Judd received his very first K'NEX 15 Model Building Set from one of his friends on his 5th birthday. Judd was a builder ever since he was able to pick up wooden blocks. He loved to create buildings, cities, ships, vehicles, machines – you name it!
When he started working with the 15 model K'NEX set, he zipped through the instruction booklet and built everything in it. After that, he was fascinated with the K'NEX rods and connectors and with how they could help him create his wonderful works of art. He worked with the pieces most all of the time,
building his own contraptions and creations.
It wasn't long before that 15 model set became a big tub of miscellaneous K'NEX pieces. Judd was able to create larger and more elaborate ships, buildings, vehicles, etc.
We could see that his creative abilities were just amazing.
Judd's younger brother Wesley watched him play and have loads of fun with the K'NEX toys. Wesley wanted to do what Judd was doing, but was too little to work with the K'NEX rods and connectors. We found Kid K'NEX in the store and Wesley had fun making alien
creatures, flowers, and anything else he could think of.
We learned about the K'NEX contest when we were searching the K'NEX website for information on different sets. Judd seemed to be inspired by the past K'NEXperts as we viewed their incredible creations. He was very eager to participate and build something for the contest and began entering in 2007.
His interests steered to roller-coasters and he even studied the physics behind the thrilling rides. He built countless roller-coaster models, big and small, and made "The Twisting Tower of Terror" in the 2009 K'NEXpert Search. He made semi-finalist and was overjoyed to receive such an honour.
His biggest delight was to be able to go and visit the K'NEX factory to see where and how they made his favourite toy.
As Wesley got a little older, he was able to build with the regular K'NEX pieces with his brother Judd. Thanks to Judd's patience and good teaching skills, Wesley was able to learn to build vehicles, space ships, and eventually roller-coasters.
Wesley entered his "Star Tracker 3000" in the 2010 K'NEXpert Search and won finalist. In 2011, he won Grand Prize for his roller coaster entry: "The Amazing Turbo Twist". Wesley was also very excited about the trip to the factory and both Judd and Wesley
were fortunate to accumulate so much more K'NEX pieces from their prizes.
Several years have gone by with K'NEX sets being given at birthdays, Christmas, and even purchased with some saved spending money. With the additional prizes that Judd and Wesley have won over the years, we have a basement FULL of K'NEX. The once 15 Model Building Set is now somewhere
in amongst tens of thousands of other pieces.
Judd's interests are now centered on electronics, but he still manages to find his way back to K'NEX. For his Grade 6 Science Fair project, he built a robot called S.O.A.L.A.R. (Sound Obstacle Avoidance Light Activated Robot) and won 2nd place!
The chassis of the robot was made out of K'NEX and it gave S.O.A.L.A.R. loads of character while being able to support his electronic components. He even made his obstacle course out of K'NEX and built a K'NEX archway to make his robot presentation attractive.
Judd continues to build robots with different designs and often uses his K'NEX pieces to help him along the way. His love of roller-coasters is still very much alive, and both Judd and Wesley choose K'NEX as a fun way to spend their time, building countless creative creations.
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Parents
