I will be mounting an open mouth bear for this year's show in the amateur division. Anyone have a recommendation on weather I should do the mouth with a detailed mouthcup, painted mouthcup and add my own details, or do the whole inner mouth myself? I can tell you which is going to look better! Would I, as an amateur be marked down for not doing the painting all myself? Buckeye advertises "competion open mouth" shoulder mounts with mouthcups that are costly, but worth it if someone in the know-how tells me it's a good idea. Thanks.
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I am all for people learning to do these things from scratch,but it takes a lot of time to get good at it and it doesn't sound like you have that kind of time.If I were you,I would use the detailed mouth cup.A couple tips:1.Fit the mouth cup in the form and see if any of the form needs built up or take down to make a nice fit.The mouth cup should stick out from the form app. 1/16" (skin thickness).Those things don't always fit the form that evenly around the lip line.Rasp down the foam on the high spots and build up the low spots with your favorite epoxy putty.2.I like to bevel the sharp edge of the mouthcup where the skin meets it.Other wise when you finish putty,that sharp edge wants to stick out through your putty.This way,your finish putty laps slightly over that beveled edge of the mouth cup and blends into it.I bevel about 1/8" of the edge with a sanding drum on a dremel.3.I texture the skin areas with a wet,Scotch Brite pad.4.When you finish putty,don't do it once and then say that's good enough.Putty once,let it get hard,go back with a strong light and find you flaws.Again,grind off any high spots and re-putty and texture where needed.Do this two or three times if neccesary.5.Bear lips are usually flesh colored,just like the mouth cup is painted.The juncture that you puttied will be dark brown-use reference.You may have to spray some flesh were the putty blends onto the lip,then dark brown over.6.Make sure you cut ear pockets in the form and set the ears at the proper depth.I am not sure if the catalog still shows how to do this.I can get you that if you can't find it.If you have any questions send me an email.Good luck with it.
Jim, that was about 5 times the response I expected. Thanks for all the extra info!
There are a lot of little things to attend to on a mount like that.I didn't figure this stuff out till I had mounted quite a few.I hope that helps you on your first one.Good luck with your competition.