I am getting ready to mount a Buffelhead in a water scene and don't quite understand the complete process. I do have the Breakthrough habitat and exhibit manual and have looked in the archives. The pose I plan on using is the bird on the water stretching (flapping) his wings, so his tail and part of his belly would be underwater. I quess the bird will be at about a 45 degree angle. Here are my questions:
1. I know it says to cut the plexi-glass at an angle the size that you need, I'm having a hard time understanding how the hole will be tight on the mount. Because of the angle and about ¼ of the mount under water. How do I fight the mount through the hole with it being tight enough to pour the water.
2. When pouring the water do it go right up against the duck or do you use some sort of barrier as you pour.
3. Can the bird be done and dry long before making the water scene or do they need to be worked on at the same time for fitting?
I am an amateur and I have only mounted 4 birds to this point (they all have come out very well). I hope that my questions make sense to someone. All I'm looking for is a nudge in the right direction.
Thanks
Jeff
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Having the habitat manual and having looked in the archives will keep a lot of flack from hitting you....lol. This is not as difficult as it might appear.First of all, mount the duck and let it dry, paint the feet and the bill and seal them.Suspend the duck on a solid rod or wire from below in the "body" attitude you want for the finished mount.Now take two pieces of cardboard and something to support them at the level on the duck where you want it to "touch" the water.Slide one side of the cardboard to the duck and trace that outline and cut it out to fit one half of the duck's outline. Now do the same with the other half of the cardboard.If you did everything right you should have 2 halves that when put together makes the perfect shape of the duck. Staple these halves together and this will be your pattern for cutting out the hole in the plexiglass.Take 2 pieces of plexiglass with straight edges and place your pattern so the seam runs through it. The seam can be offset so it can be hidden better. Now cut out each half of the pattern and test fit the 2 sides of the plexiglass so they fit the duck and meet in a tight line.Now trim the sheets to fit the inside of your wood frame.Cut 2 small plexiglass tabs to support the edges of the glass sheets and glue them close to the duck as you wont't see them when everything gets put together.Get the glue from your glass supplier as this works best and glue the tabs to only one sheet and so they fit across to the other sheet.That side will be glued when you put the sides together.You should now have the duck in the glass where you want it.Follow the rest of the procedure from the instructions in the Breakthrough Manual.Good luck and if you run into problems email me....JL
JL
Thanks for the information that makes sense to me. When I pour the water do I use a dam to keep it off the feathers? I read somewhere to use plastic wrap as a dam. If I use it how do I remove or hide it for the final scene? Hope these questions make sense.
Jeff
.....and putting a bird in it, it's there forever!The resin will work it's way into the feathers and will harden there. One way to prevent the resin from leaking past the bird is to put a bead of hot glue on the edges of the plexiglass as you push the two sides together where they touch the bird. I'm assuming that the position you've chosen will force you to make some type of splash and to distort the water surface (this is explained in the manual).This will allow you to also put a thin bead of hot glue against the feathers on the top of the plexiglass which will minimize the possible leak.As you build a splash you will probably be using hot glue anyhow so this should'nt be a visible problem.Good luck....JL
That clears things up quite abit. I'm still at least a couple weeks away from trying this, but you have cleared up the major questions I had.