SnapTite kits for a 7 year old

[smhardesty]

I bought one of the Revell 1/25 GraveDigger SnapTite kits for my Grandson for Christmas. He was really thrilled to get the kit. He and I decided that the kit would stay here and we’d work on it together, then once it was built he could take it home and display it in his room. Last night we were working on it for the third time. Things weren’t going very well. The kit has some fit issues and to be completely truthful I was even having some trouble trying to get the tubular frame to fit right. I could see that he was getting more than a little frustrated so I made a decision to halt the work on this kit.

I had purchased the Revell 1/32 Peterbilt SnapTite kit this past Tuesday. I had put it away in a little stash I have started for him. I wasn’t going to let him know I had a stash for him, but with the trouble on the GraveDigger I decided to break out the Peterbilt. I am so glad I did.

If anybody is looking for a kit for a grandchild to build as his/her very first kit, stay away from GraveDigger and take a really hard look at the 1/32 Peterbilt. There is just a ton of difference between these 2 kits for a kid. My grandson was able to get the entire chassis put together last night. There is a little flash on the Peterbilt, but I kind of think that is a good deal. He is getting familiar with how to clean parts up before assembling. The Peterbilt is so much more sturdy that the GraveDigger. I see a couple things with the Peterbilt that aren’t what I would call real high quality, but then again it’s a SnapTite kit that a kid can assemble himself.

And I do mean that my grandson did the work himself. The only time I really went hands on was figuring out the steps for the rear wheels and tires. Following the steps in the instructions will get you nowhere. You actually have to do things a little differently than what the instructions indicate. Once we got things figured out, he did the other 3 sets of duals and did the front wheel/tires himself. I’ll be looking for another 1/32 SnapTite for him for sure.

 

    

[gtx6970]

Good deal. .

Getting the younguns interested is a win win 

[Foxer]

That's pretty cool as I have a 7 year grandson too. The Peterbilt sounds good and I would have never checked a 1/32 kit.

Maybe there is a chance to get him trying model building ... if I can get me son to cart him up here!

[disabled modeler]

I think its great to see young people getting into the hobby...and that they make stuff suited for any skill level.  Many snap kits are good kits...I still build them. Keep his interest going...he will have someone to learn from so in no time he will be on others and feeling good about himself which is a great thing.  Far too many(like my nephew) have their heads stuck into video games all day long.

[smhardesty]

I'm one of those old farts that think our kids and grandkids spend way too much time with their noses planted firmly in front of one electronic device or another. I spent over 30 years working on computers in some capacity. I just don't think it's healthy for young, impressionable kids to spend that much time on a tablet, phone, computer, etc. That, along with the fact I'm just getting back into the hobby, gave me the idea to buy my grandson the GraveDigger kit. When he opened it he was extremely happy. When we opened the kit and I explained that we'd have to put the thing together, he seemed even MORE pleased and happy. It's a shame that kit turned out to be a bit too much for him at this point, but it's in the stash supply in the closet.

His birthday was just about a month ago and I ordered something entirely different for him. It was a "Lego Crazy Action Contraptions Kit". It has instructions for how to build 16 different contraptions. It includes wheels and rubber bands for building rigs you "wind up" and let go across the floor, as well as a catapult type device, a high wire balancing device that runs on string stretched across the room, and more. When he hit the door this past Friday night, he shucked his coat and shoes and made a bee line to the back bedroom for that set of Legos. He spent about 10 - 15 minutes building something with it, then came to me and asked if we could work on his model. It just tickles me to death that he wants to spend time building models and playing with Legos. He is developing skills that most other kids his age don't even know about. To me it's worth every dime I spend on kits and Legos. Besides, I get to spend some real quality time with my grandson. How can you beat THAT?

Forgot to add. I'll be sure and post some photos of the finished rig whenever we get it done. It's not a really detailed kit, but what he has done so far looks pretty good for his first ever.

Edited February 12, 2017 by smhardesty
Added note

[iamsuperdan]

My daughter is nine and has been very interested in building models with me. I've had her building som 1/32 Revell snap kits. These have so far all been part of the Night Crawler series from a few years ago. Probably before she was born!

First kit was a 1970-ish Mustang, then a 1969-ish Camaro. Currently working on a 1955 Chev. SHe has expressed interested in glue and building a "real" model, so we went and picked up the new Camaro kit from I believe AMT.

 

At least one of my kids has an interest in this hobby!

[smhardesty]

Hey, Dan. What is the quality of those kits like? I've seen them on a couple sites I buy from and wondered about them. Since my grandson is a couple years behind your daughter, he'll probably need a few more snap kits before we get to glue and paint. The Mustang and Camaro are 2 I looked at for him.

 

[iamsuperdan]

They seem to be okay. Minimal flash, and they snap together well. VERY basic kit, but look okay when done. Haven't had any fit issues with them at all.

The decals are just stickers, but she didn't want those anyway because "they're kind of ugly." She painted the Mustang dark purple, and the Camaro is a turquoise blue. Her 55 Chev is apparently going to be matte black, with multi-coloured polka dots. Yup, she's a girl. Just waiting for the weather to warm up so we can go do some spraying! 

 

 

[smhardesty]

Thanks. I might pick up one or two of those. Good fit and positive snap are what I really look for. That's one of the glitches we ran into on the GraveDigger. The parts just didn't snap together real tight and kept falling off while he was trying to put the next part on. It was frustrating him.

[Lunajammer]

I was at a show this weekend in a rural community where the kids got to make-&-take this Snap Tite Fire Truck. They were surprisingly popular. The kids were able to finish it during the show and five local volunteer fire departments built them in advance as a mini-competition between them. People's choice selected the best truck of the five departments. Might be worth a try with your grandson and they look pretty good built up.

[High octane]

My grandson is only three, so he'll have to wait awhile. I haven't even showed him my "stash" yet. Of course he's doing very well with the Lionel trains at Christmas time, even though Lionel recommends their sets for 8 year old and older. I let him run the train several times this past Christmas, and he seemed to listen well to my instructions and was able to run the train without running it off the tracks. He also is learning to back up the train onto a spur and pick up more cars too.

[smhardesty]

I was at a show this weekend in a rural community where the kids got to make-&-take this Snap Tite Fire Truck. They were surprisingly popular. The kids were able to finish it during the show and five local volunteer fire departments built them in advance as a mini-competition between them. People's choice selected the best truck of the five departments. Might be worth a try with your grandson and they look pretty good built up.

Believe it or not, I have a few of those kits on my ebay "Watch List" right now. I wasn't paying  a lot of attention to detail as I added them, but when I went back and checked them a bit more closely I realized there are a few different kits. That I know of for sure, there are 3 different red colored trucks and one yellow. You have to look closely at the red ones to see the differences. Since my grandson isn't going to be paying a lot of attention to which one he gets, I'm just watching for the best deal as each one comes close to the end of bidding. I'm sure he'll like whichever one I end up with.

 

[smhardesty]

My grandson is only three, so he'll have to wait awhile. I haven't even showed him my "stash" yet. Of course he's doing very well with the Lionel trains at Christmas time, even though Lionel recommends their sets for 8 year old and older. I let him run the train several times this past Christmas, and he seemed to listen well to my instructions and was able to run the train without running it off the tracks. He also is learning to back up the train onto a spur and pick up more cars too.

Sounds like you're starting him out right. Getting him to follow instructions, operate the train with care, and improve his dexterity, all while having a whole lot of fun. It doesn't get much better than that!

[High octane]

Sounds like you're starting him out right. Getting him to follow instructions, operate the train with care, and improve his dexterity, all while having a whole lot of fun. It doesn't get much better than that!

I'm lovin' it Steve, and maybe when he's 'bout 6 I'll see if he would be interested in buildin' some snap kits??? If not, that's okay too as I got into this hobby for myself way back when, and I'm still enjoyin' it.

[caine440]

I have three snap tite kits waiting for my 4 year old son to get old enough to build them. A Barracuda, Shelby Charger and a 69 Charger.

[disabled modeler]

Awesome gents.  My nephew has his head stuck in the electronic games badly...been trying to get him into other stuff but haven't been able to just yet.

[smhardesty]

It's up to us to introduce the youngsters to the hobby. I posted a reply on another forum about what I think is the reason kids don't jump into the hobby like us old farts did. Besides the obvious of all the electronic, digital BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, when you think about it, the problem is that there are so few automobiles that grab attention. When we were young the big three, and each of their brands, were producing some fantastic machines that grabbed your attention. They were extremely distinguishable as to what they were. None of us had a problem identifying a Camaro, Charger, Mustang, or GTO. We knew immediately what they were. Heck, some of us could even tell what was coming down the street just from the SOUND. You all know what I mean. Today, nearly everything is the same, boring, "squashed VW" shape, with four doors and about as much personality as a cardboard box. There are a few exceptions with the reintroduction of the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, and Charger (kinda). But all in all there just aren't many cars that grab a kid's attention. I kind of asked a few seemingly innocent questions when my grandson and I were together before I bought the first kit. The "monster trucks" were of interest to him, and for whatever reason so were semis. That worked for me! At least there were kits available that met his interest. So I guess we need to try and find out what impresses each of our youngsters and buy accordingly.

[disabled modeler]

It's up to us to introduce the youngsters to the hobby. I posted a reply on another forum about what I think is the reason kids don't jump into the hobby like us old farts did. Besides the obvious of all the electronic, digital BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, when you think about it, the problem is that there are so few automobiles that grab attention. When we were young the big three, and each of their brands, were producing some fantastic machines that grabbed your attention. They were extremely distinguishable as to what they were. None of us had a problem identifying a Camaro, Charger, Mustang, or GTO. We knew immediately what they were. Heck, some of us could even tell what was coming down the street just from the SOUND. You all know what I mean. Today, nearly everything is the same, boring, "squashed VW" shape, with four doors and about as much personality as a cardboard box. There are a few exceptions with the reintroduction of the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, and Charger (kinda). But all in all there just aren't many cars that grab a kid's attention. I kind of asked a few seemingly innocent questions when my grandson and I were together before I bought the first kit. The "monster trucks" were of interest to him, and for whatever reason so were semis. That worked for me! At least there were kits available that met his interest. So I guess we need to try and find out what impresses each of our youngsters and buy accordingly.

Exactly Steve...cars of the 60s/70s had more looks to them and were different from each other.  To me even the 4 door and wagons were cool then...today everything pretty much looks the same and is boring. One just has to find something the kids are interested in in scale...still working on that one here with my nephew...tried space,aircraft,some cars so far hes 11.

[iamsuperdan]

It's up to us to introduce the youngsters to the hobby. I posted a reply on another forum about what I think is the reason kids don't jump into the hobby like us old farts did. Besides the obvious of all the electronic, digital BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, when you think about it, the problem is that there are so few automobiles that grab attention. When we were young the big three, and each of their brands, were producing some fantastic machines that grabbed your attention. They were extremely distinguishable as to what they were. None of us had a problem identifying a Camaro, Charger, Mustang, or GTO. We knew immediately what they were. Heck, some of us could even tell what was coming down the street just from the SOUND. You all know what I mean. Today, nearly everything is the same, boring, "squashed VW" shape, with four doors and about as much personality as a cardboard box. There are a few exceptions with the reintroduction of the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, and Charger (kinda). But all in all there just aren't many cars that grab a kid's attention. I kind of asked a few seemingly innocent questions when my grandson and I were together before I bought the first kit. The "monster trucks" were of interest to him, and for whatever reason so were semis. That worked for me! At least there were kits available that met his interest. So I guess we need to try and find out what impresses each of our youngsters and buy accordingly.

Exactly. My son is 12, and I've tried to get him into modelling. He just doesn't care about the current subject matter on the shelves. He couldn't care less about cars from the 50s or 60s. He's more interested in the Jeep JK, or Subarus and modern Volkswagens. To my knowledge, no one makes a kit of the Jeep, and there really aren't any kits of the cars he's into. So he chooses other hobbies, which is totally fine and understandable. Unless kit manufacturers can find some way to tap into that youth market (and let's not even get started on costs), the hobby will continue to wane in popularity.

[smhardesty]

Yep. Well said, guys. And speaking of the kit manufacturers, imagine being in the R&D department trying to come up with new kits based on the offerings of 1:1 cars of today. Not a whole lot to choose from.

[Edsel-Dan]

I have seen but never gotten the Grave Digger, but have built MANY of the other Snap kits  out there

The 1/32 kits from Monogram are very nice though ONLY the 70 Mach-1 & Cobra roadster are completely Stock!!

The Cobra Did come standard with Sidepipe mufflers!!

The 69 Camaro, 78 Vette, & 68 GTO are stock but with sidepipes

This is the method of hiding the body/chassis mounting lugs

The 55 Chevy is part street machine, part Pro Street drag

Roll bar and 2 Bucket seats are the only option for the interior

The 34 Coupe is the "ZZTop Eliminator"

I have SEVERAL sets of the 6 kits from the Halloween, Winter Ice &  Spy/Tech issues

I was emptying Wal-Marts of them at $1.oo each to as little as 50 CENTS each

I have more of the Halloween series than any others

 

Here are the 6 Halloween kits

The other series included the same cars

 

The Cobra, a 79 Camaro, and Mustang were not included

I do not think they have been re-issued at all

 

The Semi trucks are all decent kits too

I have had many of them, and hope more get re-issued.

I have the Mack R with Tank trailer, and am looking for the Freightliner Conventional with box van/refer trailer

 

The MACK CF Pumper was first offered in the early-mid 80's

The original 2 kits were molded in red & Yellow

This is the ONLY Yellow offering

They showed the Deluge gun on the Red kit, the 3 beam Flood light on the yellow

Both kits were Identical except plastic & box art

 

The Second issue was a Tie in to the Movie Backdraft

Decals/stickers were for Chicago engine 17 though in the movie the Ladder was the MACK!

 

The kit stayed Chicago 17 and box art was kept the same though with out BACKDRAFT labeling

 

I believe the HERO's 2 kit was next with the Mack pumper and the Malibu police sedan

That Malibu was also offered in BACKDRAFT box art

 

The current run of the kit Copy-write dated 2012 and later, has the base for the Deluge molded to the roof

and the headlight lenses now molded in-place on the chrome front grill/bumper piece

So if you want the Clear headlights and/or the Search/flood light option you need an Older issue of the kit

Again, I have SEVERAL of this kit, and do look for deals on it all the time

I have 3 or 4 box lots of parts for them too

 

I have MANY plan ideas for them too!!

I need to get back to the 3 In-Progress pro!!jects