HMS Alert destroyed

1

11320 Titanic

Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Messages
306
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103

Location
New England
I had finished the paper model of HMS Alert, proud of the build...enter the wife!
She fell in love with an all black kitty she named "Pepper". Pepper liked to chew on things. We were going to New Hampshire for a weekend, leaving my son home to watch the cat. He locked the cat in my computer room, which is where I had my USS Constitution and HMS Alert. That flipping cat chewed both up, knocked them on the floor, ate the paper anchors on the Alert, chewed off the bow sprit, wrecked the rigging and chewed up the hull.
Then he attacked my Constitution, same thing. He destroyed both models.
My son is still in one piece, so is my wife, we gave the cat away to a neighbor who has two children. The HMS Alert kit is now $145.00, so I won't be doing that one again.
I got a Revell 1:96 Connie that a neigbor had, who put the hull together, made a mess of the decks and decided he couldn"t build it, so he gave it to me.

Repairing what he had done so far, so far missing the rudder
 
You can stop cats eating things quite easily, all you need is a small pice of lead behind the ear!!!
You put it in with a,gun haha

( ONLY KIDDING ) BEFORE PEOPLE START MOANING !! :(
 
11320 Titanic said:
I had finished the paper model of HMS Alert, proud of the build...enter the wife!
She fell in love with an all black kitty she named "Pepper". Pepper liked to chew on things. We were going to New Hampshire for a weekend, leaving my son home to watch the cat. He locked the cat in my computer room, which is where I had my USS Constitution and HMS Alert. That flipping cat chewed both up, knocked them on the floor, ate the paper anchors on the Alert, chewed off the bow sprit, wrecked the rigging and chewed up the hull.
Then he attacked my Constitution, same thing. He destroyed both models.
My son is still in one piece, so is my wife, we gave the cat away to a neighbor who has two children. The HMS Alert kit is now $145.00, so I won't be doing that one again.
I got a Revell 1:96 Connie that a neigbor had, who put the hull together, made a mess of the decks and decided he couldn"t build it, so he gave it to me.

Repairing what he had done so far, so far missing the rudder
Click to expand...
Years ago my wife came across a handmade life size wooden carving of a eagle. It was at one of those fancy craft fairs in Maine on the seacoast. Well she fell in love with it and I bought it., to the tune of $400 dollars. She placed it on the mantle above the fireplace and it was quite elegant. A week later we came home to find the dog had somehow gotten up there, knocked the bird down and chewed of the beak... That dumb dog knew he did something wrong because he hid. from us like a little kid. I repaired the bird but it was a learning moment for both of us.
 
If you had kept Perrier, you would end up dousing your models with Habanero sauce!
 
I CAN JUST IMAGINE THE FEELING I HAVE HAD CATS SINCE I STARTED BUILDING I MEAN A LONG, LONG. LONG TIME AG I NOW HAVE A CAT NAMED MOSES A MOST AFECITNATE CAT YOU CAN IMAGINE SOMETIMES THOUGH HE WANTS TO GO TO WA5ROH, OH,OH HE IS HUGE 20 LBS. I LEARNED TO CAT PROTECT MY MODELS SIMPLE LOW COST I GET WOOD CRATES JO ANN FABRICS AND I COVER THE BUILDS WHEN NOT WORKING SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE I DO THAT NO MATER WHAT MY FRINISHED BUILDS ARE 0-PUT INTO AQUARIUMS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN CHEAP, EFFECTIVE, ATTRACTIVE THEY COST BETWEEN $10..- TO $75,00 DEPENDING ON SIZE THE SMALLER ONES ARE 20 GAL.. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE YOU AND YOURS DON
 
Horrible situation, but the reality is, you can't blame the cat. It's just being a cat... which means inquisitive, liking to play with things, which often includes chewing and biting. The real problem was your son's inability to think through the repercussions of his decisions. The cat merely took advantage of the opportunity it was presented with. You should have kept the cat and gave your son to the neighbours. :) Seriously though, I can understand how devastating it would be to have two completed models damaged to such a degree. I say that from personal experience, having given my mother one of my first completed wooden model ships. She liked to move from one apartment building to another... a lot... and she never really took much care in how the model was treated during the moves. I come home (I live many thousands of miles away from where I was born) and see that the model is for the most part, trashed. The hull was undamaged, but all the masts and rigging were garbage. It was heartbreaking. So I do feel and understand your anguish.
 
cats have an affinity with boxes, so will sit in them and if substantial, like fruit boxes, will chew them , also like to play with rigging
 
My experience is that cats like to play with strings (ship builders call it rigging). They’re not that particular, it’s just something to play with. So, if a model finishes nicely, I put it in an acrylic case. Dogs mostly chew, so put your finished models high enough that they can’t reach them. Animals follow their natural instincts, so you can’t blame them.

On a slightly different note, I’ve been building for years and display space is very difficult to come by. I shift models to maximize space, but that’s a continuing problem. It’s been suggested I either sell some of my models or give them away, but I like them…all. I don’t want to get rid of them!

What do the rest of you modelers do?
 
Funny and heart wrenching story. We have stories that hit us. Like my daughter taking a dory and using it in the bath. You have my heart felt condolences. Maybe buy the non laser kit and rebuild - I bet it will be a master piece + display case for dust. That, I not learnt the lesson for several models … now I do!
 
Way back when I finished one of my first plastic ship models (Revelle Bluenose) I had it on display…my sister’s cat got into it overnight and plucked off every rigging line and snapped off masts, etc. I was heartbroken…to this day I do not harbor pets. So, been there…got the teeshirt!
 
Pity the poor cats that have come to grief "doin' what comes naturally" when they encountered a ship model without a case.
 
When I was a young lad I had a battery powered robot which I loved to chase the cat with. One day when I was done playing with it I put it up on a very high table in the living room. Our cat seized his opportunity, jumped on to a chair and up unto the table where he proceeded to push the robot off and onto the floor breaking it. To this day I believe that cat had a smile on his face as I looked at the damaged machine.Redface
 
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