I still remember when I started building models; it was 1988, and our teacher pulled some of us aside and said they thought we would like this mail order book. That was how I got introduced to the Revell Model of the Month club. I loved it. Started out with snap-together kits (my first was the Space Shuttle), and moved on to glue ones and painting and… sigh. I miss it. Seriously, I spend at least 30 minutes each ToyFair just drooling at the Revell booth. So, when they got in touch about these Junior Kits, I jumped at the chance.
My six-year-old (sorry, six and a half) loves Cars. I know it’s fashionable to rag on them (and that racist Cars 2 totally earns it), but the fact is that they make for good toys, and he likes them. So when he saw there was a Cars toy he could build? He lost it. “Aba, can we build this now?” I was hesitant, thinking it might be too hard and, boy, I was wrong.
The Junior Kits are labeled, perfectly sorted, and with clear directions. My son especially loved how the included tool snapped under Lightning for storage and access.
It impressed me that he was able to build this almost entirely by himself. We had some trouble getting the tires on the wheels, but he was the one who figured out we could press them down on the table and–ka-chow–in. The ability to swap mouth expressions or turn the eyes was a fascinating aspect for him.
One great moment was when we finished the model and got to the sticker sheet. The model itself took 15 minutes. The sticker applications? He got an intense look on his face and kept double checking with me… and took another 15 minutes to make sure it was all perfect. I kept imagining him a few years from now, sitting and going over his Transformers with Repolabels.
Seriously though, the absolute best part of all this was not that we built a model, but that we built memories. Thanks to Revell, I was able to pass the love of model building on to my son at a young age. He was proud of himself, and right after he finished he looked at me, eyes full of love, and said:
“When are we gonna do anodder one?”
Revell Junior Kits Cars 3 Kits (Lighting McQueen, Jackson Storm, and Cruz Ramirez) are available direct from Revell and at a toy store near you. They also have a fine line of kits available via Amazon and other fine stores. I suspect I will be buying several of them. Please note that they sent me one for review purposes.
