My son Augustine recently celebrated his fourth birthday. Thanks to my bad influence, he’s an AvGeek by every stretch of the word. A small gift from my brother proved to delight him like nothing I’ve ever seen.
A Perfect Gift For The Young AvGeek
What could be more prefect than a young person who loves aviation than his own little airport to play with? My brother found a 24-piece set on Amazon that included two aircraft, nine vehicles, and several other items to that you would find at an airport.
I simply could not believe how excited Augustine was. He did not want to open any more presents or read any cards, nor did he want to eat. He only wanted to play with his new toy.
The pros: an educational toy in the sense that it teaches a child about the many components of air travel (beyond just the airplanes). It’s relatively compact and easy to clean up.
The cons: it’s a piece of junk and insulting to a more mature AvGeek. The 777 is larger than the 747! Plus, five pieces have already broken, including wheels off both aircraft.
So is it worth it at all? Well, my son is on the destructive side and the pieces that have broken have not taken away his immense enjoyment of his new toy. I’m sure the novelty will wear off on him eventually, but what I love most is eavesdropping on him as his imagination runs wild and he vocalizes his thoughts as he plays “make believe” with his new toy set.
You can buy it here (and support Live and Let’s Fly in doing so).
CONCLUSION
In my house, though, we don’t buy material gifts unless they are books or clothes. There is neither the space nor the need for junk. But kids love junk. I’ll share about my intangible aviation-related birthday gift to Augustine tomorrow.
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Happy birthday, Captain Augustine!
It looks like the perfect gift for AvGeeks of any age! 🙂 . I hope he has a blast with it.
Oh that takes me back. At that age, on a flight to or from India, I remember a crewmember giving me Swiss Air toy set that looked just like this one. Metal. i played with it for a LONG time. (One of the crew also played cards with me in the rear galley for hours while everyone else slept. Different times today!) Thanks for bringing me a memory smile.
Looks great. Just a bit of advice from a fellow 5 year-old AvGeek. We’ve gotten him many planes over the years including the very real metal replicas. After we had our second child who is now almost 2, those metal airplanes with sharp wings have become a real hazard in the hands of a hyper 5 year-old playing with his 1 year-old sister. So we’ve had to hide or throw out some of them when he forgets about them. Just something to watch out for if you ever have a second child. The toys of the older one become hazards for the younger one, so plan accordingly.
Great advice. Thanks Michael.
“The cons: it’s a pice of junk and insulting to a more mature AvGeek. The 777 is larger than the 747! Plus, five pieces have already broken, including wheels off both aircraft.” Let me guess where it was made?
777 bigger than a 747? Yes, explain that as a matter of perspective. See a photo where the thing close up appears bigger. The 747 would be in the background as most are parked during this pandemic.
I’m not sure AV-Geeks ever truly mature. The child-like pleasure is still evident , even in their dotage, as they examine new amenity kits, menus, seat features and maps, etc, etc, etc. I don’t think it’s a bad thing…
I had one of those sets when I was a child, strangely, as I am British, also United, but it was battleship grey then and both planes were 747s.
Interestingly though, and a minor detail but the 777-300 is actually 3 metres longer than the 747-400, the 747 is 3 metres wider though. A 777-200 is obviously not as long.
I don’t think accuracy is completely necessary. That it can (perhaps) provide hours of entertainment and be associated with what dad loves far outweighs the inaccurate details. There’s not one industry that Hollywood doesn’t manage to get wrong in a film or television program.
I can’t believe you didn’t get him a Märklin My World toy airport last time you were in Germany! German engineering and almost indestructible.
Well, there’s always Christmas! 😉
This is exactly the type of gift my dear father would have purchased. The junky nature of the plastic junk annoyed me but our son loved his planes, trucks and heavy equipment toys gifted by his Opa.
Matthew- another “Christmas” option would be a Fisher Price Airport, ver. 1970-72. I had this set as an av geek toddler. From the terminal to the plane to the luggage tug/cart and spiral luggage ramp, if was endless entertainment. A Google search will show you vintage seller options.
Will check it out! Thanks.
As an old av geek,,,,my kids grew up with those sets,,,pieces still in their old rooms!
How sweet!