OT Making a model ship with a 5 year old

I'm not sure he really wants balsa. The stuff is easy to cut but it's hard to cut _precisely_. It's so soft that unless the knife is absoluely razor sharp it crushes instead of cutting. Doesn't saw very well either, tends to clog up the saw teeth with fuzz. It's main strength is light weight, not workability. Basswood might be a better bet.

A caution--there is a tendency to give kids cheap tools. Resist that temptation. Kids aren't very strong and they aren't necessarily all that coordinated--you don't want them fighting a tool that doesn't work very well besides. If you give him a saw make sure it's a saw that actually _saws_ without much force. A jeweler's saw or fretsaw might be a good bet--they aren't horribly expensive, they cut just about anything, downside is that the blades are very fragile--also it's a very narrow blade so learning to cut straight can be a problem. In a wide bladed saw bite the bullet and spend the 35 bucks for a 6 inch dozuki. He'll see how a saw is _supposed_ to work.

My parents were weird--they turned me loose with an Ex-acto knife at an early age but wouldn't spring for the jeweler's saw, so I was forced try cuts that the knife just plain wasn't enough tool to do and ended up cutting myself regularly as a result.

With hammers it's harder--he's not strong enough to be accurate with a hammer that will actually drive a nail of any size. The question is whether to give him a hammer that he can control but that is going to take a lot of pounding to drive anything bigger than a brad, or one that can drive a fair sized nail if he chokes up on it but that is going to have him missing more than he hits.

No reason he can't saw it out with a jeweler's saw.

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A chunk of 2 x 6 he can use a small back saw to cut a bow on. Add a couple of staggered decks using 1 x 4, 1 x 3, and 1 x 2. A couple of 3" lengths of 1/2" dowel for smoke stacks, and your son has the start of a fleet that floats. Let him bang in nails to fasten things together (predrilling starter holes will make it easier for him to keep them straight), and use the exterior colors of his choice to paint it up.

I remember building one of these with my Dad when I was about that age, and being so proud when it was done I could bust. I was also the envy of the neighbor kids, because I had a "Navy" to carry my toy soldiers around.

If you want to keep it simpler, use a quart or half gallon waxed milk or juice container. Lay it on it's side so the spout is up. Starting just below the spout, mark a line all the way around the carton. Use a sharp knife, or heavy shears, to cut the spout side of the carton away. Assist your son in using a small saw to cut a piece of 1/2" - 3/4" thick balsa wood to fit inside the carton hull. This is to poke dowels into for making masts that can be glued in place and smaller dowel "yard arms" fastened to with twine and glue.

With a 5 year old, keep it simple and have fun.

Len

OTOH a decent *sharp* saw will cut it well enough. We arent trying for accuracy here, all the fine shaping will be done with 40 grit sandpaper glued to a stick. If he wants to get it flatter than he can cut it, Iggy should tape a sheet of 40 grit down on a board with plenty of double sided tape and show him how to lap the work against a flat surface. We are'nt trying for fine woodworking here and Iggy is going to be 'improving' it a little in the evenings anyway. My childhood experience with large balsa blocks was they were quite a bit harder than the thin sections. I guess they select the lightest wood for the model airplane stuff and the rest is cut for modelmaking. IMHO he should work his way up onto tougher woods as his desire for strength and accuracy inmroves.

AMEN. *GOOD* tools, preferably good enough so you *will* be asking him if you can borrow them sometimes.

Decent fretsaw and a *good* supply of a selection of blades.

One of my favorite small saws is a 6" power saw blade mounted to a small pear-shaped boxwood handle I had lying around. I am not saying its anywhere near equal to the japanese saws but it cuts better and is handier than anything else I've seen at the budget to middling end of the market, I doubt I've got more than £5 and an hours work invested in it but I'd be seriously upset if it went walkabout. It would be perfect for cutting balsa. I tend to use it for anything from rigid foam, via soft and hardwoods to tufnol laminate.

7 is about the right age to introduce a bright kid to sharp knives, chisels etc and also a decent hand drill. Power tools even closely supervised should wait till they've got a good safety record with sharp edged tools.

Control first. Bending nails and beating the wood to death is

*frustrating*. I was hammering whatever nails I could scrounge off my dad into offcuts from an early age. Same nails would get extracted, I'd hammer them streight again and knock them into another offcut. If Iggy sticks to balsawood etc. this year, the kid wont need to drive big nails till he's accurate with a light hammer.

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for nichrome wire.

Yes. Mat board is basically very thick paper. Can be glued with plain old white "Elmer's" glue, or superglue (maybe not the best choice for a

5-yr-old!), or epoxy, or rubber cement, or almost any glue you can think of using. I could foresee you doing the cutting and your small assistant doing the glue work. RicodJour mentioned stitch-and-glue, and mat board would lend itself to that. If you were to drill the holes with a very small drill bit, then maybe your boy could stitch it together with one of those round-pointed yarn needles. Hmmmm.... my 5-yr-old niece is coming to visit one of these months. Thanks for giving me some ideas- as grandma and grandpa have a pond behind their house, maybe we will build a little boat when Katie is here.

Dan

I would suggest a kit like this

it makes a nice display, or if you leave the stands off, would probably float pretty well.

Hm, didn't know that.

I've been using the blue foam that comes in 2x8 sheets - will have to check if it is isocyanate. It cuts really nice with the wire (I built a regulated V and A power supply to get the wire just right) so if it is maybe I'll cut outside with me upwind...

For a 5 year old?! I buggered up that one when I was 35.

If you are going to that size..how about making a RC controlled sail or power boat?

They are more than simple enough, you can put a receiver and a couple servos on a chunk of 2x4 and get it to manuever around a pool or pond.

Rather cheap if you look for an older rc setup. Ive spent as much as $25 on a transmitter, receiver and 1-2 servos

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Cheap electric carving knife from the Goodwill/thrift stores work very well

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I vaguely recall an interview with a chap who ran a cabinet-making shop (might have been viscount Lindley) and talking about some formative memories. He described building a submarine with his dad (ok, not exactly a ship) - it sounded simple but stimulating - cut out basic shape from a lump of wood, some kind of open hook on the bottom with an iron ring - it'd "dive" to the bottom, the ring would land on the bottom & fall off and the sub would rise again. Lots of scope for keeping it very simple or getting fancy, & sounds like fun. Though I suppose you could only use it in one of those special boat ponds you see around from time to time, where it's not going to get tangled up in weed or a shopping trolley.

g.

Try to use those small flat wood ice cream sticks they sell by bags (use strait short ones). Put them flat building the shape as by long flat bricks. White glue will do very well. Lay out the skull profiles and may be build some simple staple. Some supervision will help to maintain the shape (white glue easy to fix for quite a time). As the last touch for ready scull some sandpaper or even sand belt will do.

Arcady

Ignoramus8098 wrote:

Talk to the family doctor. He buys bags of them to mash down on tongues!

I bet his supplier would love to peak his delivery for the month!

Perhaps a medical supply in town ? Or large pharmacy that deals with everything...

Martin

Mart> Try to use those small flat wood ice cream sticks they sell by bags (use

Ask the Dr. to save the used items.

Ewwwwwwwwww!

Get Un used ones. One doesn't want to play with unknown danger !!

Mart> Mart>

Hi Iggy,

I happened across this:

Building a Child's Backhoe

I would have REALLY liked one of those when I was young. It would have went quite nicely with my little Road-grader, Dump truck... My Dad did make me a similar toy. It was a little Drag-line crane out of wood that used strings and you sat on it in the same way. I had a lot of fun playing with that too.

Just a thought in case you run out of projects to build :)