Are youngsters still interested in the hobby?

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Just got back from a lovely weekend on the Kent coast - Euro Militaire 2013 at Folkestone.

Not that much for the RC modeller I have to admit, although there was a guy with a stall showing some lovely looking 16th scale Challenger tanks. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't actually have a good look at them, but I don't think they were RC.

My excuse is that I was there with my 8 year old son. He and his 10 year old brother were entering a competition for the first time and I am proud to say that they both won medals: Arthur a gold and his older brother Hector a bronze (he's got over it by now).

Arthur’s (the Tiger tank and howitzer) is called ‘Rest Before the Storm’. Hector’s (with Bren carrier and cow) ‘No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk’.

Rest Before The Storm 1945.jpg (76.13 KiB) Viewed 3864 times

No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk.jpg (78.86 KiB) Viewed 3864 times

Both are all their own work (and the Tiger is actually an unmade kit I had left over from the 70s): I just suggested to them what to do - and they usually ignored me.

If anyone wants a browse through some of the entries there's a great posting here courtesy of the Irish Model Soldier Society Facebook page:



Just click on the main picture to scroll...

It was all very nostalgic for me: the first and last time I went before last year was back in the mid 80s when I was 16. It was the last gasp of my youthful modelling days - playing in a band, friends and studying were just too much of a distraction (I would add girls, but that would be a little fanciful for another year or two!).

Talking to some of the stall holders there (one or two I even remembered from back in the day) they were a little downbeat about the future of the hobby and worrying that there were too few youngsters getting involved. Obviously they were delighted to meet one of mine! It was rather telling that there were very few Junior entries in the competition.

I don't really know what to think. Obviously a lot of us on this site are, like me, middle aged, second-time-around modellers. Yet it seems to me there has never been a better variety of kits, accessories, books, etc on offer - plus the undoubted camaraderie that sites like this have to offer.

Well, the whole family will be going up to the IPMS show in Telford in November - so let's wait and see...

[Red Devils]

Well done to the boys, you must be a proud father. The dio's look outstanding!!!

Derek

[ruben2005]

well done boys

[Jfox61]

I used to got to Miltaire every year. But parking I found was a nightmare and expensive if you could find a slot. And the venue was way too small. Hundreds of people and stands in a in a really small area. However the re-enactments outside were excellent though. And your lads are excellent modellers by the way, well done. Good to see the hobby is still in safe young hands.

[PainlessWolf]

Tanks,
Congratulations to your sons. The future of our craft is in good hands as JFox says.
regards,
Painless

[tanks_for_the_memory]

An update on this posting of mine from last year.

Forgive me for blowing the family trumpet - obviously I'm a proud father - but I think it's important to celebrate the fact that there is young blood in this hobby after all. It might also help to explain why my own posts are often so infrequent. It's not all just work and wife-pleasing here - I also have an awful lot of advising / encouraging / rescuing to do (when I am not the one being advised / encouraged / rescued by others on this site that is!)

Both my boys continue to be keen model makers - at a time when few of their school mates have the slightest interest, let alone understanding, of the hobby. That's not to say that they don't get admiring comments when friends come around. I should also point out that, for London Primary School boys of their age, they are perfectly 'normal' in every other way - they are just as likely to be outside with a bike or ball - or inside glued to Cartoon Network.

Anyway, since Euro Militaire last September they both entered the same models in IPMS at Telford. Arthur (then still eight) won a bronze for his Tiger II but Hector had turned eleven and moved up to the higher Junior category - so he had to content himself with his brother's success...

There was something of a reversal of fortunes at the Duxford MAFVA competition in March. Hector won Gold and Junior Best of Show for his Bren carrier diorama as well as bronze for a Churchill. Arthur felt the sharp end of sibling rivalry when his new 'Thaw on the Prussian Front 1945' extravaganza only clinched him the silver medal. God that was difficult to deal with!

The boy's models at the Duxford MAFVA show - Arthur's silver medal winner in the foregorund, Hector's gold and bronze in the background.jpg (39.03 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

The Gold, Silver and Bronze medals courtesy of my two boys.jpg (36.54 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

Anyway, they are back to their usual tricks. Beneath you see work in progress on new work.

Arthur (now 9) decided he would beat his dad at his own game with a recreation of the well known shots of Tiger 334 (which my own Normandy Tiger 1 build is loosely based on) abandoned early in the Normandy campaign. He has also been working on a KV-1 bail out at the Battle of Kursk.

Meanwhile, taking inspiration from Saving private Ryan, Hector (still 11) has decided to reenact his own slice of the beach assault at Omaha.

All are in 1/35 with a mixture of Tamiya, Trumpeter, Dragon, Masterbox and Mini Art sets plus some good old Verlinden bunkers. The biggest revelation has been the use of plasterboard for the diorama bases. It's so easy to create large areas of scenery with just a single piece sawn and carved into shape.

This really is their own work - even if I'm there half the time saying: 'Do this! Don't do that! And then they just ignore me...'

Arthur's Tiger 334 diorama showing the tank abandoned in Rouray on the 26th June 1944.jpg (34.04 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

He's pretty pleased with his hedge row. Obviously the Tiger still needs a paint job!.jpg (42.61 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

The foliage is mostly made from some rubberised horse hair I had left over from my teenage modelling days back in the 80s.jpg (43.59 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

Arthur's KV-1 Kursk diorama nears completion - bailing out crew not yet shown....jpg (37.92 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

Hector's Bloody Omaha diorama taking shape.jpg (30.72 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

It's amazing what can be achieved with some plaster board from a skip and a little pollyfilla.jpg (32.69 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

The Americans storming up the slope towards the German positions.jpg (37.28 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

The Rangers caught beneath the cliffs.jpg (36.99 KiB) Viewed 3652 times

[tanks_for_the_memory]

A little update on my boys' latest dioramas which they will be entering in Euro Militaire in Folkestone later this month.

For obvious reasons you may find Arthur's Tiger 334 of interest because this tank is the main inspiration for my Normandy Tiger build thread. Although I was on hand to mix the paints and prepare the airbrush the actual spraying and weathering (like the kit build) - as well as the diorama - was all his own work. Not bad for a 9 year old...

Tiger 334 abandoned at Rauray June 27, 1944.jpg (42.98 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

Another view of Arthur's Tiger 334 abandoned at Rauray diorama.jpg (50.13 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

The painting process has been a useful dry run for my own Tiger. The paints were all Lifecolour acrylics.

A black and white close-up shows the zimmerit to good effect.jpg (48.81 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

The zimmerit is by Atak - the smaller version of their sets for 1/16 scale.

Meanwhile Hector (aged 11) continues with his D-Day beach assault diorama...

Hector's Bloody Omaha diorama is also reaching its final stages.jpg (38.73 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

Here you can see the two Tobruk pits above the cliff edge.jpg (42.6 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

[billpe]

His work is fantastic. And only 11 years old! He needs to study art when he's older!

[Jake79]

I agree a lot of talent there. well done boys.

[plato83]

Completely I share your opinion. It is excellent idea. I support you.