Half open mouth

[JE]

I am in the process of molding/casting a replica fish with a half open mouth, the fish is only 16" long therefore the mouth opening is not very big. I have tried the latex mouth, using a bondo plug, but I am having difficulties actually getting the latex mouth fixed in place due to the small opening and no room inside to work with. Plus waiting for latex to dry when making the cast is very frustrating !
I am now considering whether using the "old" method of a wax plug inserted during the casting process may work better on half open mouths ? or maybe a very soft silicone plug that can be pulled from the finished fish cast ?
anyone still using wax mouth plugs ?
John

[Randy Budzynski]

John I think anyway you look at it mouth plugs suck. They take a bunch of time to trim and fit but the end results as great. I have a small LMB repro that has a small mouth opening and I bet it took me over an hour to get the plug to fit. I have only done 4 open mouthed replicas and on all of them I used a plaster mouth mold. It seems to work good and then I use the latex to make them. Good luck and keep us posted.

[GBRUCH]

I photographed an article for breakthrough a while ago on how I handle this situation.  Maybe I will post some of those pics when I get a chance.   

[JE]

That would be great Gary
John

[JE]

Hmmm, I was told this today ,
"Latex is a natural substance and as such will always degrade as a biological
agent would. I found that after about 5 years the latex is pretty useless. If
you have ever used an old elastic band, you will know that it becomes brittle
and tears very easily."
The person that told me this was a lecturer at a collage and seemed to know his stuff. Anyone have any info on this ? I would hate to think that mouth parts will start cracking and crumbling a few years down the line, I am now wondering if we have a mix up of names for different substances between USA and UK.
John