Small Scale Military Headquarters

About 2 years ago I gave my 5 year old daughter some 1/32nd
scale tanks and soldiers to play with in her room(yes I said daughter).
Now she wants to play with my 1/18th toys.Do any of you other guys
have kids (raiding) your stash of toys?I gave her some of my broken
or (parts) tanks and she doesn't seem to mind(for now!)

Mark

You say its your daughter that likes the 1:18 scale military toys?? I hope you don't have a son that plays with barbies

I can't really respond to this question as I don't have kids, though, imagining myself 10 years down the road when I may very well have them, what will be done with all my XD and other military toys remains in question. I have no intent on selling them, ever, so they'll either grace the ceiling of my study, sit in the attic, or still be on the ceiling of my old room in my parents house. I wouldn't want my kids to get ahold of the items until they are around 10 years old, or unless they would truly appreciate (and not break) them! I was always the kid who took care of his toys, so I would expect my future children to do the same. On a more imaginitive note, I have contemplated creating a secret, "forbidden toy room" in my future house that I would keep locked until I was sure that my kids were ready to appreciate its contents, or they at some mischevious point, found the key and discovered the contents for themselves... Then again, by the time I have kids, video games and computers will be so prevalent, that they may, sadly, not have an interest for material toys... I will have to see to it that that doesn't happen!

You never know about kids, my three grew up heavy into Star Wars and my daughter went from Barbie to SW to Lord of the Rings (books, then movies, then figures). My guys were raised with 1:1 MV's and are both still heavy into them. They drove my trucks when their feet could reach the pedals. They went from BMX racing to motorcycles and fast cars, now into monster trucks. They are all adults but my nephews are always begging their folks to take them to "Uncle Charlie's" for a ride in his trucks and to play with his RC tank (21c 1:6 Stuart). They love to chase the dog and scare the cats with the Stuart. They are small buit have gotten RC cars of their own. They do not get to play with my 1:18 and smaller stuff, that's for their folks to marvel at and me to play with in my "bunker".

TTT

Well, my 2-1/2 year old daughter is getting to be a junkie. She likes to hold my 1/18 airplanes and make engine noises, and has begun taking and playing with my 1/18 scale military and Star Wars figures. So far, she is really good with them (nothing broken), and will switch between them and her dolls. And she loves the Powerteam Blackhawk - let me say that sucker can take abuse and bounce right back.

Then again, two of her favorite movies are Star Wars and Pirates of the Carribean, so she's not that normal.

this is a cute thread......keep it comin'..

:)

My 2.5 year old boy would rather play with XD stuff more than anything else. I have my XD armor displayed in the living room well within his reach but he is very careful with it. He likes to open and close all of the hatches and rotate the turrets. He knows that "these aren't toys" and really seems to respect them. As far as my XD aircraft, they are mostly hung in his room. He can tell you the name of every aircraft in there! (His favorite is the P-47) He loves to watch the History channel and Discovery Wings with me. You should see him light up when he spots one of "his" airplanes or tanks on TV! Its funny how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! I love it. It drives my wife crazy!!

-Rob

My 3 and 1.5 year old enjoy stuffing their dolls into the M41 Bulldog I let them play with. They then go for rides to the store.

My 10 y/o daughter has learned to like some of the things I like because its a way for us to bond I guess. She has played 4 years of Little League Baseball (summer & winter leagues), pitches rather effectively and I have enjoyed coaching her. To equal the toy situation abit with her brother, we made some customized 1/6 Star Wars female figures & we went to see Carrie Fisher & got an autograph picture that we framed. We also added Cy-Girl Aurora, SST Bride of Frankenstien & Dark Crystal Gelfins. The trick is to make cool looking stuff that isnt cheap looking or too "girlie" looking or my daughter wont like it. She has always hated Barbies & one day I found one of her old Barbies EXPERTLY dressed as a WW2 German infantryman. She also loves Beanies & wild animal figures. Although it may seem shes a Tom-Boy, she's actually very cute, athletic, smart, & interesting all in a femanine way. I can already see that she is going to leave a long trail of broken hearts behind her before she someday marries

What a response!I thought it was just me.

Mark

I have a 4 year old daughter who likes to mix my XD items (bombed French building) with her dollhouse and such. I had a 1/32 Mustang that she would pick up and play with. I ended up selling it along with some other x32 items to an Ebay customer in England.
She came down to my lair in the basement and looked around to find the Mustang. She asked me where it was. I told her I had sold it to man on Ebay. She almost cried. I felt horrible!
I really didn't think she liked my XD as much as she does.
I have a 9 month old son who will probably like Power Puff Girls???
What's a XD Father to do?

My 17 year old daughter was playing with my Kepford Corsair yesterday and was looking really forlorn. I asked her ...Betty what's wrong? You looked like you were having so much fun playing with my Corsair! She looked at me with those piercing deep blue eyes and said...DADDY I WANT A JAPANESE ZERO TO SHOOT AT MY CORSAIR AND I WANT IT...NOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! LOL JD

Well I'm not sure if this fits here but, I have a 4 year old brother who can name Tigers, Panther, Shermans, M3s, you name it he knows it. I have all my stuff on display in my room, and when I'm working on something in there he'll walk in and just go on and on about each vehicle. Then after going on and on he'll look at my BBI Navy SEALS and go, "Joe, can I play with your Navy SEALS?" Of course I let him. And he is very careful with my stuff. He'll have the SEALS in the jeeps and they go get the "Bad Guys." My other brother whos 8 loves the stuff too. Hes got some of his own XD stuff. Like my 4 year old brother he can name just about anything. He likes my Corsair, and uses it to strafe his 251(His 251 is broken, and he puts the pieces on it and when the plane comes by he knocks all the pieces off. Then he'll put cotton on it.) He also loves the Corgi stuff. I try to teach them about this stuff while they're young.(Even if they are my brothers.) And they just love it.

Joe

I originally inteneded for most of my Star Wars and 1:18 Planes and armor to be out of reach of my little ones, but as time has gone by I have mellowed and my twin 3 year old boys really enjoy playing with the tanks, and planes. We mix Star Wars stormtroopers in with the WWII and modern soldiers. My 6 yo daughter enjoys these things also but not as much as the twins. It is heartwarming to share the same interests with them so when the occasional breakage happens we simply fix it with "super dooper glue" as we all know, that and a little duct tape can fix anything!:D
Todd

I started slowly with my daughter at 2 by getting her the Playskool Star Wars figures, mini figure sets and then the Millenium Falcon. My hope was to get her interested in something Dad could bond with her on instead of playing My Little Pony, Care Bears & Princesses.

She still play with them at 3 1/2 and now plays with my Medicom Tron figures and light cycles which is hysterical. She also has a set of Batman female charachters, Elektra from marvel Legends and will very soon have a Scarlett figure from the GI Joe world.

It's nice to have something specical we as Dads can bond with the daughters on:)


Brian

This is the best thread I have ever read.

I too have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. I ended up buying her some Lenard figures and Lenard tank from WM. She can tell it isn't the same as my stuff (we are currently repainting and weathering her tank). She loves to play with my figures. I have a black hawk with custom made M-134 mini guns in the gunners windows. I was setting up the figures in the dining room and she wanted to help so I asked her to bring the figures from the living room to me. She brought all of the figures including one mini gun in two pieces. They are not supposed to come off. It took me several weeks to build the guns. I didn't get mad, a little CA glue and a repaint will fix it right up. Allot of my 1/32 stuff is missing MG's and antennas. I will ask her. "Did you break daddy's tank?" She will reply "yes" than show me what broke. How can I get mad at that?

I also have a large Star Wars collection. Not meaning to brag, but, I have about 100 un-opened figures still on cards, many more open. About 50 vehicles many never opened. I have little interest in Star Wars now that 21C & BBI have offered me something more tangible, with real history. So I decided instead of selling the whole SW collection I will give it to my daughter in a few years. I torture the neighbors grand kids. They come over to visit or play X-Box so one day I showed them the collection (three boys around 7-9 years old). They almost wet themselves, so many toys not even opened!

This is a great thread. I remember a while ago there was a thread on GP's board titled 'what does SHE think of it?' which was asking everyone to relate how their wives. girlfriends. signif. others etc viewed our hobby. That was a great thread too.

Mondaytanker: just as a heads up, in case you don't know, New Ray makes a pretty good little mini gun that is an accessory with a lot of their vehicles and figures. It's almost exactly 1/18, a hair big but is not bad at all. I've used a few of them so far...