She is getting bored at the train club.
She got her new F2 a/b construct out, ran it two laps around the club, and she is bored. There is no challenge she says.
She wants to work on modeling, but no one has projects for her. She thinks painting people would be a challenge because of the size.
Any suggestions?
Man, that ain’t no problem. Brace yourself. She will shortly lose interest in anything that does not involve boys. And you will find you need something to distract you from the obsession that there is nothing quite so obnoxious as someone else’s teen age boy. 
If she wants to try painting figures I’d say by all means let her have at it. There are a lot of people like me who hate to do that and are NOT real good at it either. How about decalling? Get a set of 12 undec boxcars and let her try that. They seem to be pretty darned good at detailed tedious work at that age.
My youngest daughter was a true artist, won awards and such. Could paint a straight line better free hand than I can with masking. I let her paint anything she wanted to try. She was a perfectionist too, which yielded great results.
Good luck.
She may like this!
Go to www.brifayle.ca/1home.html
Some really impressive results in painting people, regardless of scale.
Without trying to sound chauvanistic, do remember that the general thinking patterns of teenage girls vastlly differ from boys, inspite of individual personalities. As a dad, continue to talk to her and see what aspects attract her to this or any other a hobby (artistic, mechanical, building, analyzing. etc.).
I read of a woman years back who was into HO model railroading, but locomotives and cars were on the bottom of her list! Her favorite aspect: SCENERY. Apparently she had a very artistic side to her personality, while her husband liked the mechanical “tinkering” side of the hobby.
There are girls that are in my school that very much enjoy architecture. They can build some impressive structures! So I can imagine that they would be great at putting together the DPM and Cornerstone kits from Walthers. Get the idea?
So try these approaches with your daughter! You may wind up “clicking” on something she may be willing to explore. My wife is creative and she is going to be helping me with my scenery (though she doesn’t know it yet! Hey! I’m not worried! If she gets upset, the doghouse is already nice and warm and I have blankets!) [:)][8D][:D][;)][swg][tup]
Very good advice so far. I agree with letting her try different aspects of the hobby to find out which parts really hold her interest. One of the great things about model railroading is that there is such a wide variety of things to be done that there’s something for everybody. Absolutely let her try painting figures. It is something many people don’t enjoy and it’s not easy to do well, but it just might be right for her. Also let her try building freight car and structure kits, all the way through to painting, decaling and weathering. As “problems” go, it’s a great one for a Dad to have!
Have fun,
Tom Watkins
Even if she doesn’t like it, I do.
BTW: My wife is an artist, and I let it slip that at the club last night when asked hat my wife thought about me my daughter and son being involved in the trains, that she volunteered to paint the back drops. They thought I meant the club and eveyone in the place’s eyes lit up. Of course, I meant my layout at home.
Anyway, I told my wife how I accidently volunteered her to paint the club’s backdrops and she was okay with that. Anyway, I left my copy of MR Scenery Book on the table and she picked it up and got excited. She, who has an Mfa from UCLA in art, was learning all sorts of new techniques from this book. She is anxious to try them out.
Space Mouse, now that is truly cool! Ya’ll have fun.
Tom Watkins
My wife’s mother was into dolls, so I built an N-scale DPM storefront kit and detailed it as “Dolly’s Dollies”, a doll and dollhouse as a Christmas present. Building N-scale models of 1/12 proportion dollhouses to place in the store window wasn’t too bad, but it was a challenge making and painting N scale models of baby dolls, bride dolls and foreign national costume character dolls.
(Actually, modeling the dolls was 5% modeling, 20% painting, 30% imagination and 45% lying.)
Don’t know if this would interest a young lady modeler or not…
I hate to break bad news but don’t be suprised if she gets out of the hobby all together…she’s 12 now and her entire “thing” is going to change completely in the next few years…my kids are grown and have left home now, and i can remember the days when they started doing their own thing…as preteens, they liked the trains and helped me out as much as they could, but as time went on, they lost the interest that only ol’ dad shared for the hobby towards the end…Chuck
Great advice from all the posts above! I have a 14-year-old son, and he has had a steady girlfriend for about 6 months now, she is 13. Nothing else seems to matter, on the phone all the time, has to see her all the time, etc… But I have to say; his grades have not suffered at all! Thank God! The teenage years are a whole new ball game; I can only image what the girls are going through, as I have two boys! It is a tough time for them during the adolescent years, I just try to give him the support and understanding they need, but still try to balance the discipline and giving them a little more freedom are a challenge too! He is already starting to pick out a car he wants, oh boy, the road ahead!!!
Good luck!
Space,
Kids are Kids! Be thankful that they want to do anything with you. Sounds like you are raising them up right though!
My own kids liked the Train Under the Tree thing, but that was it. None of them were into modeling or doing creative things with their hands. My Son would steal away some of my Finished Automobile Models though. I had a nice 1/12 scale 69 Camaro SS that was detailed out to the MAX. He still has it and now displays it in his own home!
Neat Stuff with the Wife getting excited! Mine likes the fact that I have a hobby that keeps me home after 24 years of Military Service. She manages a Fabric Store, and these articles on using Fake fur for grasses and such for the layout are really starting to get me into her store to see what I can find.
Back to your daughter. I would get her set up with some figures, brushes, paint, and a pin vise or two and let her have at it. She may want to add passengers into the Passenger cars for the Hogwart! That would make a nice first project for her!
Chris
SpaceMouse, everything said so far is very true! Having taught Middle Shool Music (6-8) for 21 years, I can tell you that adolesent humans can be the sweetest, kind, most wonderful people on earth; and the most obnoxious little monsters you ever had to deal with. Usually the same person a few minutes apart!
The things you are doing with your kids now, however, will make a huge difference in their lives. Your daughter may be “bored” now and will flit from this to that, but… These things will become part of who she is for the rest of her life. On July 16, 1976 the American Freedom Train roared through Waverly, NY on its way to Bighamton. I draged my Wife and two sons ages 7 & 10 down to the tracks to see it. We lived all of 2 blocks away. They were definetly “BORED!” “Dad, can we go now?” “That stupid old train isn’t coming! do we have to stay?” The train ended up being about 2 hours late and didn’t stop like it was supposed for photos in Waverly (bummer) but it sure put on a great show as it roared through on the mainline! This Christmas, my oldest son, now 38, gave me a photo of The Freedom Train Roaring through Waverly, NY about 200 yards from where we were standing waiting. His girlfriend happened to find it as they were shopping for someone else. The greatest present though, was his remembering every detail of the day and how fantastic it was to see that beautiful old Reading T1 #2101 steam loco pulling that train. Sometimes you have to wait 28 years to know that it indeed did make a difference.
So, hang in there! The next several years may be the greatest and the most difficult. Make some good memories for later. BTW last fall my son and I went to Scranton, PA for a weekend and got to ride behind the 1917 Mikado # 3254 (Canadian National?). He grinned the whole weekend!
Oh how i do remember that train!..I was 17 at the time and just about to graduate H.S. and my folks took us down to see it at the Lone Star Brewery in San Antonio, TX…it was pulled by a SP Daylight GS-11 steam locomotive …we got to tour the cars and I still remember the “Ruby Red Slippers” from the movie “Wizard of Oz” worn by Judy Garland that was on display in one of the pullman cars…Chuck
GS-4 [swg][swg]
That’s just way too cool, Chip! Making sure that the whole family can be involved in the hobby is both a challenge and a reward. Keep it up!..
Tom
P.S. BTW, What area/specialty of art was your wife’s masters in?
She got her degree in fiber but practices and teaches 2 dimentional paintings. She said this morning that she is interested in 3d modeling, but she will not let it effect her 2d art pursuits. (I’ll call in a few of those honey-do’s markers from my construction days) [:D]
Anyway you can see some of her stuff here if interested.
I am painting one freight car for each of my kids, with their own rail colour scheme, their names (true copy of current signatures) and dates of birth put right on the car… they will enjoy seeing their own freight car on the tracks - being 9,7,5 they are quite enthusiastic ie: vain…
Ahhhh, so that’s where the gunfighter pic comes from. Chip, tell your dear wife that she has a wonderful talent and to keep it up the nice work.
Be careful though. If she does too wonderful a job painting the club backdrop, she may have a stream of MRR’s lining up outside your back door, beckoning for her to paint theirs.
Tom
I have 2 daughters, 15 and 17 years old and they are in to model railroading in spurts but do enjoy going to Illinois Railway Museum and seeing and riding real trains. They are always interested in what my wife and I are doing on the layout though. When they do help with the layout they do very good work and enjoy the fact that dad shows off their modeling to visitors.
Jack
Chi-Chingggg
This thread reminds me of what Tony Koester wrote in his Trains of Thought column a few months ago - about how his son never really got bit by the model railroad bug, but was and is always proud to show off the layout to his friends. His grnadson, on the other hand, seems to be a certifiable train nut already. Maybe this stuff really does skip a generation…
–Randy