Questions for those with a JSI Spot cat

[sdcc73]

I need to know,

1. Will the pieces detach easily? Or are the pieces, like the tail fins, too breakable? I'd like to know because space might be an issue and I want to see if I can put it all back in its box.

2. Due to the many qc issues what do you guys do to take care of this notorious piece?

3. Unlike the ceiling did anyone hung this on the wall? If so what is the safest way?

[gliderdwm]

The pieces detach very easily except for the fusealge section which requires knowledge of where it is joined and how. I have the Skyworks gear on mine that is displayed otherwise I would not recommend leaving it on the gear for long periods. I have 3 now as I have the black knights version and I did repaint of the spotcat and bought another from board member that is TKO repaint. I am going to repaint one Miss Molly.

[Black_Dragon_One]

some were on the board it show u how to use a butter knife to separate the nose from the body.. that is the hardest part,,

[tmanthegreat]

1) I agree with what the other members are saying, most pieces detach easily, with the exception of the fuselage (cockpit) piece from the main airframe. I'm personally not sure how to seperate that part effectively...

2) I got lucky and mine (which I picked up in person from a local hobby shop) had no serious QC issues, other than the spots. To fix the spots, I airbrushed Testors Acrylic Flat Gull Gray, which was a near-perfect match to the gray JSI used. I didn't completely cover over the spots, just really obscured them more with the paint. It came out giving the plane a bit of a worn, weathered look, which I think is what JSI may have been going for with the spots...

About the first 8 months I had the plane, I displayed it on a table on its gear. Never had any sagging, bending, or snapping. I did have a very minor problem keeping the main gear push rods supported in the proper position. The little clip broke on one of mine, but I can fix that with some wire. It doesn't affect the ability of the main gear to hold up the plane. Nevertheless, since early 2010, I've had my plane on permanent hanging display. That keeps it off its gears, frees up additional display space, and so far the 50lb test line supporting the plane has held up. Its a two-man job to take it down, though!

3) There are a variety of ways you could potentially hang this on a wall. You could create a very secure anchor and use fishing line to hold the plane, either on its gear or gear-up. I've seen other members use things like bike hooks or industrial strength wall supports to hold up 1:18 planes, but those were all with smaller aircraft than the F-14.

[pizzaguy]

I did a wall mount for a board member sometime back that hooked into the wheel wells. He wanted a wheels down configuration.

[tmanthegreat]

The hanging display looks great, but one really needs a big wall!

On another note, I forgot how bad that plane looked in its spotted condition! No wonder people were yelling around here Looks like it has some sort of disease or something. Guess I really did do a decent job repainting mine a couple years ago:

[snake]

My eyes!

That is truly horrendous, and can't imagine how that passed QC inspection.

[NWarty]

Oh those were fun times in 2009...

I said "to hell with it" and repainted my entire SpotCat.

Before:


After:

[JOC]

Again guys, to get past the "gear down" issue, PizzaGuy has a fantastic stand to take care of the problem. I have my bird on the short stand, and gear is down BUT, the stand takes the weight off the gear and is almost unoticable. He also has the high stand too, best of both worlds. Give him a holler.
JOC