you guys imput on priming forms with maniquin prep or latex caulk is it worth it , does it help thanks Brent
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a tool sold in several suppliers that has a wooden handle with like an inverted wirewheel on the end of it. I don't know exactly what it's called but it scatches the manikin up to accept your hide paste they are very time saving.
Any primer is only as strong as its adhesion to the product underneath. Though epoxy will usually cut any of the mold release agents, the roughing up of the form is still the best. In the old days, many people painted the paper mannikins with shellac. When foam came along, the same process was used. Still,the shellac is only as good as the ability to hold on to the foam. As Steve Steinbring of Epo-Grip fame says, the form needs "tooth" so the glue can stick. John C uses a sand blaster, but with the new foam on the market, I fear this method will have to go the way of the paper forms.
Primer its a waste of time, the minor scratching you can do with a wire cups and a stout ruffers is also a waste of time.
Wipe the form down with lacquer thinner, these removes the wax and silicone.
Using the $19.95 Campbell Huasefield Sand Blaster from Harbor Frieght and quartz blasting media from your local lumberyard or machinery supply ($3.50 per hundred pounds) in 7 minutes you can have the perfect texture surface for any hide glue.
Sand blasting open up millions of tiny pores in the foam, by removing all slick surfaces! You cannot do this job anymore perfect!
I have tested raw(dped), spray tanned, home tanned and commercial tanned hides using every glue, hide paste, caulk and every epoxy! You can use cheaper glues and get far better results than by the scratch and bitch method.
I am working on an article to cover this.
If you need futher information e-mail me.
Here is what I found out on the water blown foam forms.
The cupped brush tends to roll up the foam skin, leaving hundreds of little tags the width of the brush bristle. These can be knocked off with a black and Decker mouse sander.
Stout ruffers do about the samething.
Sand blasting the quart media has hundreds of sharp edges hitting at the same place the same time. Quarts media is still the best way I believe to prep the form.
Blasting sand, garnet and many others dont have the cutting power sharp edges etc.
Crushed glass is maybe even better than quarts, its available in larger cities. I dont like the glass because it continues to cut, it never seems to dull, sound great right?
Crushed glass require you to be very careful and build a blasting booth, even the dust from crushed glass can cut your lungs.
Yes, gloves are required, full face shield is required, long sleeve heavy wieght jacket is requires, duct tape your jacket cuffs to your gloves.
A slow thinking friend thought he could use glass to cut paint from steel. He looked like he had been wire brushed except were his goggles were, his hands were cut, later in the evening he started coughing up blood all because he did not use a dust mask.
I use a dust mask and full face shield, with a hood when doing any sand blasting.
The great thing about having this cheap sand blaster for forms? Is you can quickly sand blast rust from garden tools, remove old paint from other shop tools and quickly! I cleaned a cream can my great GrandDad had in the early 1900's only took about 20 minutes to make it shine like new steel. Used an ultra fine media and literly shined the can.
Where I had previously used a orbital sander and never achieved the clean look and no rust.
Just a lot of things you can do with the sand blaster and the bottom of the line will work fine for most taxidermist.