Lifesize, how do you prefer them molded and shipped?

Rudy, I DO make decisions based an how much time and foam it's going to take to re assemble Prefer whole cast. And I order 90% without rods. Don't like 1/2's
If you make 1/2's , be a ground breaker and v cut it then mold it . Yes it takes more to make the mold but aligns better here. Becomes a easy one man put together.
Sucks on your part for selling it in a 1/2 life-size but my world will never be perfect...LOL I've quit hoping... ;D
Get complete feet on them either hoof or foot bones, helps the younger guys out and my guys...
Tired of club foot mammal mannakins....and missing hoof bones on those type species.

It's all about time, That's translates into money.....

 

Totally agree with Dennis.

If they are molded in halves it means you still have to cut the foam skin off where they go back together, so then getting the two halves to line up properly becomes a problem.

Far better to chopsaw if it needs it; or ship whole if possible.

 

Ditto to the above,,, there is always a pressure bulge that ends up being an ever so slightly rounded surface that has to be cut off to allow bondo adhesion anyway.
I mold my larger life size like sambar in halves purely as a supplier convenience for shelf storage, ,,,and flat so they balance comfortably on the racking shelf,,, that's looking at the convenience from your / our side. Have never had problems with using bondo to glue a form back , and in Australia I ask all my life size i buy in for jobs to be cut as many times possible to fit in a minimal number of shipping boxs . At 70 plus dollars a box, that adds up where andy form bought is double the price landed here.
You won't please everyone , what is important Rudy is that the manufacturing cost of these forms ( your time making and assembling multi piece molds) doesn't blow out at your end as obviously this will have to be tacked onto the starting cost of EVERY purchase of that model.

 

Me too, mold it whole then cut it. Much better.

 

Mold complete and then hire someone who can be taught to wedge cut the form before shipping. They should be forced to see a guy in a one man shop trying to align a l/s Muslim that's been sliced straight across.

 

I have purchased forms that were cut for shipping and really have no complaints with that. Heck, I hack away at a large percentage of the forms I get anyway to get a perfect fit. As a customer, shipping costs are very important to me. It bites when the cost of shipping almost matches the cost of the form. I ALWAYS check shipping costs. There have been times I have purchased from a different supplier based on that alone.

 

I can get a LS big bear molded in 2 halves then the legs cut up and boxed in 2 UPS or FED boxes same goes for a lion or larger LS 2 boxes UPS 150.00
2 hours time at least to put together and refinish the cut spending 25.00 on foam = another 155.00 in cost....

OR I can get a whole LS uncut fully cast one piece LS shipped by truck $125
Who's do you think I'm buying?

 

This wouldn't change even if you had the V cut. Still would have the skin to deal with. Even worse because you would have 4 surfaces to deal with instead of two.

So you are pouring foam on clay? Wow what a pain in the butt for you, and the open cell foam would be packed with clay. the taxidermist would still have to cut it off to get good adhesion of the bondo.


Rudy the easiest lifesize form to mount on is a form that fits. Its a hundred times harder to alter a form that is a great pose but a little too big than to alter a plain posed form that fits, into an action pose that fits.

Again I agree with Dennis. No matter the pose that I have in mind I would order a plain standing form THAT FITS! with no steel in it before I ordered the exact pose I need that doesn't fit. Any day of the week. Cutting and gluing back is a fact of taxidermy life. I would rather make a half dozen easy ones with minimal grinding and shaping than 3 dozen cuts and a full day re-surfacing.

 

I agree wit these guys above. I very seldom order LS with rods. I absolutely hate the way all the LS are being made like a jigsaw puzzle. You get a head , a leg or two and the main body in 2 pieces. You have to assemble everything and then test your skin fit, then cut it all apart and do your alterations and reassemble. Twice as much work and twice as much foam for the same finished product. If a taxidermist is doing 2 bear or deer size LS a year they should be ordering by truck anyway. Its way less money to ship. One LS a year might be a push on cost I dont know. I cant help but think that suppliers are making things easier on them selves at the taxidermist expense. We do over 20 large LS a year and seems we work harder just putting things back together----- JUST TO START.

If I could buy a form thats together, I would put my money on it every time !

 

GEORGE!!! We as Christians gotta stop that, hahaha! You know they come in a thousand peices most of the time ;D

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Pour whole, cut when needed. The amount of time it takes a minimum wage guy with a sawall on your end to cut it equates to a 30.00 and hour guy spending 10 times the amount of time to put it back together on our end, plus materials.

No brainer.

 

LOL Will. I KNOW I need to proofread every DROID post yet I'm surprised every time at the reach that phone has in Auto correct mode. It was SUPPOSED TO READ "manikin".