Nirvana: Part 3

This is Nirvana in his current state:

All of the epoxy fingerprints have been sanded off, and his neck has been sanded a bit.  He will need more sanding with a finer grit paper to define the muscles better.  His right front leg was straightened, hooves were filed down, and a peg added.  He can stand, even on this upholstered piano bench!

I used a heat gun (paint stripper) with a narrow funnel end to bend his leg.  The low heat setting worked fine.  I heated the bent area just above the knee, moving the heat gun around all sides until it would bend.  It was a weird place for the leg to be bent, but it seemed like the best way to fix the leg.  He does have a slight "noodle bone" now but it should be easily fixed with some epoxy.

Leg was bent slightly outward just above the knee.

Then, into a bucket of water to cool and set.

Make sure the bucket is big enough to actually submerge the moved area...

Then, I filed down his hooves to the correct shape.  I check them by setting the raised hooves flat against the edge of the table, as it's easier to see shape problems when they're "on the ground".

Just like the real thing.  Miniature farrier!

Before

After

His front hooves, however still need more work and I'll have to add epoxy to fix them.  But I decided to add the peg now anyway, so he can stand.  I may have to move it later, but I'm tired of him falling over.

 

 It's really easy.  First, drill a small hole with a pin drill.  These are cheap and available from the woodworking section of most craft/hobby stores.  It's basically like an X-acto blade handle with tiny drill bits.  If the hole is the same size as your plastic rod you won't need any glue.

 Then, insert a short section of plastic rod.  I got these from the local model train/hobby shop.  I used the blue 1/16" rod on Nirvana, as he doesn't need much support, and the narrow rod is inconspicuous.  If the rod was longer or holding more weight, I might go for the thicker rod.

 

 The larger 1/8" rod is what I use on custom Stablemate jumpers.  It does bend if it's a long piece such as the pegasus here, but for an average jumper it doesn't.  And with the right lighting, the clear rod just disappears.

Even though the rod is fluorescent blue (the model shop didn't have clear 1/16") it isn't very noticeable.  Now I just have to borrow a Dremel, and then I can finish his poor lame front feet in the next round of epoxy.