gift certificates from Niagara Hobby would certainly help for needed supplies. With that said, your model donations will find a new purpose with those intended in the first place. Keep those donations coming, large or small.

Mentors: Last but not least, we could use you! We realize that many guys have to work on Saturdays and even if you could make just a few sessions, you'll have a blast working with the kids. We did okay on mentor numbers this year but it's always nice to have some new mentors.

One final note: I want to add a hearty thanks to the nice people at Kalmbach Publishing who will be providing the following publications free of charge for the kids at the next class: "You Can Make Great Scale Models", "Painting Tips", "Best of Questions and Answers", and "Better Bodies for Car Modelers".