Mounting a bobcat on a carved body

[Daniel M.]

This is a pretty little bobcat that I bought from Mr. Mark (Texascritter), and I wanted to do something unique with it because this was my first bobcat and I wanted to enter it in the World Show.

I started by skinning it out, making only a ventral incision down the belly from the chest to the base of the tail, and keeping the body in one piece.

Then I wrapped the branch I wanted him to hang on in plastic wrap and posed the carcass on it and froze the whole thing.

Once the body was frozen, I removed it from the branch and cut the legs off. I put them back into the freezer and carved the head and body out of some spare foam.

I then added an artificial bobcat nose to the head and began working on the legs.

[Daniel M.]

Because I knew the back legs would not have much support, I decided to carve them from 8 lb foam. I made a wall of clay around each leg to form a simple mold to pour the foam into.

[Daniel M.]

The front legs were just carved from scrap foam.

I first traced them with a magic marker, then cut it out with straight vertical cuts to form a 2 dimensional copy before carving it into a 3 dimensional foam leg.

[Daniel M.]

Once I had the legs matching up with the body, I attached them with drywall screws and tested the body and legs on the branch to see how they would fit.

[Daniel M.]

I made several adjustments until I was happy with the way it looked and it somewhat matched my reference picture.

I then used bondo to attached them more securely. I could have used foam for this part, although I don't know if it would have worked any better.

[Daniel M.]

Checking all the angles really helps.

[Daniel M.]

Here is a comparison of the original and copy.

I moved the head around quite a bit, so to stabilize it in it's final location I sharpened a threaded rod and, using my drill, ran it through the head, neck and into the body.

[Daniel M.]

I needed a way to strengthen the arms so that I could screw them to the branch later and yet still be able to make them detachable for the mounting process.

So I decided to use some wire, it's not very fancy, but it worked.

I used my dremal to make a grove in the foam, then a bent the wire to match and hot glued it into place.

I made a small loop in the paw where I wanted to attach the foot to the branch later.

[Daniel M.]

By attaching all the legs with the bondo, I could now sculpt some muscle back into the form to tie the body together again.

I used Plaster of Paris mixed with coarse vermiculite. The vermiculite strengthens and lightens the plaster.

[Daniel M.]

I then smoothed the plaster after it had dried and checked the fit to the branch once more.

The form is now ready to use

[Daniel M.]

Now I get to work with the skin which is in great shape, no slips, no rubs, no bullet holes, no skinning or fleshing cuts, just a perfect skin. And doesn't that tan look nice? lol

After prepping the face, I bondoed the ears.

[Daniel M.]

Some close up pictures of the THIN ears

And it's always good to use reference...

[Daniel M.]

The final step on the body was to cut the legs off.

I then clayed the toes, applied hide paste to the legs and slid them into the skin.

[Daniel M.]

Another view of the back legs going together...

[Daniel M.]

Then the front legs...

And all 4 legs in place.