Joe, I have to reply here, because of your choices of next subject...
My son has just turned nine, so his achievements should be viewed with that in mind. Our first model was a StuG III - his choice, but he asked for my help. I did most of the painting, and demonstrated techniques on one side of the model to have him complete the other side (tanks are good for this).
I must have got it about right, because he is now making (pause for fanfare) the Airfix 1/72 Hurricane, for his Cub Scout Hobbies badge. He is doing everything, knife work and painting included, because that is how we all got started, and he's old enough not to damage himself, under remote supervision from his dad.
Painting is the difficult bit: he is doing it all by brushwork, but I will show him how to use masking tape to get the Sky edge straight against the upper surface camouflage. The version of the Hurricane we have (he bought it at the Imperial War Museum when we visited there last month) has a two-part spinner, easing the task of painting Bob Stanford-Tuck's DT.A with it's red nose/white banded spinner. No cockpit detail to worry about. I plan to introduce him to decal strips for canopy framing. The main shortcoming of the kit is poor wing-root fit; we used strips of ten-thou card to fill the gaps (I suggested it, he did it). It has raised panel-lines, which limit the amount of surgery you can perform (NO we are NOT rescribing - not for a first effort!). Some filler will be needed a the under-wing/fuselage join, but the fuselage halves fitted together well, and needed only a little cleaning up; which he did!
The problem, really, is keeping his interest without letting him get bored. I have to keep reminding myself that it is his kit, he has to do it, and it will not be a competition-winner; but it will be as good as he can make it, and he will have learned from it, and had fun! It has to be fun, or he won't want to try again, when it comes to the Dragon Elefant that he sincerely wanted as his third tank! (A Sherman was second - "like the ones in Kelly's Heroes" :) ).
A good part of the learning is letting him make mistakes, holding my tongue while he does so, and waiting until he asks for help; then being able (well, so far) to show him how to recover (polish out a glue-mark from a finger on the wing, touch up the pilots blue uniform where the yellow Mae-West has gone too far). It has to be mostly his work, or he'll just lose interest.
Any chance of pictures?