The Seagull and the Cat *** Finished ***

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Martin R
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by Martin R »

It looks very colourful, John. Nice job.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

All that happened today was to get some red on the cowling, probably need one more coat tomorrow then see how it looks.
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Cowling looks good, actually "matches".
Prop tips painted (decals failed miserably).
Exhausts mounted & painted (they are little stubs, you'll never see them, but I get to score two more parts added).

Need to paint the canopy frames.
Need to semi-gloss the whole thing.
Need to rig it.
Need to put seat back in and canopy on.
Need to mount aircraft to cradle, and cradle to cat', and run a cable.
Then make the whole thing stand on its own ...

Should be done Sunday easily (he says, scoffing at the modeling gods ...)
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by Martin R »

jRatz wrote:Cowling looks good, actually "matches".
Prop tips painted (decals failed miserably).
Exhausts mounted & painted (they are little stubs, you'll never see them, but I get to score two more parts added).

Need to paint the canopy frames.
Need to semi-gloss the whole thing.
Need to rig it.
Need to put seat back in and canopy on.
Need to mount aircraft to cradle, and cradle to cat', and run a cable.
Then make the whole thing stand on its own ...

Should be done Sunday easily (he says, scoffing at the modeling gods ...)
John,

Great job on this. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished and mounted on the catapult; I think it's going to be a real attention grabber.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Getting thumb out shortly ....
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Well, progress is ...

Need to paint the canopy frames -- done, if not well.
Need to semi-gloss the whole thing -- done, but it caused problems on the V-stripe on the top wing.
Need to rig it -- done, but minimally and could have been a bit tighter.
Need to put seat back in and canopy on - done.

Still working:
Need to mount aircraft to cradle, and cradle to cat', and run a cable. Then make the whole thing stand on its own ...

I have a "little problem" in that, as I suspected, the aircraft is a tailsitter on the cradle and the aircraft/cradle makes the catapult a tailsitter. I am going to have to make one of my Lego jigs to hold it all in place then hope the glue holds; not a lot of surface area. I expect it to be very tipsy and fragile; I may need a base under the catapult.
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Woke up this morning, with a cunning plan.

Drill a hole in the float, cradle, catapult - all neatly aligned - and shove a short clear acrylic rod in to stabilize the aircraft-catapult join and support it underneath to stop tail-sitting ....

Off we go ....
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

So much for Cunning Plan A, shown below ...

Image

I had some stability issues and never could get things locked down.

Cunning Plan B involves mounting the cat onto a base to provide stability for it .... then covering the Seagull in a tarp and telling you all is OK .... more tomorrow ....
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

And, if you ignore certain leveling and alignment issues, Cunning Plan B seems to be working. I'll know if it holds together in a couple hours.

Image

You can see the cat' is now mounted on a "deck", that reduced motion in a half-dozen dimensions and left the final puzzle to tweaking the aircraft on a stick to make it look semi-neat .... After a check to see if it will hold together and any need for more glue, I'll have to do some paint patching on the cat ....

Basically done, other than getting it ready for final glamor shot, which, as you may guess, will be artfully posed to avoid certain angles ...

Later ...
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

And done, under the wire (so to speak) ....

Image

Image

Image

The Hasegawa kit is good, except sparing on cockpit detail. The Starfighter update set is OK. I had some issues with the Yellow Wings decals not wanting to stay put. The White Ensign catapult is not great - mostly flat photo-etch and some conflicting assembly diagrams.

But in the end my own modeling was an issue and I didn't have/take the time to verify alignment of parts on the airplane and the catapult and between the two. I also had a finish problem and short-cut the rigging. My camera angles are well-chosen.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the GB and the challenges and want to thank everyone for their support and Martin for running it.

Does anyone know of RN catapult kits, tween-wars ?
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat *** Finished ***

Post by TobyC »

That looks lovely. Great idea to put it on a catapult.
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Martin R
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat *** Finished ***

Post by Martin R »

That'll draw some attention in the cabinet - and rightly so. Nicely done, John.
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Re: The Seagull and the Cat *** Finished ***

Post by Purplethistle »

That is superb, sir, I salute you!
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