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Aquila200 — Felix 100 F-14D Tomcat Sculpture - Details
#f14 #f14tomcat #f14d #f14dtomcat
Published: 2018-12-21 14:36:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 110; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
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Description
Pottery sculpture of an F-14D Tomcat, Felix 100 of the VF-31 Tomcatters. Felix 100 is VF-31’s “CAG Bird”.
Other image of this sculpture: www.deviantart.com/disco747/ar…
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Comments: 36
The jet is about 15 inches or so (about 1.3 feet) long; I'm not sure what that would be in the scales used for model aircraft. I personally think that the insignias on the tails, and the lettering throughout, are some of the most intricate paintwork I've ever done.
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Zoiks - that's a lot bigger than I thought! Either 1/72 or 1/48, the Franklin Mint Tomkitties I used to have were that size.
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You're right; my sculpture certainly is pretty big. I find model aircraft scales difficult to get my head round, in that I'm never sure how to convert them to either inches or centimetres, and I also have a hard time remembering which scales are larger, and which are smaller.
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It seems counterintuitive, but the bigger the number in a scale, the smaller the figure is.
For example, the 1:10 scale C-17 is bigger than a person, but a 1:400 scale C-17 is a li'l fatty who comfortably sits in my palm (about 5 inches by 5 inches).
Gauge size is another one. A 12 ga hypodermic needle is a weapon, but a 26 ga needle is like a fine hair.
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Thanks for the clarification! I went looking online, and I fond this photo:
www.skymasterjets.net/image12/…
of a 1:7.5 scale RC F-14 Tomcat, which looks huge; I wouldn't be surprised if a 1:7.5 scale C-17 would be large enough to carry a person!
A 12 ga hypodermic sounds like something one might inject a living aircraft with; I'm guessing that in real life, it would be used for horses or cattle.
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12 ga and 14 ga are used for giving IV fluids and medications via bovine jugular veins and degassing or draining organs, body cavities, abscesses, etc.
They'd probably be the right size and are usually 2-5 inches long. If a needle is too thin, it can break off, plus thick medicines take forever to administer.
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Thanks for confirming for me about the real-life use of 12 and 14 ga hypodermics; is having a needle break off something that happens often, or not? For injecting living aircraft, I'm thinking a 5 inch needle would be usual, given the thickness of a living aircraft's skin, and particularly a living Space Shuttle's skin.
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You try to pick needle gauge and length to preclude breakoffs. Bent needles are a fact of life, though. One place where I "shoot up" beef cows I can get away with 20 ga "horse" needles except on this one little b-tch who hates my guts. I always end up switching needles after her, but so far I haven't left one in her.
5 or 6 inch for vaccinations seems proportionate, given how big planes are even if they have relatively thin skin.
So where would a blood sample be taken from? I know planes have little sample access points to collect fuel and oil, but if they have a separate biological circulatory system, that doesn't come with built in access.
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I'm guessing that using a finer gauge needle would result in the injection stinging less; am I right about that? If a needle does get broken off, how is it retrieved?
I'll reply to your question about getting blood samples from living aircraft in a note; thanks for understanding!
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The goal is to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place.
Retrieving a broken needle involves more damage cutting it out, or leaving it and risk having an abscess form at the spot. The body may work it out on its own, I've heard that with regards to veterans with shrapnel their body managed to reject.
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Owwch! Definitely not fun! I'd imagine it might take quite a long time for the body to work a broken needle out, even if the needle works its way out without an abscess forming.
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It can take years. They are stainless steel-not sure if the body could absorb it.
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I don't know myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if the body can't absorb stainless steel. I know that wire sutures have to be removed; are they stainless steel, or they a titanium alloy?
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Now that I think about it-there are places where fine stainless suture is used so you can tell an operation has been done-like spaying cats and dogs in places where there won't be any other way to tell they've been "fixed".
I remember getting a piece of nickel-titanium wire at an engineering fair - that stuff was flexible. Titanium is often reserved for joint implants or bone screws because the body won't try to absorb it.
Now from the planes' point of view - stainless, NiTi and titanium may be their version of absorbable suture! They might see our polymolecular stuff as "nonabsorbable"!
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I'm guessing that it would be in places like feral cat colonies where the cats are caught, "fixed" and returned, and possibly in animal shelters, where the fine stainless sutures are used as you described; please correct me if I'm wrong! 
Stainless, NiTi, and titanium being absorbable sutures for living aircraft is a great idea!
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Precisely - the catch and release community cats. The main place this is used is in "developing" countries where the veterinary equivalent of Doctors Without Borders goes through to cut down the population of animals populating tourist areas.
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Thanks for confirming that for me! I'm not if it's the same everywhere in the world, but I've pretty much always understood that, for catch and release with feral cats, a requirement is that there must be someone who feeds the cats regularly, otherwise they can't be released. Having a small population of healthy feral cats around buildings (e.g. factories, university/college campuses etc.) is, I've heard, a good way of keeping vermin such as rats and mice in check.
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Places with organized programs (TNR- trap, neuter, return/release) like the United States have that requirement-it helps keep track of coverage areas, and deters random yahoos looking for a free spay/neuter for their own cat.
In many countries, such as the Middle East and the Muslim Asian countries, people may not have house cats, per se, but they all feed the neighborhood cats-hence the term community cats. Any one caretaker might get killed or have to move, but there's usually a small group of folks and a sympathetic veterinarian who look out for the cats-this also counts as good deeds in their culture and religion.
Some areas people go in and do sweeps to cut down on the number of reproducing, sick and stressed animals as a public health effort-sterilizing the animals goes over better than killing them.
When feral cats must be moved to a new territory, someone has to facilitate this, or they'll just head back to their old stomping grounds. The mere presence of cats can cut down on rats and mice, a plus that is starting to be realized by inner city apartment supervisors, craft breweries, warehouses, etc, leading to working cat programs as an option to put ferals where they are wanted.
amberchrome's "Furry Little Murderbeasts" is true now, not just in a post upheaval future. Unfortunately, many US military bases are a bit behind the curve in trying to exterminate feral cats instead of manage them.
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That's very interesting, about the neighbourhood cats in Middle Eastern and Muslim Asian countries! I'm guessing that the people in those communities don't have much trouble with rats and mice, thanks to their resident cats. I don't think I knew that feral cats would head back to their old territory when moved somewhere new (I've heard though that house cats have been known to travel back to their old home when their owners move house); how does one stop the ferals from going back to their old home once they've been moved?
I've seen amberchrome's "Furry Little Murderbeasts" artwork; I certainly didn't know it was true now! I can just picture the aircrew or ground crew preflighting an aircraft and finding a cat curled up with its back against the aircraft's nosewheel, necessitating moving the cat before the aircraft can be started up.
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Cats are territory oriented first and foremost, then form colonies if there is enough food. Female cats especially want a good territory, they don't want to have to go too far to hunt when they have kittens. As a colony, the females are like a lioness-only pride and take care of everyone's kittens, though each cat must hunt for herself.
Getting ferals to stay in a new territory involves having a sort of aviary where the cats can be held for a minimum of two weeks, fed and become accustomed to their new caretaker and surroundings. Once released, the cats will explore the area and claim it if there are no other cats. If there are other cats they will have hissed at each other through the cages, and may fight to see who gets the territory or whether they can all get along.
The problem with just killing the cats is it creates a vacuum of exploitable territory, and other cats will move in. Allowing TNR would be sticking with the devils you know (who aren't making kittens), plus caretakers will always be on the lookout for new cats. Strays get rescued and put back in circulation as adoptables from this. In the US,TNRed ferals and "working cats" have the very top of their left ear trimmed straight across, so a person can tell at a distance if a cat has been "fixed". Notching has been tried in other countries, however in temperate zones, notches and frostbite look too much alike!
amberchrome has it pretty accurate about the cats behavior, and the fact its messy when one is not 'runway-wise" and gets hit. For mechanical planes, adding thumping on the sides to a preflight can save a mess as you fire up the engines or when the gear retracts...
Or this...
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Having heard (and seen) house cats fight, I can just imagine the noise if newly-released ferals fight with those already in residence! I agree, allowing TNR is definitely better, for all of the reasons you described; from what I've read and heard, there are far too many kittens (and far too many puppies) around anyway. Part of the problem, as I understand it, is that people allow their cat or dog to have a litter before they spay the animal, and they don't properly think through the potential consequences for the kittens or puppies later in life. I'm not so familiar with dogs, but I think cats can start reproducing at a very young age, and they can have kittens several times a year.
When feral cats are being caught for TNR, how is it determined that a particular cat is a stray that can be offered for adoption? Are the cats checked for a microchip implanted before they went missing? I'm guessing that the ear trimming that you mentioned would be done while the cat is still anaesthetised for spay/neuter, rather than with the cat awake and its ear numbed up with local anaesthetic/nerve block.
Whoops! I definitely wouldn't want to be on a plane, only to find an unexpected feline passenger! Another scenario I've thought of, with regards to cats on military bases getting into "less than ideal" locations, is a pilot climbing up a fighter jet's boarding ladder only to find a curled-up cat sleeping on the jet's ejection seat (possibly with another cat on the cockpit floor with its back against the rudder pedals, and another cat that's managed to fit itself between the HUD and the windshield).
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Your observations are correct. Cats can get pregnant at 6 months old, and in warm climates with adequate food can easily produce 2-3 litters per year. Unlike dogs, once cats become sexually mature they will have continual heat cycles until they get pregnant.
Once a cat gets over the shock of being caught in a live trap, behavior will tell the trappers if the cat is a true feral, or merely a stray. A stray has been accustomed to humans, even if only as a kitten, and will usually sit quietly in a trap. Ferals are WILD - they go nuts when a person comes close, so the traps usually have a blanket or towel put over the top to calm the cat.
Ferals are never handled awake-they are given injectable anesthetic (at least induction), and vaccination, examination, spay/neuter and ear tipping are all done while anesthetized. They are put back in a trap to recover, then taken back to the catch site once awake. Checking for a microchip can be done at this point, though usually behavior tells the trappers they could pull that cat from a trap, check for ID and transfer the cat to a regular cage. Since animal shelters are usually involved, they can either take the strays like any other surrender, or contact a rescue and transfer the cat. Young kittens are taken to be tamed-if this proves unsuccessful they can be returned to the colony or sent out as working cats. Cats that are found to be seriously ill may be euthanized rather than turned back loose-fortunately this is rare. Well managed feral colonies have lifespans similar to house pets-allowing for hazards such being hit by cars, attacked by dogs (or people) or poisoned.
True ferals hide and will not eat in the presence of humans, though a colony caretaker is the exception, and sometimes ferals will almost be friendly to that person. It takes about two years to get an adult feral tame enough for limited handling, which people have done on occasions where a cat seems to decide they are done with being wildlife. This sort of behavior might be how cats got domesticated in the first place-they moved in around people, then we discovered kittens are cute!
Cats in a plane-gotta leave the lid closed on your fighter! If the cats do get in, at least the one behind the HUD can dust while they're in there...
Ejection seat pins are the last to get pulled when you are about to close up and launch, and they're the first pins to go back in when you're done!
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I may wrong, but I think four kittens is a pretty average-sized litter for a cat (I wouldn't be at all surprised if they can produce larger litters, though), so 2-3 litters a year works out to at least 8-12 new cats in a year, from one female cat; males, I believe, can father dozens of kittens in a year, possibly even hundreds. No wonder there are too many cats!
I'm not surprised that ferals aren't handled whilst awake, given how how wild they are, basically like a miniature lynx or puma, or an African wild cat. I've had my cat playfully attacking my ankles and leaving me with a few bleeding scratches as a result; I'm guessing that trying to handle a conscious feral would result in one's arms being completely shredded..... Are feral kittens any easier to tame than adult ferals, or do they also take a long time to tame? For a feral that's found to be mildly ill with something that's easily treatable in a house cat (for example, a mild upper respiratory tract infection for which a house cat would be given a course of antibiotics), would the cat be treated, then released when healthy?
Very true! Once the cats have been removed from the jet, it would probably be advisable to clean the cat hairs off the back of the HUD, so that they don't cause problems. Cats walking/sleeping on the switch panels at the sides of a fighter's cockpit could also be problematic; if a cat has been in those locations, I'd think it would be a good idea to double-check the switch positions very carefully before flight, in case the cat has moved switches and done something weird to the jet's circuits etc. I'm not surprised that ejection seat pins are the last to be pulled, and the first to be reinstalled, as no-one needs an ejection seat firing at the wrogn moment! I'm guessing that ordinance pins would be pulled just before the ejection seat pins, and reinstalled just after.
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My parent's barn cats usually had 5 or 6 kittens. The most I've seen personally was 9, which given that a mama cat only has 8 nipples means she's really a good mom if she can get all of them to weaning age!
If you start young with the kittens they are no different from home raised, though getting them away from their mother can be hazardous if she is kept caged until the kittens are weaned and she can be spayed and released. Once they get more than 12-16 weeks old before first handling they can be challenging to tame, but its not impossible.
How illness is handled depends on the TNR organization and individual caretakers. Mildly ill cats are often loaded up with an antibiotic shot, released and you hope for the best. If they are not fussy eaters some medicines can be mixed in food, though making sure that particular cat gets the treated food can be a challenge. Some places will hold a feral for treatment and use a squeeze cage to administer treatments.
Cats in cockpits- Don't wanna mistake a cat hair for a bandit!
Checking all your switches is standard procedure, because someone else was usually flying your assigned plane the day before. You probably have to plug in new mission parameters anyway.
Whether seat pins or ordnance pins get pulled last may depend on launch procedure. Seat pins come out once the pilot has parked their butt and is about to close the canopy. If there is an end of runway check before takeoff, those guys may be the ones to pull ordnance pins. If the ground crew is limited, they may pull pins just before the pilot taxis out. (Betcha Felix has a better idea how that all works, and in what order. Navy might be different than Air Force because of carrier ops.)
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I certainly didn't know that cats could have as many as nine kittens in one litter! I certainly imagine the hazards of trying to get feral kittens away from their mother for handling and taming; I would think that sturdy gloves would be a good idea, for protection from teeth and claws. I'm guessing, but is it best to start handling kittens more or less from when they're born, if possible? Would spaying the mother cat before her kittens are weaned risk causing her milk to stop?
I'm guessing that, even with a squeeze cage, getting oral medication down a feral that won't eat medicated food could be a challenge; I know that there are antibiotic pastes though that can be squeezed into a cat's mouth more easily than a pill. I'd imagine injections would be used a lot, too.
Definitely not! One also doesn't want cat hairs getting into the electronics and gumming things up.
I thought it would be standard procedure to check switches thoroughly when starting up a plane; I would think that would be the case even in a single-prop light plane. I certainly understand about plugging in new mission parameters; the person who flew your assigned fighter the day before might have been flying a strike mission with smart bombs, and a few air-to-air missiles (possibly just Sidewinders) and the cannon for self-defence, whereas you might be flying CAP, with only air-to-air missiles (likely a combination of Sidewinders and AMRAAMs or Sparrows) and the cannon.
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The sweet spot for taming kittens is from about three to twelve weeks of age. Handling them earlier is nice, even if just to weigh them and chart their growth. Its almost funny, but even one or two day old kittens will hiss at you a couple times, though they do get used to handling very quickly. Their eyes are closed until about ten days old, and their ear canals don't open completely for about two weeks, so at first all they have is scent and touch.
Fishing babies away from wild mothers has spawned all sorts of techniques from having a two compartment cage to using tongs and grabbers of varying sorts. Most cats can tolerate being spayed and still nurse their kittens, especially now that surgical glue can be used instead of external sutures. If the mother is in captivity, there's no rush to spay her until the kittens are weaned. Sometimes a cat will develop a uterus infection that necessitates an emergency spay-if that causes her to dry up the caretakers may elect to release her early. Hand rearing kittens the first couple weeks is an every two to three hour feeding schedule many places can't maintain, so its pretty much the justification for holding the mother.
Ferals are stressed out just by the presence of humans, so attempting to treat one for a minor illness may be counterproductive. As long as they will eat well, turning them back loose and letting their own system deal with the illness is easier on the cat. Spaying and neutering also reduces physiologic stress, so the cats are better able to deal with illnesses and a certain amount of crummy weather. Places where it snows, the caretakers build little shelters the cats can hole up in.
Any time you have to deal with "Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity" (title of a lifting coach's book) makes checking all your switches and settings that much more important!
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I'm thinking that it would be instinct for kittens, even those who are only a day or so old, to hiss at anything strange, and human scent would definitely be strange to them at first. At least with a baby kitten that hisses at one, there isn't the risk of the hiss being followed by (or accompanied by) a swipe with the front claws!
Using a two-compartment cage sounds like it might be less stressful on the cat and kittens than using tongs or grabbers; I may well be wrong, though. One advantage that immediately comes to my mind, of using surgical glue instead of external sutures when spaying a nursing cat, is that there's nothing for the kittens to get hold of and pull around the incision, whereas they could pull at external sutures (I know that adult cats can pull at sutures too). Does surgical glue break down after the incision has healed?
Hand-rearing kittens sounds like a major endeavour, with that two to three hour feeding schedule you mentioned! I'd imagine maintaining that schedule through the night would be particularly tough.
it doesn't surprise me that feral cats get stressed just by the presence of humans, since ferals are basically wild animals. Turning a feral that's eating well loose and letting its own system deal with a minor illness reminds me, in a sense, of how humans aren't normally hospitalised for minor illnesses, as our systems probably handle minor illnesses better without the added stress of being in hospital, in a strange environment.
So true! The last thing you want is your plane's engine to quit in midair because you didn't check the switches and settings properly, and the engine got starved of fuel!
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You're spot-on with your observations.
Two-compartment caging for cats has been revolutionary in helping adoptions of tame cats at rescues and humane societies, as well as making it safer to hold ferals. Giving cats a separate place to hide reduces their stress and the shelter workers' as well. The door to the hide can be closed, allowing for cleaning the half with the food, water and litter box without worrying about the cat striking or bolting.
Kittens intentionally or unintentionally pull at sutures while nursing. I'm not sure what is in surgical glue, but it must be something that cells can break down or grow through in order to close the incision.
Fortunately the two-hour feeding schedule for orphans only has to be maintained for up to two weeks. After that feedings can be spaced out enough to allow the carer a decent amount of sleep!
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That's great to know!
I know that with house cats too, a place where they can hide if they want to is essential, and from what you've said, a hiding place is even more essential for ferals. A cat bolting is definitely something one doesn't want to have to deal with, especially given how fast and agile cats are. With tame cats that are up for adoption, I'm thinking that the two-compartment cage would also allow the cat to hide if it feels overwhelmed by the number of people visiting the shelter.
That is indeed fortunate, that kittens only need a two-hour feeding schedule for their first two weeks! I think most babies, including human babies, are probably tough to look after in those first few weeks
I'm wondering, how are ferals that are being trapped, neutered and released treated for fleas? Would they be dusted with flea powder, or be treated with a top-spot such as Frontline Plus or Advantage (with the treatment possibly being applied while the cat is anaesthetised for spaying/neutering)?
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Allowing for hiding, separation from hearing barking dogs, and having a home fostering program are all things that greatly improve cats' adoption chances.
Flea treatment may depend on what the TNR group can afford. Spot treatments obviously last longer, but the environment has to be considered. Choice of bedding in the little outdoor shelters has a big impact. Contrary to popular belief, not all feral colonies are plagued by fleas.
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I'm not familiar with home fostering programs; what do they involve?
It's great to hear that not all feral colonies are flea-plagued; I didn't think they were! While spot treatments last longer, I'm guessing that they're more expensive than flea powder, especially if large numbers of cats need to be treated? I know that there are spot treatments, such as Profender, for worms; would those be used for ferals, or are oral wormers preferred for ferals? I wouldn't be surprised if it's again a case of what the TNR group can afford.
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Fostering is simple but important. The rescue provides food, supplies, any medicines and veterinary treatments, and the foster provides a home environment. The animal remains property of the rescue organization. Some foster homes will allow potential adopters to see the animal at their home, otherwise it may be taken to adoption events or returned to a shelter at a later time. It is best to keep the fostered cats separated from one's own pets, but after a quarantine period, sometimes the animals are mixed together. This can be a good way to see how they are with other animals.
Some rescues are entirely home based - they don't have a central location that can hold animals, nor an office space.
A downside is what is known as "foster failure", though it is still a win for the animal. If the foster decides to adopt the animal that has been placed with them, that is good for that or those animal(s), but may end that household's ability to foster other animals.
The main thing with feral colonies managed under TNR is that a caretaker provide food a minimum of once a day, and monitors the cats for any newcomers, litters of kittens, or serious illness. Other than a rabies vaccination and spay/neuter, additional treatments are rarely done since there isn't a good way to continue them once the cats are loose. Caretakers in some areas are harassed and even assaulted by people who don't approve of what they are doing, and in certain places they are fined or arrested. The goal is natural attrition-if new cats are not added to the colony, it will eventually disappear. Unfortunately, people's carelessness and abandonment of pets means new colonies can get started.
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Thanks for the info on fostering cats! Living in a home environment, with more individual attention than shelter staff might have time to provide, would definitely be easier on a cat. I'd imagine it would also help the cat to re-integrate with humans, and to become more trusting with humans. I'm guessing that the reason why, if a foster adopts the animal that's placed with them, they then may not be able to foster other animals, would be that the TNR/rescue group doesn't want to take the chance that those people might become animal hoarders. I know that animal hoarding can be a serious problem, particularly when it reaches the point where the hoarders can't look after the animals properly.
Since, with house cats, the rabies vaccination needs to be done annually, would the ferals be re-trapped each year for re-vaccination? With regards to feral cat caretakers being harassed, assaulted etc., I wonder if it would help if people were educated as to what's going on, and why. I wouldn't be surprised if TNR/rescue groups are already trying to educate people, though!
I can understand that peoples' circumstances may change, resulting in them being unable to look after an animal; they certainly shouldn't just abandon the animal, though! I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of cases of animal abandonment happen either because someone was given an animal as a present (I feel that animals should never be given as presents), only to find that they can't cope with the animal as it grows up or they simply lose interest in the animal, or because someone decided that it would be "nice" to have a pet, but they failed to carefully consider all of the aspects of owning and looking after an animal.
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Amazing! You did her by hand out of pottery. Just incredible!
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Thanks! This is actually one of the most challenging sculptures I've made, both with regards to actually sculpting it, and with regards to painting it. I think the insignias on her tails are some of the most intricate paintwork I've done on a sculpture, especially the Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) insignia.
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