Having problems with necks on standing birds. Use foam necks and esophagus which I glue together. To get a smooth body/neck transition, I drill a hole in the mannikin and insert the neck and glue (also wire runs through body). When I go to position the neck in the "S" shape, the neck turns on the wire. Instead of the esophagus being where it should, it will be on the side and when rotated into place, it just moves back. Also, when I try to position the head, it always wants to bend at the junction of the head and neck making it look strange. I had similar problems when I bought a mannikin with the neck molded on. It just didn't seem to want to bend right Any ideas would be appreciated. thanks
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For some comercial work the foam neck mnaterial works ok. But only if you prebend the neck exactly how it will end up. Attempts to change it after mounting can cause problems including breakage seperation from the head and the shape will not be exactly correct. A crop must be wrapped around the foam material. A good substitute is to wrap the neck with yarn or Macreme cord. An esophagus can be put in also and a crop can be wrapped also. It will not break when changing position. You can also use the real neck (after the meat is removed)wrapped with cotton batting for necking material. The real neak will only bend where it is supposed to.
Jim,
It may be the glueing of the trachea (windpipe, not esophagus) to the neck material. Glue it only to the form under the neck material, let it float underneath the neck. You will not have any problem getting the right shape, it ain't going anywhere. And use soft wire for the neck on standing birds. Hope this helps.
Try and envision that the neck and esophagus as a single piece. A twist in one place will correspond with a twist in another. If you use a smaller piece of foam for the esophagus, I suggest that you cut the piece in half leaving a rounded side and a flat side. I use a electrical tape to attach the smaller piece to the main neck in a couple of places. It is important to prebend the neck in the position you choose so the smaller foam does not bunch. In standing birds, there is a sharp bend down from the body attachment point and another tight turn back up over the body. I have found it usefull to make relief (kerf) cuts in the material so the shape of the neck is not flat in that area. As far as bending the head, one needs to bend the neck wire as well making a rounded bend instead of a an angular bend. It is also important to pay attention to where you insert the neck wire into head. If your entry point is way off, the head will never look right. A couple of the bird instruction manuals have very clear pictures that can you help you visual this. Good luck.
I've always had that problem when doing resting poses. I went back to the "antique" way of doing it--I wrap a neck out of excelsior. Make it exactly the size you took out of the bird, wrap the crop right in it and then wrap it all with a sheet of Saran Wrap. It will move easily inside the neck and won't kink when you go to set the head down.
Using copper or black annealed wire will allow you to bend the neck into any shape a live bird could do and it will stay there.
The foam neck material works fine for flying birds and standing birds with relatively high head positions.
Good luck!
Thanks for all the help. I will try your suggestions and see which one works best for me.