Christmas Owl - A Canon Papercraft Kit Bash

Revell-Fan

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Two days ago a colleague of mine was injured at work. I felt so sorry for her that I decided to build something to cheer her up a bit. So I interrupted the AT-AT build for a second and went through my archive to see what can be done in a VERY short amount of time and which looked nice enough to grab her attention. Since X-mas is coming soon I thought it would be best to come up with something seasonal to create an emotional anchor at the same time. That also would prevent it from being "just a model" and turn it into something special she could cherish and enjoy during the upcoming holidays.

The first kit which grabbed my attention was the cat in a boot by Canon. However, I was unsure how it would be received because I have another friend who loves cats. Making that particular model could be mistaken for a rushed job. I did not want to give the false impression that the model was made for someone else in the first place, namely the cat fan, so cat-themed ones were a no-go. Soon afterwards I found the Christmas hedgehog by Canon:

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However, a hedgehog in a chimney was not quite right to me. Surely, it is a cute design, but I did not know how my colleague thinks about hedgehogs in a chimney. The design is cute, that's out of the question, but in this particular case I wasn't sure if it would be able to transport the message I had for her. So something had to be changed. My choice fell on Canon's barn owl : it is a one-pager, not too many parts, and an owl should always hit a spot. thumbsup

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I began with the owl.

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As with all Canon models the assembly instructions and very clear and easy to follow.

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The parts were cut out, pre-shaped and glued together.

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It is always amazing to see how well the Canon models go together and how pleasing the result is. Complex organic shapes are designed in a very elegant way with the least amount of cuttings necessary. :)

Work on the owl took from 10:22 PM to 00:41 AM.
 
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Revell-Fan

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Now on to the chimney. I did not waste any time with editing the template so I printed it as is. Since it is also a one-pager like the owl I assumed that both would fit together somehow, and if they didn't I would find a way to make that happen.

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I only needed the chimney and the cap.

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The chimney parts fit really well together. I left the flaps to be faster. Since I omitted the hedgehog there was a hole inside the chimney which had to be closed. So I copied and pasted the brick texture from the chimney and created a simple interior.

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Not too bad! Bottom view:

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At first I wanted to leave it bottomless but then I thought it would be better to close it to make it look more finished.

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A simple white rectangle would do. It would look like a snow-covered base and would blend nicely with the other parts.

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The cap consisted of petals which I don't really like much. However, I was pretty surprised to see that everything looked quite nice when finished:

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The moment of truth:

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Without any mods the cap fit PERFECTLY on the owl's head! Honestly, I did not expect that. What a happy coincidence (which saved me some work)! :)
 

Revell-Fan

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Now I had to join the two big components together. Luckily the proportions were not off at all which a first test proved:

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That looked pretty good to me and I glued the owl in place. I wanted to call it quits but something kept bothering me. You should see at first glance that it was supposed to be a Christmas owl but the model lacked "glamour". Fortunately I had some glittering ribbon lying around. Since my attempts at creating a loop failed miserably I made a little scarf:

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Doesn't that look nice? :)

Assembly of the chimney and placement of the owl took from 00:55 AM to 02:36 AM. Now it was time for bed. :)
 

Revell-Fan

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Six hours later I prepared the final steps.

I cut off the paper pompom of the cap and glued on a real pompom made of cotton wool. That was the icing on the cake.

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The chimney was big enough to accomodate some sweets.

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Everything was packed up and brought to work.

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My colleague absolutely loved the little fellow and appreciated the gesture!:)
 

Rhaven Blaack

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You did a great job on this project! This is a really good gift idea. I hope that your colleague likes it!
 

Revell-Fan

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Thank you! :)

My colleague absolutely loved it. I'm glad I was able to pull this project off so quickly. I had only one evening and one night to complete it, otherwise I hadn't been able to give it to her before the weekend. ;)
 
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micahrogers

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Your papercraft gifts are always so nice. This one is exceptional :bowdown: I would have loved the hedgehog, but the owl looks much better.
 
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