My 5-year-old son walked into my room and asked me, “Dad, where’s the chalk? I want to weather some boxcars.” OK, I scraped off the chalk powder for him but the rest is all his doing. Let me know what you think.
Well, from what I see, yes, a five year old can weather, and very well at that.[:D]
thats good i still can’t weather worth a poo and i am 13
WickhamMan;
Can a 5 yr old weather??? You bet your life they can. My daughter used to help me with the layout starting when she was 4-5. She started building simple kits after that and soon graduated to wood/metal craftsman kits. She also joined the NMRA and started winning contests with her work. Although she hasn’t helped me in over 12yrs, ( fast-pitch softball, college, and boys got in the way and in that order ), I still would hate to try to outbuild her on cars, she got REAL good.
In case yall ask, she’s now 26 and still single.
man i am 27 and cant weather that good [:(]
You know what I could do when I was 5 years old?
Nothing. [:D]
Whatever. Are you SINGLE?! (read the post before yours.)[;)]
Thats prety good for a 5 year old
Wow. Not bad! Very good, in fact.[tup]
Sure 5-year-olds can weather. But it’s usually not a good thing to leave your children outdoors that long. [:D]
Very nice job there!
–Randy
C’mon, Dad. Was it really HIS idea or did you prompt him a little bit??[:)]
In any case, the answer is yes, a 5-year-old can weather. And, if you want to ship that kid to Texas, I know where he’d only be spoiled a little bit (my grandsons both think baseball is more exciting that trains…go figger).
Chuck
Chuck,
I kid you not. The kid came up with the idea on his own after helping me weather a couple a few weeks ago. He’s pretty “crafty” (likes painting, coloring, etc.). Even better, his mother decided to get involved and weather a few cars along with him. I drew the line at my Atlas wood reefer though. [;)]
Today he decided he wanted to help create trees for the layout. I handled the hobby tack application but otherwise the creations are his own. He threw together 13 new trees for the layout today. Here is an example of his work.
Ed
That weathering job looks better than most adult attempts I’ve seen!
Does he do contract work?
I didn’t start weathering until I was 20 or so. But when I was five, my mom ran a clinic at the Chicago NMRA national convention (1976) on how to make trees (for the “railette” side of the meet). She had me cranking out twig and lichen trees as fast as I could while she gave the clinic, and walked around the room helping out the wives. The clinic was so popular that the “menfolk” started attending it! When approached by an older modeler who complained that the trees looked too hard to make, she pointed at me and said, “My five year old can make them, why not you?”
Later in the week she entered “me” in a railette contest, for the bib overalls she had sewn for me. Stood me up on a table for display and everything! I now wear the term “dummy” with pride!
the best part is getting some daddy time. He will always remember those times together.
Ace
It’s great to see one so young getting right in there and doing things rather than just making trains go round. As he gets older, he’ll be a great help to you building your layout (layouts are always under construction, aren’t they?). My son and daughter didn’t have any interest in model railroading, but my eldest granddaughter, who is 12 now, started showing an interest at about your son’s age. I let her play with some old cars and run some trains. By the time she was 6 or 7 she wanted to build a structure so I let he pick out a crossing tower (her choice) and helped her assemble it. She painted it by herself, although I did have to veto some of her colour choices (purple roof with yellow polkadots!). Since then she has assembled a number of houses and painted them (with increasing age came better colour choices). She developed a real talent for scenery work and loves doing it. As a matter of fact, I turn to her for help and suggestions for scenery and I trust her judgement. Her favourite activity is painting, and this came in real handy when I bought 100 unpainted N scale figures when she was 9 y.o. She did an excellent job on them with some rather detailed clothing and different skin colours. My eyes and fingers are not up to that. She is starting to have an active social life now and doesn’t visit Grandpa as much any more, but when she does, she spends some time on my layout with me. Young children can develop some surprising talents and abilities and I don’t think we give them enough credit or opportunities. You and your son are going to have some great times together, just as I have had with my granddaughter.