Hey guys and gals,
I am in the process of mounting up a standing old sqwaw and I am having major problems closing my dorsal incision from the middle of the body down to the tail. I am pretty sure the problem is not the form (Stefan Savides form) being too big because I compared it to the actual carcass and it seems pretty accurate. I am guessing that the problem lies with how the legs are positioned. All the reference photos I have on old squaw are either swimming or sitting. You've probably guessed already that this is indeed the first diving duck that I have tried. I have been able to conclude through other photos however that a diver's chest area is significantly higher on a standing pose than let's say the horizontal position of a mallard. Does this problem sound familiar to anyone? Is there anything else that I am missing as to why this dorsal incision is not closing? Any advise is greatly appreciated.
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I've never heard of such a thing in the first place. Admittedly, I'm not a "bird brain", but that's a new one. I always use the ventral or cased incision, especially on sea ducks. An old squaw could probably take a football for a body as it's so tough, so I have no idea why the skin wouldn't stretch even if I DID dorsal cut it.
If all of your anchor points wings, legs, neck,and tail are accurate,and the incision won't close. The body is too big. Try a body a little smaller. The other thing that can happen is the skin can become trapped by leg or wing wires. That is easy to check. Sometimes the chest skin needs to be pulled further over the chest.(toward the rear) Once all these things are checked. try asmaller body.
Tony