Kitten Proofing

Yeah build a display case with 4 sides and a door to keep the kitten out. LOL! Kittens and cats are curious and will knock over a kit or two or three, or more no matter what.

I once found paw prints on the deck of my  1/350 Enterpise.I don't know how she did it without destroying it.Only way is to put them behind glass, the builds that is.

Nothing that wouldn't involve extreme prejudice towards the cat.....

When my last son went off to college, I took over his room and made it my hobby room. We also remodeled the back porch into a closed in one. The connection is that I took the screen door from the porch, repaired it, repainted it and put it on the hobby room in place of the solid one. I can hear what's going on in the house and our 2 cats (down from 4) can't and haven't been in that room for 16 years. They sit in the hall and watch me work though. Some people we know liked the idea so much that they put screen doors on their kids rooms.

If that's not an option, try putting some folding doors around your work area.

Hope this helps.

Jim 

Cats are bad, m'kay.

They will destroy everything you hold dear....and suck out your soul while you sleep.

Cats are not all bad. I own a cat, a dog and a fish tank. At least mine don't bother with a Mustang kit I have sitting on my end table. LOL!

Train them don't blame them.  Hang your work if not a car or big rig. But most of all teach the kitty. Pick her up and show her that this bench ,table or surface is off limits. Testors glue on a napkin if she gets a wiff of that they usually stay off. I've seen dogs do a good bit of damage in their own right. Own a dog smaller than the cat..LOL

I don't think it's possible to cat-proof a room. The best solution to cat trouble in your modeling room is to keep the door shut.

My problem at the moment is that my cat Hepzibah likes to pester me while I'm working at the computer. Sometimes she gets really enthusiastic and starts walking dqyuopbdzx3(9$?!34 on the keys.

A temporary fix might be plastic storage boxes until you can do something permanent.

Just this morning, it was evident that the kitten was browsing my working area last night.  But I've only had them (we have three cats) completely destroy two models in the last twenty years.

We have a craft room in an outbuilding, so cats aren't an issue out there. But in the house, about your only options are a closed door or a display case, as others have mentioned. I found a case at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for a hundred bucks, and although it had a few broken glass shelves, I was able to replace them for about thirty dollars. It even has a light in it, and my completed models finally have a safe home.

My cat once laid waste to a Harrier model that I had hanging from the flippin' ceiling.  It was swaying gently in the breeze and caught her attention.  I watched to whole thing.  I figured seven feet off the ground was as safe as could be.  Silly me.....

Caveman - swaying Harrier looks like a bird in the feline's eye. Yep silly you they can jump pretty high. LOL!

Anyone hear the story about some guy's cat getting the wrong end of a B-36 model crashing from the ceiling in the middle of the night?

No. Enlighten me mississipivol. LOL!

Drop a full load of MK82 snakes on the poor thing??  Or maybe a later version of "Fat Man"?

I don't know how old your cat is but we got ours at about 6 months old. Eventually she discovered my modeling table and would jump up from time to time to explore. When I shouted NO to her she would jump down in a hurry. That took a little time but not too long. She's only ever damaged one model under construction. We've had her now for 11 years and she knows that the modeling table is off limits. She's still allowed on the computer table and hangs out there with me most every day.

My best advice to you is:

1. Be consistent with you cat when you see them doing wrong.

2. Never use physical violence against them. Cats don't forget and will hold it against you.

3. Let them be cats. They are very inquisitive and will always poke their noses into places that they shouldn't be. They're also programmed to kill and will practice their stalking and hunting techniques whenever they can and on whatever they can.

4. And if you can't deal with #3, you shouldn't have a cat.

Good luck and if you do end up giving the cat away, please give it to a non-kill shelter.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I put a cat post in my work room for my boys and they would come down and watch me work for hours.

but they where a bit older and not as curious as kittens. Good luck brother.

Thanks for all the advice guys!  The kitten tried jumping up onto the workbench a little while ago, but a combination of yelling "NO" and the smells of everything on the bench has kept her off.  We've also noticed while training her to stay off of the counter if we put something that made it look like there wasn't enough room for her to be up there she wouldn't (generally) go up there.  I've kept my models in another room with the door and watching to see if she jumped on my display shelves, but so far she's left them alone.  I moved them back to the shelves today and so far no problems.  I haven't had problems with cats getting up there in the past, but they were full grown when I got back into the hobby.  Thanks again everyone and have a great Thanksgiving!

Oh !

      It is possible to avoid those problems though  .Acrylic three sided shelf covers and that is it.                    Remember you NEVER own a cat . You are their human , for better  or worse .

Silentbob33 I've noticed the same thing about them not jumping on a table that looks too crowded for them. At least my cat won't. But about the shelves you're setting your finished models on, on say you have a door on that room. My advice would be to close it. If you let them in there they will find a way to get on the shelves. My cat has only very knocked over something when she was surprised. Normally she just walks around everything very carefully. But my cat is 11 years old now which makes a big difference.

Odd that this should come up just now.

I was photographing some work on a Stuka for the GB, and noticed someone had inserted herself into the photo.  Her name is Tali, and she belongs to my daughters.

Usually I keep her cleared out of the work area, but since there wasn't much she could hurt, I indulged her curiosity for a while.

Don't know if she approved of the goings-on or not.

It didn't take her too long to lose interest and turn her attention to other matters.  Like stealing the bottle caps I use for mixing paint and decanting superglue, getting her feet stuck on masking tape, drinking from decal water and running off with q-tips.

Truth be told, you will NEVER keep the cats off your model shelves if you don't enclose them in something like glass or plexiglass. Cats are mobile destruction machines, worse than toddlers!

That cat's a pretty girl!