I know there are allot of archives on the subject of bondo ears vs ear liners, but this question is more pointed and I couldn't find anything exactly on the subject. Anyway, what I wanted to know is which bondo method works best. I learned to do ears on a head mount (elk, deer) by taking out the cartilage and then filling it with bondo. I recently saw a video that showed the cartilage being left in and then bondo was added. Do both methods have the same problems that need to be taking care of or is one method better then the other? (The problems I'm indicating are washing the ears for better adhesive ability and the curling of the ears). If there isn't much difference in the methods (except it's easier not to have to remove the cartilage) I think I'll try leaving in the cartilage. I'm aware of the "staying thin" problem so I won't be using as much bondo mixture in the cartilage ear. Any suggestions or comments would be grateful.
Thank you, Brian
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If you remove the cartilage and just replace with Bondo you are going to lose
the correct anatomy of the ear. I prefer ear liners personally but the bondo
with the cartilage works fine if the ears are split to the very edges
so as not to curl. I also clean the ears with laquer thinner and score the ears
with a fish skinning knife so that the ears have a little "tooth"
for the Bondo to adhear to.
Todd B
Brian I also leave the cartilage in and use a wire brush to rough it
up. And you hae to get the ears as dry and you can. Then I mix the
bondo with resin (Bondo fiberglass resin) about 60% bondo to 40% resin
mix well and add your hardener. It will look to runny but you will
get ears that are thin. (I learned this at the World Show thanks to
Joe Coombs.