I need help deciding a kit for my gf's little brother

[Corvette.Jeff]

Hi all, next weekend me and my gf are going to do some early christmas shopping.

I said that we should get each of her brothers a model kit, ones 12 and ones 19.

i already kinda have a kit picked out for the older one. its just dalton(the younger one) im having trouble with.

It has to be a kit that will keep his intrest, he was born with autism, he absolutley loves cars and anything of the sort.

Ive helped him with a kit before in the past and we had alot of fun, it wasnt a car kit though, it was the human heart with blood that goes through it from lindberg.

he gets pretty frustrated with small parts easy so i was thinking something big. but it cant be to hard of a model(ie. snap kit)

I thought about getting him and me each a revell 1/8 t-bucket kit to build when he comes down, and getting him a few snap kits.

but it all comes back to one thing, he has autism. and ive only ever been around two kids wiht it, he was one and the other wasnt even old enough to talk, so yea.lol

Do yall think my ideas would be good? or should i scratch that and think of something else? i did think about those diecast kits that you get to put like the wheels and stuff on, but he would get very bored with that. either his mom or other sister would be watching over him while he did it as well.

Another thing i thought about is a cheap set of testors detail paint and a chep hobby knife to help him out, then i was going to put it all in a box with simplified instructions(he has a hard time wiht reading stuff), have any of you had the honor of dealing with autistic kids? do you think it would be a good idea?

Jeff.

[VW Dave]

You can't go wrong with the Revell snapper new Camaro kit IMO; I've given one as a gift to my nephew, with a body and interior prepainted by me, and he and my brother thoroughly enjoyed it as a father/son project.

[Corvette.Jeff]

Thats a good idea, i thought about that kinda, but thought itd take out all the fun for him. 12 year olds and spray paint equal a happy kid imo.

Those camaro kits are pretty nice, i built one a while back.

[charlie8575]

I agree, the newer Revell snaps look good out of the box and are very easy to assemble. Add a little paint and some detailing, and they'll look great.

The Camaro would be a good first choice for a younger modeler.

Charlie Larkin

[diymirage]

cant go wrong with the camaro, i bougth one for my 11 year old nephew and he loved it

one word of advise though...stay away from the cop out duster

it is a great kit and i love the subject to death BUT it is terribly mislabeled as a beginner kit

(with as much chrome parts that make up the suspension as that kit has i had trouble putting it together)

[highway]

I think a snap kit would be a good choice, too. Another alternative, though, might be one from the Revell "Basic Builder" line. They are simpler glue kits and the few I have don't seem to have many, if any, really small parts. These would also be nice because he could glue them, but not have a whole lot of parts to glue, since I think most are under 100 pieces.

[wisdonm]

You should consider a metal kit. Some parts snap, some parts need to be screwed (a new skill set?), you can detail paint them, and maybe best of all, it can be played with. It also might be a thrill if you take him shopping and let him pick it out.

Edited October 24, 2010 by wisdonm

[Gregg]

What about that Revell Big Rig Snap Kit?

[Jon Cole]

I transport an 11 year old boy with autism, and he loves cars and models. The special needs school buys plastic snap kits and also a metal body pre-paint kit with plastic parts. He needs help to build them; he will “paint†them with colored markers or paint pens. No spray painting. These build sessions are for 45 minutes, I guess if they were any longer, they may lose his interest.

The model looks… rough, that’s to be expected. The important thing is, he loves it! He really gets pumped when he gets to build a model. Sometimes, for variety, they build wooden animal models. They look like a thin balsa sheet that has been die-cut, I think they just pop out each part and attach tab into slot, and there isn’t too many pieces.

It’s all good either way. Go for it.

[highway]

What about that Revell Big Rig Snap Kit?

You know, Gregg, that is a great idea, I'm surprised being a truck builder I didn't think of that! Both the Revell Peterbilt 359 and Kenworth W900 are listed as skill level 2 kits, but they are reissues of old snap kits from the 80's.

Jeff, if you would want to concider one of those two kits, let me know. Both trucks are 1/25 scale, so the parts are all decent sized, and I have the Peterbilt 359, so if you would want an idea of the kit before you buy it, I would be more than happy to take pictures of the kit for you. Here is what I have done so far on mine, and nothing is glued together on it yet.

The Kenworth is mostly close to the Peterbilt, so either way you'd be getting him an easy to build and nice model.

[Aaronw]

The Jada plastic kits are fairly basic but offer interesting subjects and are tough enough to hold up to being played with. I built the Speed Racer Mach 5 and Mach 6 with my son last year (or maybe it was 2 years ago) which would have made him 8 or 9 at the time. They were well within his ability to build minus a few spots that took adult finger strength to get snapped in place. They are prepainted so can be left as is, or detailed out as desired. The only thing I didn't care for was they have stickers instead of decals. I don't know how available these kits are now (I actually got them at Target) but they are pretty neat models if you can find them.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Aaronw

[Junkman]

Those old Tom Daniel kits by Monogram might appeal to him, if he is into that kind of stuff. They are easy to build and yield quite attractive models.