Dave,
My oldest son was the same way with his 69 Chevy truck. I couldn't get him to do squat on it until it was almost done and he could start to visualize the finished product. My youngest son has been much better about helping on his car.

I've got a paint question; We're going to paint my son's 94 Firebird and I'm wondering how to address the plastic nosepiece. There's a lot of cracking in the paint on this part. How do I prep this to paint it so that doesn't come back? Is there any special way to sand these plastic pieces so as not to mess them up? Anything you have to add to the primer and paint for flexing?