17 ms·
A Kid Spent 9 Years Building a Detailed Paper Model of a Boeing Jet (2017)
- cstrat 8y agoThis is so random! I can't imagine the amount of patience and focus this guy has.
- Myrth 8y agoOr maybe Boeing reputation management op No one ever checks those stories
- woodrowbarlow 8y agoi saw this video a couple years ago which shows it still in-progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg_jpZsLf4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg_jpZsLf4s (2014)
- crikli 8y agoDon’t miss his Flickr, particularly the landing gear. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucaiaconistewart/albums/72157639452020185 https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucaiaconistewart/albums/72157... That degree of focus is extraordinary. I think of myself as meticulous and detailed but this is several levels beyond.
- freetime2 8y agoIn those landing gear photos you can also see a bunch of insulin vials lined up in the background. So he did all of this while managing T1 diabetes as a kid / teenager. Very impressive.
- dickeytk 8y agoSince when is a 25-year-old a "kid"?
- jvolkman 8y agoHe's been working on it for 9 years. Do you consider a 16 year old a kid?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoNo. A 16 year old is at best, a teenager. Sometimes they can be viewed as young adults. A kid is, generally, younger than 13, though a 13 year old can sometimes be called a "kid". An 8-10 year old fits squarely in the "kid" bracket.
- jvolkman 8y agoWhere are you getting your definition? Merriam-Webster defines it as "a young person" and even gives "kids in high school" as an example usage. Wikipedia includes "young adult" in its definition which includes people from late teens through their twenties (again, according to Wikipedia).
- lupire 8y agoCalling teens "kids" is part of the cultural problem in modern society. We expect too little of teens, and infantilize and demean them, instead respecting their talent and accountability.
- ggambetta 8y agoHe was 16 years old 9 years ago when he started, so I'd say it counts.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- RobertRoberts 8y agoI like his encouraging statement in the video. Often when we see amazing things we don't think we can accomplish something similar. "I was not born with these skills, I developed them over time. And the original model was actually pretty crude. And I've really learned a lot over the past number of years, and that's how I've gotten to where I am at now."
- baroffoos 8y agoA similar quote I heard "You can do anything, you just can't do everything". I could have built that model plane for sure. The amazing part that's worth giving credit for is that someone did sit down and dedicate all that time to actually doing it
- coldtea 8y agoRelated ("You can do anything"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlD9JYP8u5E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlD9JYP8u5E
- pjc50 8y agoIn some ways this is the most difficult thing. By doing X you're inevitably giving up doing all the possible not-X things you could have been doing. The Internet makes this worse by showing you more choices which you're giving up.
- balabaster 8y agoOpportunity cost is huge... and the internet definitely compounds the feelings about that. I think the key is to find things that cause you not to care about the opportunity cost of everything you're missing because you're doing the thing you most want to do. Right now I'm at a point in my life where I'm seriously considering shunning all media, not just social media, but media altogether. The constant nagging reminder of the opportunity cost of things I'm missing because the choices I make pander to responsibility instead of fun and happiness while all those around me sink themselves into debt having fun is depressing. I have nobody to blame but myself of course, but the media constantly showing you what you're missing out on definitely doesn't help.
- johnnylambada 8y agoBoeing should give this guy a ride on a 777 - or a job! They need all the good publicity they can get right now.
- chrisseaton 8y agoI'm sure he's flown on a plane before - he's a fully grown man.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- sangnoir 8y agoParent didn't mean any plane - the 777 as he clearly loves that specific model from how he describes it.
- JustSomeNobody 8y agoHe actually got to fly on the plane he is modeling. Wired has a good video of him on YouTube.
- wowxp 8y agoI hope that it's not Boeing 737 Max..
- jamisteven 8y agoI dont understand the praise for someone building model airplanes, is there some secret moral superiority about kids who build model planes from scratch versus kids building lego boats from kits or.
- ricardobeat 8y agoUsually ‘building model airplanes’ involves buying ready-made, moulded plastic parts and kits, mounting and painting. This guy studied the plane and designed the whole thing from the ground up using paper only, made the mechanical parts functional and accurate. Entirely different story.
- jamisteven 8y agoYes, and for what reason, and what result? Perplexed why someone would spend this amount of time on such a thing. To each their own I suppose.
- pauletienney 8y ago> for what reason the pleasure > what result? a wonderful piece of work, self accomplishment, vast sum of knowledge in both airplanes and "sculpture", find any job in modeling with a snap and headline on HN :)
- scarface74 8y agoDon’t you think it would also amaze people that some well paid software developers would spend their free time working on open source software that is given away free?
- frankbreetz 8y agoThis guy put in an insane amount of research and work to do this. I don't think there is a "secret moral superiority", but this takes a lot of dedication and focus which few people on this planet could achieve. I find this to be a very interesting project. Anyone can build lego bosts from kits and it only takes about an hour, so no one cares when you do it.
- ricardobeat 8y agoThis “kid” is 25 years old, studied architecture and works as an artist. The work is amazing on its own, no need for clickbait.
- dominicr 8y agoKinda right, it sounds like most of the work has been after his "kid" years but if he's been working on it for 9 years then he was 16 when he started.
- deytempo 8y agoI can never figure out why people care more that a kid made something.
- nickelcitymario 8y agoReally? "Group of children place toddler on the moon" wouldn't be more surprising than "Thousands of highly trained grown-ass engineers put man on the moon"? We care more because we EXPECT impressive things to be accomplished by adults. We expect kids to be morons, because when we were kids, we were morons.
- izzydata 8y agoWhat slightly irks me is when some "kid" makes the news about something they did, but in reality it was basically their parents guiding them the entire time. Pretty much how some kid shows up to a science fare and wins despite their parents doing most of the work. Not the case here, but that is usually what I expect when I see a kid making something news worthy.
- deytempo 8y agoI tend to care more about what is being accomplished and could give a rip who is accomplishing it.
- balabaster 8y agoDo you have kids? I can't get mine to sit still and focus long enough to learn the basics of playing the piano. The basics. And this is something they pester me to teach them on a weekly basis! Anyone who has a normal kid would understand why people care more that a kid made something - especially something of such amazing detail. My kids are happy, that's really everything that I hope for, but someone who puts this level of focus and effort into their work is not what very many people with kids would consider normal.
- barking 8y agoIf he wanted to cash in on this, I wonder how much he'd get for it? To my eyes at least it's worth far more than any of the modern art "installations" that sometimes sell for millions.
- matt_morgan 8y agoThings are worth millions when there's an actual buyer who'll pay millions, and that has a lot to do with things other than than the artwork per se. I could see it ending up in a museum collection, but probably not MoMA e.g., unless he gets famous. Art collectors won't buy it unless he has a body of work that other people can buy, too. Until then he's looking at aviation/industrial model collectors and those values are way lower. EDIT: which is perverse, yes, and I agree with the sentiments in your comment!
- moftz 8y agoGE is hosting the article so maybe they bought it off him
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoWith art, everything is a crapshoot. The famous artists of the 20th century? Creativity and work meant less than who was in one's network. It is basically the same today. This man is lucky enough to have some press, so if he ever decides to sell it he could probably get a decent price. It probably won't sell for more than art installations without him having displayed it unless he has contacts in industry. He might find himself a niche buyer, though: Boeing, for example, or a number of aircraft hobbyists. Obviously, the company will probably pay more. Hobbyists aren't as likely to have "big money", like so many ordinary art buyers. This may very well limit his income from such things.
- mark-r 8y agoI found it interesting that this was hosted on a GE web site. Obviously they were impressed with the detail he put into the engines.
- justanegg 8y agodoes it crash?
- anonu 8y agoThis is pretty cool. Wonder what his techniques are: How does he get the paper fitted and molded the way he wants?
- crispyambulance 8y agoIt is remarkable work, regardless of how you define "kid" or "adult". What I find interesting is that it really is made entirely of file folder cardstock. Most model makers would have chosen foamcore or sculptable foam. But here, even the hinged parts and wheels are made of paper.
- syntaxing 8y agoI wasn't expecting much when I first clicked until I saw the landing gear and the engine part moving. Seriously impressive how there are joints and hinges in his design!
- linsomniac 8y agoI'd be especially impressed if it exhibited anti-stall+trim related nose dive. :-)
- dotancohen 8y agoThis is a 777, not a 737-MAX. You want burning batteries I believe. Or a disappearance. Or a SAM.
- pbourke 8y agoThe batteries thing was the 787, wasn’t it? At least I recall the ANA 787 fleet was grounded for a battery issue shortly after revenue service began.
- soul_grafitti 8y agoI wonder how he got access to the plans that have this level of detail?