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December 6, 2012
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Hello,
New user here and a beginner with taxidermy. I could use some advice. I’m working on my first shoulder mount and I’m very disapointed with the form that I purchased. I purchased a whitetail classic VanDyke form. Going on what I learned so far from my Rick Carver video set and a lot of reading on the subject, when you purchase a manikin with a 32mm positive eye set shouldn’t your 32mm eyes be a very close fit? It was quite laughable when I held the eye up to the socket for the first time to see just how far off it really was. I’m going to need to do some serious cutting to get the eye to fit and by that time I’m afraid that the brow will be nearly gone and the rotation of the eyes might not align like on other quality forms that don’t require you to rebuild the entire eye socket.
I’m also not happy with the surface where the ear butts mount either. There is no distinct location of where to mount them and I would like to mount them before sliding the cape on because there is going to require some serious clay work around the base. Any advice would be great. Oh and my response from VanDykes was that it’s common to have to dremal the eye sockets to get them to fit. I can understand slightly but not this much. This will be the last VanDyke form that I will purchase. I knew that I would be doing some ear work but not this much eye work.
Now that form looks pretty small. You might can use a 30mm eye. But understand this, almost all forms will need some alterations before applying the skin to it. They are just a representative of a species based on the sculpters interpretation. It’s up to you to correct them before putting the skin on them. But if you want to do whitetails, then you must use Gene Smiths’ from HQ. They are the best ever created. They will also go together faster. Use a sanding bit on your dremel to open up the eye orbit. Then set your ears by blending them to the manniquin with clay or epoxy. Then cut them off and set them in the skin. Welcome to taxidermy.
Basically what Page said, It looks like you have a small form that takes 28 or 30mm eyes. The ears look to large as well. They also come in small, med, and large. You will get better at getting the right sizes as you do more. As taxidermist we buy forms to have a starting point. Each animal is different. The more you mount the more you will realize that you will have to learn to alter forms. Some a little and some alot…Order you some new eyes and ears and start mounting…DC
NCS as Page has said, welcome to taxidermy.There are few forms that are going to go together without having to make eye adjustments and ear placement adjustments. I am not familiar with the form you are using but it may be that the form is an older manikin that is not set up for the ear liners you are using and there are only 2 lines of manikins that I personally know you can pop a set of eyes in and them be correct. Don’t get discouraged, and if you have not had any one on one training I would recommend you find a good taxidermist in your area and takes some classes from him. Videos are nice to watch but they can’t talk back to you when you have questions. Wish you the best and welcome to Taxidermy-Talk (DC you must have been posting while I was typing.)
July 22, 2011
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Just use this for a learning experience, get you some good references and just do it. A lot of folks think these things mount themselves out of the box, but it is not as easy as it looks. Some are better than others. To speed up the learning curve, the one on one classes suggestion was great advice. Just make sure the teacher knows more than you do.
For now, a W/T skull can help you greatly with the anatomy issues you are concerned about.
December 6, 2012
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Thanks for everyone’s response and reccommendataions. It sounds like I will end up getting some good practice on this one. It just seems like the form was falsely advertised. If the company advertises a form with a 32mm eye socket I feel that’s what I should be getting… However, I’m not going to make a mountain out of a mole hill here. I’ll just purchase from other suppliers.
Page/DC – Yes the form does seem small to me as well but after I dry fit the cape I found the neck is actually too big for the skin and the face is about a half inch too short. In addition to this the ear are a little big for my medium sized ear liners. I think it’s safe to say that I’m going to get a good deal of practice on this one and it won’t exactly be a competition piece. My initial measurements of the deer were 7.25 x 18.5. This was an outside measurement which turned into another lesson learned. I know I should have subtracted an inch or two for the hide but I was having trouble finding a form that was 7.25 x 17″. It may have been a good idea to use a doe form on this one due to the long nose and thin neck.
Price – lol.. You obviously buy in bulk and someone didn’t hand pack that one like they did mine. You can’t tell me that you ended up paying full price for that form in the end.
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