The Little Dude's first attempt , 1:32 '78 corvette

Following on from Boothy's son's build here https://ozautobuilders.forumotion.com/the-showroom-f5/69-z-28-camaro-snaptite-132-t2326.htm I've finally gotten game enough to try the same with my 4 year old son Peter (aka the Little Dude) . I used the 1978 Corvette from the same 1:32 scale series as Boothy (had bought it in Sydney last week before Boothy posted his , it seemed like a good starting point ) and I decided to give him a go with the airbrush . I'll point out this is a $20 bunnings airbrush but gets reasonable results hooked up to my workshop compressor . I asked Pete what colour he wanted and he said orange (guess what colour I didn't have...) so we mixed some from humbrol's basic red and yellow gloss . "Is that orange enough" ..... "No , more orange , brighter" .... So the colour is Peter's choice even though I had to push "come on , that's orange enough isn't it ?" before I ran out of yellow .

I found Pete tended to crowd too close with the airbrush so started him this far back and told him to stop when he'd sprayed enough or was too close (3 second delay on releasing the button) ,



I wasn't expecting much but the results just amazed me (even for a proud dad ) , I can definitely reccomend trying the youngsters with a basic airbrush for painting as opposed to rattle cans , it's just so much easier for small hands to use and control and the thrill they get from the instant results are brilliant .



I'm just not sure now whether to let him loose with a brush and paint for the interior or his favourite medium - texta's ....

Man the little dude has got a big future in custom paint shops. Maybe you can hire him out to paint model car bodies for the bigger guys too?

Well done dude!

awsome mate i never thought of me air brush for him to paint with and as for the paint brush intirior i just asked himn wot colours he wonted then put some down on an icecream lid (water based of couse) but that little dude is defenetly gonna do up some awsome cars as he groes mate tell him AWSOME JOB WELL DONE

Thank's guy's , I actually had the Little Dude sitting on my lap when checking for new replies and read him your comments , he's thrilled

Awesome.Wish i could get gloss strait off the gun like that, What's his secret.

Rocket wrote: What's his secret.

beginners luck , he doesn't know what he can't do . He just kept spraying till it was all orange and the spray (dumb luck on my part) was so fine it didn't make any runs

very nice job good one lil fella

Great Job Little Dude ............


.....my 4yo Lincoln is wacking together an 80's Vette in 1/32nd, I'll get some pix up soon.

that's looking great so far good to see young one getting into modeling.

Well it's all finished now , I caved in and got Pete to do the interior with texta's only to find most of them don't work on the plastic the kit is made from so gave him a "sharpie" permanent black texta and he happily coloured the interior tub in with it . He decided the seats and dash should stay white and also the chassis/pipes and blower . Here he is with it assembled (Pete put the eheels together and on the chassis , the seats and dash in the tub and I put the rest together ) ,





Then he started on the stickers (and got frustrated as they stuck to everything but the model) and gave up after doing the two long side ones that say snowblind . I did the rest and joined with his frustration as they are too sticky compared to decals and seem to have a static type attraction to the model so as soon as you're close they stick by themselves ...

Anyway , we're happy with it you can see that the paint is a bit thin in places by the body lines showing through as white but it's really shiny which has made Pete very happy .

awesome job matey !! and good on ya dad for letting him do it mostly himself

The little dude did an awesome job mate I dont think its 'too orange' mate Tell him it looks great!

Turned out sweet, well done little dude

Well done small person.
Tell dad that if he paints all your model parts with white primer or undercoat before he gives it to you than texters (or even ordinary felt tips) should work (albeit maybe a bit paler than you ecpect).
They can even be cleared over but a sneaking up technique should be employed to avoid colours running.

Great job Peter.
You've built a fantastic Corvette, love the custom orange colour and it has a great shine. Well done mate!
Stickers look good too.

well i gree with the liitle dude it looks great with the white and yes my little fella had same problem with stickers but wen there on there on and look good too i mite add so and