Over the weekend I mounted a Mule deer, and everything seemed to turn out good except for the ears. I use the bondo method with fiberglass. First, I cut all the way to the edges of the ear, next I scoured the cartlidge for added adhesion and weakening of the cartlidge. Then I dunked it in laquer thinner to dry it out. And finally I added bondo and pushed it to the edges and let harden. Everything hardened in the right position and I had a nicely shaped, thin ear.
On the next day, after it dried, the ear seemed to cup inwards. There weren't any jagged curls, just a slight graddual cup over the whole ear where everything moved. What probably went wrong?
I mixed the bondo with little hardener so I had more worktime(15-20 min). And even applied bondo to the edges before I turned the ear inside out to ensure it was at the edges. Also is there any tricks to help correct this problem, now that it is dried? Thanks for your help.
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it is best to allow the bondo to be thicker in the center area of the ear. If the bondo is extremely thin - what I would consider to be abnormally thin, the ears may cup as you mention.
Your bondo was applied to thin and not enough fiberglass chop added to mixture.
look in the archives on ear magic
ive done hundreds of bondo ears
ear magic is a better product for the ears period
you still have to card the ear
and it will be flexible foe a couple of days
but
after that you have a ear that is thinner than you can do with bondo
and it will not drum
I started with bondo, and it seemed a little bit of a hokey way to do business. I now use a liner with magic smooth. It has a good set up time and seems to work great. I have considered using a bunch of other products including hide master and ear magic but cant force myself to move away from the magic smooth.
If the ears are thin. Heat, open, and card until they cool. Use air to cool them quicker.
Thanks for your responses. I'll try a few different things on my next mount.
I'd like to reshape them slightly if possible. Since it's been 2 days since the mount, I'm assuming I should also try to rehydrate the ears when trying to card and reshape them, along with using the hair-dryer? The ears are thin. Thanks
earliners! well worth the time and effort, especially on the big mulie ears