My Son's First Contest - Old Dominion Open

[daviepancakes]

So my father was off work last Monday, and he decided to hook my son up with a model for him to do with minimum supervision and no hands-on assistance. We ended up breaking that rule, because the canopy wouldn't fit one of his models for love or money and I don't let my son use super glue, but I digress.

 

So he gets the old Airfix Hurricane, and I set him up with a 144th scale F-104. My dad mentioned the Old Dominion contest to my son, the idea was planted and there was no turning back - we were going to enter his work, hell or high water. 

 

We get the the raceway, and register and so on. He's not 100 per cent on his letters, but he wrote his own name and the like. All told, there were seven entries in his category. I was a bit worried. If he didn't place his first time out, with the amount of effort he'd put into his models...it might have been the end of his interest.

 

In the interim, we cruised around the vendors and displays - he wants that 72d scale B-36. Our lease specifically prohibits hanging things from the ceiling, so that's a no-go. We made some new friends in a car modeling group, I think I'll take him up there for a meeting sometime soon.

 

Anyway. My worries and my fears were unfounded. The awards are being given out, 3d place is called. Not him. 2d place is called. No joy. Dramatic pause. My four year old left with a first place trophy his first time out. Needless to say, he's now committed. His confidence is to the point where he wants more autonomy, he's got a nice trophy that says "trust me. I know what I'm doing."

 

I've attached some pictures. It's perfectly fine if not a one of you cares or comments, but I'm about as proud as a father can be of the young man for whom I'm responsible. His grandfather is pretty damned happy about it too. Just thought I'd share. If nothing else, below are some pictures of the future of the hobby. It seems incredibly bright to me.

 

VR

 

 

 

 

 

[k5ikl]

Hey, that's just great. You have every right to be proud and grandpa too.  At 4 years old I didn't

even know what a model was.  You have now opened Pandora's (contests)  box.  On and upward

for the young man.

Cheers,

Jerry

[dnl42]

Bravo! That's awesome!

 

All three of you have a lot to be proud of!

[Don]

Very cool! Well done!

[Darren Roberts]

What a fun way to spend time with your kiddo and spark an interest in modeling at the same time.

[Joel_W]

WTG young man.  1st time out, and 1st place. !!

I remember my 1st contest, and I didn't even make the 1st cut. 

 

Joel

[GW8345]

Bravo Zulu to him, you and your father.

 

Watch out though, pretty soon he is going to be raiding your stash.

[breadneck]

Good memories like these never die. Fill the little one up with as much love as you can give him and he will grow exponentially. And thankyou for being such a great father. Not all children are lucky enough to have a solid foundation to grow from. 

[daviepancakes]

I very much appreciate the responses, gentlemen. I've passed them on to the young man who actually did the work.

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. I try to do right by my son, but the fact of the matter is the only properly good example he's got still...alive...is grandpa. He's the one that deserves the lion's share of the  credit for the solid nature of the foundation. My son likes tanks and armour models just fine, but if you ask him what he wants to do when he gets big, nine times in ten he'll tell you he's gonna be a fighter pilot like papa - or occasionally a 'bomber guy in Viet Nam' like his great-grandfather - vice a broken former army tanker trying to do university at almost thirty.

 

Kids can be pretty perceptive, eh?

[82Whitey51]

Wicked cool! Congratulations!