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Posts: 8792
| I have an old skin mount from the early 80's that I'd like to have redone. It's in good condition, but showing its age. Part of me says leave it alone, because it still looks like it did the day I got it. But the paint jobs guys like Lax and Fittante are doing these days are incredible. Has anyone ever had an old mount repainted? |
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Posts: 770
| Got a picture? |
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Posts: 77
Location: Southwest Pa | Just leave it alone... some older bait shops I have went into the older looking mounts are gnarly and tell a story of a million words without a sound. IMO |
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Posts: 352
Location: Vilas County, WI | I had a skin mount King Salmon that was showing its age cleaned up by a taxidermist. He repainted it and it didn't look anything like what I had before hand. I ended up disappointed that I had it 'touched up'. Doesn't look any where near as cool anymore. Maybe this taxidermist wasn't well versed on touch ups? I don't know.
When it comes to painting a mount, the replica guys are the experts on that I would think. |
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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | I can ask my dad as he's been a full-time taxidermist my entire life. I don't know how well anyone will be able to touch up a skin mount, but I could be wrong on that. I'm thinking the skin won't take the paint that well. |
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Posts: 229
| Check out Lax...he reworked the record Tiger that came out of Lax Vieux Desert over 100 years ago, and it looks wonderful.
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Posts: 427
| I've been a Taxidermist for 40 yrs. Some skin mounts are better left alone because of their condition. How the fins were backed is one concern but the biggest problem I've seen is how the mount was cleaned and what clear coat was used on it originally. Years of cleaning with a wax base product such as the box stores sell often produce a wax build up that can be hard to remove. You can't paint over wax. Also some older clear coats will be difficult to paint over. As paint builds up on the mount you loose scale detail. I've done many repaints that came out great. But I've learned what to avoid. I also explain the risks to my customers before I start. If I can't strip the old paint off I pass on the repaint. Your best bet is to use the original Taxidermist if possible. He knows what was used. Often just reapplying the clear coat is all that's needed to revitalize the look. Good luck |
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Location: Eagle Lake Vermilion Bay, Ontario | rick lax taxidermy
i've seen complete redo that looked like they shoulda been thrown in the dump look like a new mount when completed 1 of which is the #1-2 tigers mentioned.
its a complete, entire redo and a detailed process from what rick described to me not just repainted so it depends on how much that particular fish/expereince means to you. it will likely be as much or more that of a new mount and you'll prob have to talk him into it.
rick lax 715 547 3710 laxreproductions.com
steve herbeck
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Posts: 8792
| Thank you Steve.
Back then it was a "special" fish. I was a kid. In my world, this was THE fish. Nobody believed me. Even my father said "Aaah f-you, you're fulla #*#*! Whaduya godduh make up #*#* like THAT for?!! Ain't no fish like THAT in this lake!!" There was one. I saw it. And I was GOING to catch it. It took me most of a summer.
I finally caught it. Everybody went nuts. "Ya godda mount dat!" "Ya godda get dat stuffed!!!!" "Dat thing is HUGE!!!"
I kept it alive in a giant bucket all weekend.
I wanted to put it back so I could catch it again, but when you're a kid, and every adult is going ape #*#* you really don't have much choice. So, we wrapped it up in a garbage bag and took it to Gander Mountain. (back when Gander mountain was a store in Kenosha) The broad there said "Oh, it's still alive!". I wanted to puke. Next weekend we went up there, like every other weekend... the lake was empty. "What the hell am I fishing for? I already caught the fish."
That was the last thing I ever killed for sport. Food? Well... |
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Posts: 20
Location: Marshfield,WI | You should maybe consider not putting any more money into the old skin mount, and instead have an exact replica mount done. Since you have the original skin mount it should be easy to duplicate. If you have a photo of the fish when you caught it, even better. The replica will look better than your original skin mount and will last a lifetime. |
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