One topic I see pop up from time to time in online ship model forums and in ship model club meetings is how to get kids involved in ship modeling. There is a lot of lamenting about how kids today aren’t interested at all and how that paints a bleak future for ship modeling.

I personally am not too worried about getting kids building ship models because, as a kid, I was never interested in ship models. I liked tanks, modern ships, aircraft and rockets. My own dad tried to get me into his area of interest, wooden airplanes. I tried building one on one or two occasions, but it never stuck with me, as much as he tried. Plastic kits were in my blood.

My interest in wooden ship models didn’t take hold until I was in my 30s and was as much a surprise to me as anyone…