I have purchased the "do it yourself" fan kits from HS Strut and have done the following:
Removed all flesh from the tail bases, scrubed with Borox to remove any excess fat, treated with the enclosed powder preservative, added a good coating of salt, pinned the fans in the desired postion and have had them drying the the garage (TX aprx 75 degrees during the day). When is a good time to remove pins and mount to the plaque? I have seen posts where the taxi "splits" the quills. I did not do this and am wondering if the tail will eventually begin to close a little or draw up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have 2 more fans on the way and do not want to repeat any possible mistakes. Thanks in advance!
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I would've skip the salting, it doesn't need it. If you fleshed that tail down well there should only be a little skin 1/2" holding the primary feathers and a little patch holding the secondary feathers.
I flesh the tail back towards the primaries then cut the end of the quills right off, about 1/2" of them. The tail only needs a small strip of skin to hold the primaries. After that I wire wheel it, borax it and spreadout on cardboard, align the feathers and t-pin it, then position the secondaries and place some heavy magazines over them and let dry for about a week. After they're done I hot glue the underside of the base to seal it all, but that's just me.
Thanks for the advice tomdes - any input is always appreciated. I have a great respect for the art that taxidermists create and a fan mount is about as far as I'm willing to venture. About halfway thru the fleshing I called my taxidermist and thanked him for the great jobs he's done in the past and let him know I certainly don't envy his job when it comes to all the painstaking prep work! A round of applause to all the hard working taxidermists who turn out quality mounts and put up with the countless calls from impatient clients - thanks again