I just skinned and fleshed a hog and I can't locate a form in the measurements I need. This hog looks like a domestic pig but the customer wants it mounted with a tusk mouth set. It doesn't even have visible tusks on the real skull. This hog measures 6 1/2 X 30. I have checked several suppliers and have not found any in these dimensions.This customer brought in two hogs and I have mounted the first one which looks like a normal Russian boar. I didn't even open the bag for the 2nd until I had the first one done. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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I'm assuming you mean that the nose on the form is just shorter than the real deal. If that's the case, you're going to have to modify the form. I don't use or even LIKE artificial pigs noses, but on this one, that's the only choice. Cut the muzzle in front of the eye and then back behind the mouth opening and angles that will shorten your muzzle. Then install a jawset with whatever teeth the client likes. The artificial muzzle will allow you to make a few "on the move" corrections to actual length and he'll end up with the vicious mount he's undoubtedly looking for.
With the desparity between the usual 30" form having about a 10 1/2" eye to nose vs. your 6 1/2", cutting the muzzle shorter between the eye and the back of the mouth will surely shorten your muzzle. But you are talking about a 4" removal! You might have the eyes practically over the mouth. But more so you'll probably have too much mouth on your mannikin for the lips of your cape to fit. That means that when you drape the skin over the nose and front of the lower jaw your lip skin will not reach the back corners of the mouth (where the upper and lower lip meet). You might want to take measurements of the lenght of the upper and lower lip and cut and shorten in increments the mouth FIRST then remeasure your eye to nose and cut out the remaining difference between the eye and back of the mouth as George described. Yes, it's tricky, but it can be done. Pay attention to anatomy such as the distance between the very front of the upper lip to where the whets are etc... This requires measuring your hog head prior to caping out the head preferably. You'll then have to dremmel out the mouth cavity to make the jawset fit this modification. You'll most likely have to go with a smaller jawset since you'll be shrinking the mouth opening. Buy your form according to the neck measurement. Good luck!
I have the cape tanned and have remeasured it.I've lost 2-3 inches during tanning and without rehydration or stretching I'll be much closer to a decent fit. I had shaved this cape SUPER thin so 30 inches was probably let out a lot. I wasn't able to get the neck measurement before caping. It's McKenzie tanned so it's essentially ready to mount as soon as I thaw it back out. I'm going to talk to the customer to explain what I'm having to do. There are several options available for a 26 inch neck with a 7-7.5 snout. I really think it will be easier to make the mount look good by taking up a couple of inches in the neck region instead of taking 2-3 inches off the snout. I feel pretty good about my alteration abilities but this one might have been above my ability if the form had to be altered 3 inches in the snout. Next time I'm going to tell the client to wait till he sees a hog that looks like a Russian instead of a Hampshire!He's heading to Africa next year and wants to bring back a warthog among several other species for me to mount. Not the kind of customer I want to lose. Thanks guys.
If you have a hog big enough that he had a 30 something inch neck, you have a hog that has a big head, never mind the short face. Thus that shorter face on the smaller necked mannikin, although sounds good by the numbers, will likely be too small in every other way besides the eye to nose measurements. It's likely to be too narrow between the eyes, skinny, and dinky looking to attach to a 30 plus neck. That's why I suggested you buy your mannikin according to the neck size.