Tugboat and barges for grandson

[jerryj98501]

Here are a few pictures of a wooden towboat and two barges I built last week when our 21 month grandson came to visit from California with our daughter. He played with them in the rough stage and I just finished putting on some paint and vinyl windows. I showed him how the system works but his method was to pile the barges on top of the towboat and push them around. In the mail tomorrow for the trip to northern California. Jerryj98501

[Aerominded]

Hee hee, nice, Jerry! Get your grandson started in the right direction! :)

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Very nice Set.

Is the System magnetic, or does the tow boat stack onto
the barges for a compact static display? :cool:

[willhaney]

Very nice, something he'll keep for the rest of his life.

[jerryj98501]

Umi, nothing techno like magnets, just rubber bands. I didn't have a source for magnets so left it at that. Jerryj98501

[toesup]

Very nice Jerry.. and something your Grandson will treasure and be able to show to his children..

Just as an aside.. many years ago i built a garage (forecourt, pumps, workshop, parking on the roof) for my Brother for his birthday.. 5 or 6 i think he was..
Move forwards 20+ years... and I was helping him move some boxes in to his atic area and spotted the corner of the garage under a pile of boxes..
He still has it... :o

[fooman2008]

No wrong way o play with a toy that grandpa makes you, just have fun and know that he loves you enough to make you something like that. Looks very nice though,with as many people are love those 'old style' wooden toys you could probably sell that design to someone for a line of toys.
Foo

[waboats]

Nice Job Jerry..

Good Design..

With a little bit of shape to the Hull, Verion 2 could look a lot like a mini-Springer. My eyes though it was one to start with. :o

Who knows, by the time he's 5 you'll probably be giving him instructions on how to skipper an R/C Boat. By 9 he will be the one giving the instructions.

Keep up the good work.. :) :)

[keith S]

Way to go Jerry to make sure the boat bug bites the kid and wants to do more. I am sure grandpa will have no problem teaching him to build and run models!!

[der kapitan]

No wrong way to play with a toy that grandpa makes you, just have fun and know that he loves you enough to make you something like that. Foo

I was born during WWII, and there were just no toys to be had, as all material for them was going to the war effort. :p

So my father made me some toys from packing crate lumber and scrap brass
laying around in the machine shop he worked in. They all had lathe-turned wheels, and a varnished wood finish. ;)

There was a truck, a train and an airplane among the collection, that survived to be handed down to my kids---. :)

[jerryj98501]

Really, it was quite interesting as Alex was not allowed into the modeling area. He followed me the second day and just stood in the room pointing to the models and saying "boat". I pointed out that there were different boats and he was satisfied with that. I also pointed out that there were "grandpa boats" and "Alex" boats and that they both don't mix at the present time but in the future there would be a "working boat". This is our first grandchild and it is really interesting seeing them develop into "little people". Mom just got an e-mail saying they were all down with the flu, quite a bummer. Jerryj98501

[Kcal]

Jerry,

One of the best things about modeling is being able to share it with others, especially folks that are very close to your heart.

[Jerome Morris]

Boy Jerry, I could have had many a voyage 40+ years ago with that tug and TWO barges. I could have loaded the barges with matchbox cars and legos and been a very happy little kid.

[radioboatman]

I didn't buid a boat like you did, Jerry, but I did pick up a Venom Killer Vee for my nephew's X-mas present a couple of months ago. I wanted to introduce him to rc products and was unsure about cars or boats. He used to love crashing toy trucks. But he has had a great time with the boat. Since he is only 7, the toy grade Venom was perfect. He spends time with his grand dad playing with it.

He is already talking about wanting a faster model. I'm gald I went with the boat instead of the car for him as he is old enough not to have to worry about the water.

My guess is the default rc toy for kids are cars, trucks and crawlers when they could have a lot of fun with boats in the water.