[gwc]

I am mounting a Robin to a small round brantch made of steel tubing.The feet are made of copper wire with pins on the bottom. I am not sure if the front toes should rap firmly oround the branch or can thay be slightly loose. The copper is fairly hard to bend. I am thinking of using Two part epoxy to mount the feet to the branch. Any suggestions on mounting and positioning of toes would be helpful.

Thanks Gordo.

[David_Aaron_Sercel]

Gordo, The position of the toes depends on what the bird is doing. If
the bird has just landed and isn’t going to stay there long, then the
toes will not be rapped tightly around the branch, but the bird will
be merely balancing itself rather then clutching and the toes will
be loose on the branch. But, on the other hand, If the bird is going
to be staying there a while, or if it is windy, or if the bird is in an
awkward or unstable position, then it will be grabbing the branch
with the toes wrapped more tightly around the branch. You can
use the position of the toes to tell the viewer more about what the
bird is doing.

As far as mounting the bird on the branch, I would suggest that, if
possible, you either solder the feet to the branch, or drill holes in the
branch for the pins on the bottom of the feet to be inserted into, and
then use epoxy. The only problem with epoxy is that it doesn’t adhere
well to smooth surfaces like metal. If you are going to just use epoxy,
then I would suggest that you rough-up the surfaces that will be glued
together with a file or some coarse sandpaper. Also, if you glue the feet
to the branch after it is painted, then the glue will sometimes pull the paint
off the branch, and the feet will come off. Because, in that case, the glue
is only attached to the layer of paint.


I hope that helped

David

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

another adhesive that works is 'marine epoxy' from wallyworld, it will dry in just an hour or so, will even dry under water...but will really stick..and you can mold it a bit when you put it on and later use a dremel or rotary tool and shape it....just another idea!