Canon Elephant

[CardboardCat]

Looks like a good start. I built one of the cats I see in the background but I dropped one of the ears and it fell into the twilight zone, so mine has only one ear. I call him uno. Looking forward to following your build.

[Amccombs3]

More progress on the Piranha-phant. All the parts on the second page, A3 - A12, are labeled "Nose." Tonight I got four parts together. A3 is the top, and A4 is the bottom, of the trunk at the end that attaches to the head (of the piranha). A5 and A6 are odd little crescent shaped pieces that form the sockets for the tusks. The glue tabs for these two parts were annoyingly inaccessible for spreading the glue, but I managed.

It's a difficult assembly to photograph; in person, the two sockets are vaguely reminiscent of the exhausts of a Phantom jet. So I guess tonight it's a Phantom-Piranha-Phant.

Vermin-King: That's a truly odd little fish. Does it live in your aquarium? It doesn't have tusks that are hidden in the picture, does it?

[Vermin_King]

No, I never had an elephant fish, but I know several people that used to have them.

[Amccombs3]

Tonight I built the trunk, pieces A7 - A12. Assembly was easy and straightforward until I tried to fit the trunk to the A-3/A-4 assembly. That didn't go too smoothly, as the buckled area near the right tusk socket shows. The left tusk socket area looks better, but I'm hoping that the insertion of the tusks themselves will help smooth out this area. Tusk construction will be next, and Fleetwood Mac strains are already floating through my inner ear.

[croden]

Looking good.

[Don Boose]

Looks good, Anne. I hope you can present it at the second annual Papermodeler's Presentation at USAHEC on 8 March and, if not then, at the Traditional Solemn Papermoders Banquest at the White Elephant on 17 May.

Don

[Amccombs3]

After a brief hiatus, I'm back. I've had plenty of quality modeling time today and made a lot of progress (the large size of the parts helps).

First I made the tusks. As I hoped, the tusks caused the wrinkles in the tusk sockets to smooth out (whew!). The neck went onto the head next. Then I set the head aside, and built the forward part of the body. The first section was built of four parts, and the second section had three, including the belly. Most of these parts have narrow little darts to create slight curvature.

Canon models put the trademarks, etc. on the underside -- the belly, in this case. I was greatly amused to see that they had copied verbatim the warning label from the Chinese Phoenix, which reads "CAUTION: Don not peck at people with the beak. Doing so could result in injury. Adults, make sure children follow this caution." There is also a tiny icon of a chicken-head pecking a wincing face, with a red slash-circle over the icon. Um, what?!?

Once I had three big assemblies (head and two body sections), I joined them together.

Airdave, out of consideration for your tender sensibilities, I finally remembered (halfway through the session) to remove the background cats. Unfortunately, the picture-uploading feature is broken right now, so no pictures unless I can try again some time.

Don, I do indeed hope and expect that the Elephant will be presented at the White Elephant banquet!

The rest of the body and the ears are the next assemblies.

[airdave]

Unfortunately, the picture-uploading feature is broken right now, so no pictures unless I can try again some time.

I'll bet those cats did it.
They're evil you know.

[airdave]

Ann...musicman posted a Thanksgiving thread here:
Paper Modelers Thanksgiving

Check it out and you will see what I posted!

and he (musicman) has asked me where I acquired that model.
Since I don't know the original source, can you tell him?

Thanks.

[Amccombs3]

Later -- a little more progress on the elephant. In my time with this hobby, I don't believe I have ever before cut out a piece marked "left buttock." That was the entire content on page 8. I might have the entire body complete before I go to bed tonight. It'll be "quadruple-amputee (and tailless) elephant" but that still means I won't have much further to go.

P.S. Airdave you are right about the cats, they do not belong in a hobby room!

P.P.S. I'll hunt down the roasted chicken -- strike that, I mean Phoenix --model for Musicman -- shouldn't take too long.

P.P.P.S. Found it. For a belated American Thanksgiving, we could all pretend it's a turkey:

http://www.wombat.zaq.ne.jp/fare/chicken.html

Anne