i am having trouble with mannikens - took all measurements immediately after catching bass and matching to closest manniken - actually a slightly larger manniken was ordered - when received and i tried to use it it was way SMALLER than needed - it is the one that i ordered - what's the deal - i slid manniken up to where it was even with eye socket - throat latch side is correct but length is WAY to short and body circumference is way out of whack - first bass i mounted i ordered wrong mann and was able to shave down to fit - do otheres hav ehtis same problem
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so your fish is to big for the form how did you messsure your fish you should messure from top of the head threw to the center of the tail, i had this happpend to me when i used premolded forms are you useing the real heads, if so make sure that your head fits good and then check you body to see if the fins fit , if so then checkthe skin in the back to see if or how far the skinis apart, if your skin over laps all the way down the body then you may want to buy a biggerform, but the main thing that you should pay attention to is the fin make sure that they are in the right spot, hope this helps if need any thing else please e-mail me any time,
And this is why I preach learn to carve your bodies. No matter what you fish will fir right back in the as long as you carve it to the right dimensions.
I have a friend up New york that measured 6 bass bodies and needed help on learning to do bass. In the long run he measured for six orderd 6 and only one made a decent fit. All the rest of them had to be reshaped by either shaving them down or cutting them and making them larger to fit the bodies.
Yes the shape of the bodies are very close to the ones you buy but no body that is bought fits exactly the way you want and the reason being is the body was casted from another fish and not your own. So what your doing is trying to make your fish fit into another fishes body. Learn to carve and you'll do much better with less headaches.
Folks like Frank never seem to grasp that clutz's like us can't and don't carve our own. In return, we must learn to MEASURE THE FISH CORRECTLY. Look at the catalog you're ordering from and use the system they describe. Matt Thompson, Tom Sexton, and several others have settled on center of eye to tail and girth. NEVER GO UNDER SIZE. These mannikins fit with the collar bone point being seen through the eye hole. If you can't, it ain't right. If the girth is too large, carve it down and and shape it. There's a form out there that will fit the fish you have. Many fish seem TOO LONG until we start making the girth fit. Fish skins are flexible and the lenght and girt increase and decrease inversely.
Habitat dependent critters. Bass literally are what and when they eat. Bass from poorly managed farm ponds may have big heads and very small girths. Bass can be long and slim, and short and squat. There is no universal shape for them. I remember catching two nine pound plus bass one night while jig fishing. One was three inches longer than the other while the girth was quite different. One looked like a picture perfect fish, the other looked like an Archie Phillips mount. The two fish came from the same cove on a lake, not 200 yards apart.
I used a halfshell method on bass for years, using other than a filler. I literally built a manniquin into the halfshell behind the skin when mounting the fish. I have done a few small bass with the filler method, and have never been quite sold on it.
I have carved bodies, molded and formed bodies and cast many replicas, but I have never bought a ready made form. Perhaps being a sculptor is one reason I think that shaping a fish body is an elementry craft - maybe I just like engineering an "attitude" into my mounts by carving a form to suit my tastes. Whatever the reason, I'll bet I could even teach George to carve a body in two day's time.
Carving takes little time, few tools and a good eye. I know that George has plenty of all three. Don't let him discourage you. The best way to get a proper fit is to make the form yourself. George, I can't believe a man of your constitution would ever surrender to the likes of a hunk of foam.
Bill, do you I could order a form, we could get drunk (don't take much for an Indian), sober up, and chase wild women for two days, we'd both be happy, and UPS would have delivered the mannikin in that time? Life's too short to make fish mannikins. LOL
If we chased wild wimmen, we'd better hope we caught one in the first fifty yards. Otherwise, we'd be too tuckered out to do much with them. Let's say we sneak up on a couple, reallll slow, and ambush 'em, and camoflage our ages with a lot of hunnert dollar bills....works fer me....LOL!
Your tail hangs way past the manikin and the back seam is WAY wide correct? Well it sounds like a skin taxi job to me. I personally carve my own bodies for fish. But even these are shorter then the skin when I put em on the form. You need to tuck the tail up to the tail butt on the form then start working the skin. The skin will pull best at angles. The back seam will most likely not come fully together but a 1/2-3/4 inch spacing should be acceptable. Remember that in this buisiness you have to taxis the durma = arange the skin!
Later
Gman