Author Topic: Simon's Cat(alina)  (Read 12170 times)

Offline tankmodeler

  • Wisely picking parts of the real universe 2 ignore
Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #25 on: August 15, 2019, 11:54:36 PM »
Be careful with the landing gear now that you have a substantial amount of weight in the fuselage. It's quite likely that it will droop and/or split with time given the brittle plastic of the kit and the fairly humongous amount of weight you have in the old girl.

You may still need a support, but now under the main hull to support the weights.

Just a head's up.

Paul

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #26 on: August 16, 2019, 01:58:53 AM »
Yea, good point tankmodeler, the main undercarriage  legs are very spindly  and the baulk of the weight is quite far back.

In retrospect maybe I should have faired over the front turret, then I could stuff all the weight right at the front.  :-\

May need a piece of clear sprue between the wheels  just to bolster it up.  Or I could lash out on some white metal afterparts but they are expensive ::)

Time will tell.........

Thanks for the heads up

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline kitnut617

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« Last Edit: August 16, 2019, 03:53:57 AM by kitnut617 »

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #28 on: August 16, 2019, 04:38:24 AM »
Thanks kitnut, will definitely keep it in mind if the kit undercarriage cant take it !

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #29 on: August 16, 2019, 08:07:45 AM »
Bloody Hell! Mr Wolf put in some flipping effort, didn't he! :icon_surprised: :icon_surprised: :icon_alabanza: :icon_alabanza:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
  • Would you buy a used kit from this man?
Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #30 on: August 16, 2019, 09:41:40 AM »
Bloody Hell! Mr Wolf put in some flipping effort, didn't he! :icon_surprised: :icon_surprised: :icon_alabanza: :icon_alabanza:

My point exactly,. The bigger scales give much more scope for detailing but that was above and beyond in my opinion and it's all scratch no afterparts at all, I am in awe. :icon_alabanza: :icon_alabanza: :smiley: :-* :-*

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #31 on: August 16, 2019, 11:48:15 AM »
Bloody Hell! Mr Wolf put in some flipping effort, didn't he! :icon_surprised: :icon_surprised: :icon_alabanza: :icon_alabanza:

My point exactly,. The bigger scales give much more scope for detailing but that was above and beyond in my opinion and it's all scratch no afterparts at all, I am in awe. :icon_alabanza: :icon_alabanza: :smiley: :-* :-*

Mog
>^-.-^<

As long as he's happy (& doesn't flame anyone who puts in less effort), that's what matters! I, too, am in awe.
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #32 on: September 07, 2019, 03:34:00 PM »
Hi all

Just a small update, the deadline approaches and I'm not sure  if I will finish in time.

The bulk of the painting is done and the decals are ready, but there us still a lot of fiddelies to do like transparencies and the under carriage. The only saving grace with this one is I don't have to put the wings on till almost the very last.

Here's a sneaky peek of progress so far

by Robomog, on Flickr

More when it  happens

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #33 on: September 07, 2019, 05:49:52 PM »
It's looking very good! 8)
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #34 on: September 09, 2019, 02:04:13 AM »
"Small update" must be the understatement of the year, Mog!

Those colors are excellent, especially for a sea plane. In that combination, they've got an almost hypnotic quality.

It's great to see this one coming along and you've already got me looking forward to your next post.

Brian da Basher


Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
  • Would you buy a used kit from this man?
Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #35 on: September 09, 2019, 05:56:14 AM »
Thanks guys,

On the home stretch now, the decals are on and  need a couple of coats of Alt Klear to seal them in. Transparencies next, then final assembly, also probably need another four coats of b!©©Dy dayglo orange on the floats to get rid of the streaks !

Will also find out if the kit undercarriage will take the nose weight - scary

Next post will be the finished model

Thanks for looking.......

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #36 on: September 09, 2019, 09:11:05 AM »
Good luck, 'Mog! Hope you get her finished in time. :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
  • Would you buy a used kit from this man?
Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #37 on: September 14, 2019, 09:23:10 PM »
Hi all

Well, finished at last, I have never gone this close to a deadline before, I think its the knock on effect of the overlapping group builds not that I'm complaining its just that the first three were those that I suggested/subscribed to and each has had a knock on effect on the next.

So despite being so close to finishing this kit still threw me some curved balls, starting with the transparencies. The replacement canopies I purchased were intended for the Academy kit which I can only surmise is a more accurate kit than the old Airfix one I have here as the only piece that would fit was the front turret, the two rear gun pods needed some serious surgery to fit and the man canopy was so far out that I had to use the original kit canopy.

And then I had the good news/bad news situation.

Good news :- the kit undercarriage took the weight of all the steel and lead  I had stuffed in the nose.

Bad News:- It wasn't Enough !  The model flopped gracefully back on its tail  aaaaargh!

A quick rebalancing showed I needed to add another 15 grams, But Where ?

Biting the bullet I stuffed 10 grams into the front wheel well, its plainly viable if you look but I've disguised it a bit with some grey paint. To get the remaining weights into the aircraft I removed the front turret and packed the remaining  5 grams in around the front viewing seat then chucked in another 2 grams for safety.

Et Viola it sits prettily on all three wheels.

And onto the photos, it was a nice day here so I decided to photograph the Catalina outside, however I think it my have caused a bit to much dazzle from the white surfaces. If time permits I will try some Studio shots as well.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

Most of the Simons Cat graphics were found on the interwebs except the surfing Simons Cat.  This one I had to search for in some Simons Cat Cartoon books I had to find one with the right pose, this was then scanned and loaded into Serif DrawPlus. From here I could trace around the original to convert it to vector format which would allow me to edit the object to create a better pose and make life easier when creating the surfboard. I'm quite pleased with the results.

I have deliberately put him low on the hull so that while the aircraft is taxiing it looks like he is surfing the waves.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

I included Simons Cat in a Hat as it had a holiday feel to it, you can also see why I got a bit paranoid about internal detail, those canopies are Very clear......

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

A very tentative nod to the Flying Tigers on the tail...…..

by Robomog, on Flickr

and I really couldn't resist the cats paw walkway markings.....

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

and lastly an underneath shot, you can clearly see the weights jemmied into the front wheel bay.

All the serial numbers are bogus.

In retrospect I should have faired over the nose turret so that I could stuff all the nose weights right at the front, ah the beauties of 20:20 hindsight

A big shout out to Mrs Lady Mog on this one who gave me as much time as I needed to finish on time, and to Simon Tofield for inventing Simons Cat, I hope he doesn't mind me high jacking some of his artwork.

And to everyone else all Comments and criticisms  gratefully accepted

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 01:16:37 AM by Robomog »
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #38 on: September 14, 2019, 10:11:10 PM »
Wow you made some incredible saves and came up with an incredible Cat, Mog!

The "cat walks"  and custom decals are the cherry on top!

I don't know how you do it, but you seem to top yourself with each new build.

Amazing and most delightful!

Brian da Basher

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #39 on: September 15, 2019, 12:45:33 AM »
Beautiful!!  I absolutely love those markings and the walkways are inspired!

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #40 on: September 15, 2019, 02:14:54 AM »
Outstanding work. :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #41 on: September 15, 2019, 09:00:47 AM »
Great looking plane! You should send Simon a picture of this build!

Offline finsrin

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #42 on: September 15, 2019, 05:56:04 PM »
Put yourself and skills into build big time.  More detail, more life than Airfix could foresee.  One cool Catalina  8)

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #43 on: September 15, 2019, 09:36:42 PM »
 :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #44 on: September 15, 2019, 10:42:37 PM »
Thanks for the kind comments guys, much appreciated.


Frank3k - I might just do that for a giggle

Finsrin -  Mrs Lady Mog has often accused me of being "unnaturally happy"  perhaps its beginning to rub off on my kit building !

I had a lot of fun on this build and it came out better than I had envisaged so all your positive feedback is the cherry on the cake, I will probably take a backseat on the group builds for a while as I have burnt out a bit and I have some pressing real world problems to sort out.

But rest assured I will be back ...........

Thanks again

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #45 on: September 16, 2019, 01:24:43 AM »
 You will be missed - but I hope everything sorts itself out as well as this beautiful build did!
 I've liked the Simon's Cat series ever since I first saw it, and this is a wonderful take. ( To say nothing of
 a wonderful pun. )

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: Simon's Cat(alina)
« Reply #46 on: September 16, 2019, 05:28:53 AM »
That is very kind Dr Yokai thank you. I'm sure I won't be away Long, just recharging the mental batteries.

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............