# i made an oopsy and i need help



## trapper_max (Jul 23, 2007)

i ordered a deer form that the nose was about an inch or 2 too short and the neck too small. is there anything that i can do to build that up without hurting the deers features?



thanks in advance

trapper max


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## Big Buck (Feb 8, 2000)

how much to small is the neck? your best bet is to order what you need and maybe sell what you have.

by the time you add what you need, you will say to your self I should have bought a new one.

good luck


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## chris_kreiner (Sep 6, 2006)

Definitely order what you need. You can usually make it if you are only a 1/4" different on the nose but 1-2" is way to much. I agree with Big Buck sell what you have and order the right size. As a novice it would be very difficult for you to replace the anatomy correctly. Good Luck!!


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## hoyt8 (Dec 18, 2006)

trapper_max said:


> i ordered a deer form that the nose was about an inch or 2 too short and the neck too small. is there anything that i can do to build that up without hurting the deers features?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


1 to 2 inches too short of a nose sounds like there is something more wrong. Did you measure the nose to eye length before you ordered the form or did the form come wrong? Who was the supplier of the form? I know when i first started taxidermy the forms I started with from a certain supplier did not measure to what I ordered. Since then I get all my forms from McKenzie.


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## Liv4Trappin (Feb 22, 2006)

I was thinking along those same lines. 1"-2" off on the eye to nose measurement sounds a bit much. 

Mike


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

Eye to nose is the last ting that I look at when I measure up a form. The B and C are much more important. I have had forms with the A off by an inch and not had a problem. I'd say that what everyone else is confirming for you is correct. That being said, here are a few tricks that I have used over the last 15 or so years....

A form that is slightly under the original measurements will usually look bigger when finished. ( 0/0 fit with no slop. IE exactly right) 
You can tell this when the incision closes seam to seam. It's a bit of a pain to "lift" the skin to make the next stitch. You seem to be worried that you might pop a stitch when you go to sew. What I do is...Rasp the form down just a little bit. This will usually need open plastic mesh (carding) and a lot of T-pins run along each side of the seam to keep it from opening up while drying. If the form had some slop, it will be easier to taxi the skin to form muscle details and not worry about drumming.

Everything fits great,but...for some reason there seems to be a lot of loose skin in the muzzle (behind the nostril wing) and along the lower sides of the jaw line.(where the white hair joins the brown) My fix.....Caulking gun. Pump 2 or 3 times on each side. Start as deep as you can and pull forward and out with each pump. Tuck lips, nose and work caulk along jaw and muzzle. Sort of like doing ducks. Works great!

Everything fits great, but...it seems like the neck at the ear/back jaw junction could have been larger,(the C/D measurement) but if I ordered that form nothing else would have fit. My fix...the time to make the neck look bigger is just before you sew up the incision...once again my fix for this is by using caulk. Several full pumps on both side will do wonders! (Use the cheapest water soluble caulk that you can get) Finish sewing, them softly smooth out each side. This will add about an inch or so to the over all appearance. With practice, you will get a good feel as to how much and when its warranted.

As long as I'm talking about caulk. I pump about 2 full squeezes into the center of the forehead, but not until after I have both antler tines sewn up, but before I start on the down side of the incision. What this does is fill out the hair patterns above the eye,(the dark long hair on top of the head, not the short white eye ring area) smooths out the skull plate/form junction at the forehead, and the skin around the burrs. This plumps up and at the same time, softens the head. Sort of like when you put a thin layer of clay under the nose pad). 

Last but not least, some deer have weird briskets and the patterns just wont lay right. Rather than fighting with it, one or two blasts of caulk under the offending area usually is enough to tame the unruly problem.

Forms rarely fit the skin as it did on a live animal. However, I have found that by using caulk to replace the fat layers that are no longer there, many problems can be fixed quite easily.

Mitch


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