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Hey there, I just recently snagged a few flap cats for a great price, but when they got here two of them had chipped ears! It’s the same ear on both, they’re both black tuxedos, and one of the ears has a nick out of it and the other one, urk, is missing the top and is colored in with… what appears to be sharpie. D: Any advice on re-shapping the ears would be great- what I should use, etc. and I dunno, but maybe Melody would have some pain for me to be able to fix them? I read through he other posts but didn’t seem to find anything on chippy kitties, so I am sorry if I missed it!
Thank you all so much in advance for any help!
To reshape, try apoxie sculpt. Black is easy. It isn’t straight black. It’s kind of a warm black. I take black with a bit of Raw Umber or Burnt Umber (I can’t remember which off the top of my head) mixed in. It matches perfectly. Just work in very thin layers. Seal (I use Testor’s/Krylon, but there are other spray sealants, as well as brush on sealants) that work very well.
The flap cat ears chipping seem to be pretty common when in transit if not super well packed or from mishaps on shelves with previous owners.
There are also members of the forum who will do repairs for a fee as well, and some are quite excellent. I can recommend at least drag0nfeathers and kyrin off the top of my head, but there are others that could do a good job as well. It also depends on who is available.
Good luck!
Something that I find works well and really matches the texture of the gypsum is a trick I learned restoring Breyer horses. It uses super glue and baking soda. Two things that you likely have laying around.
You dab the super glue on the spot and sprinkle on the baking soda. Just build it up until it fills the area. Dab, sprinkle, dab, sprinkle, repeat. The glue dries quick and the baking soda helps give substance to the repair. Don’t worry if it overflows the area or makes a big glob. Once the spot has been filled you shape the glue/soda glob with sandpaper until it meets with your approval. Sometimes you will uncover a hole in the mixture as you shape/sand. Just re-apply the glue/soda and continue on.
You will find the glue/soda really adhears to the base material. Much better than epoxy and it is easier to find.
When you get the glue on yourself, and you will ;), it can be cleaned up with finger nail polish remover.
Once you get the shape back then touch-up and you are done.
This is a small flapcat I repaired using this method. Half an ear, the front paws and an edge of the wing were missing.
Oh wow, thank you both so much! I think the baking soda approach will be perfect since it’s just the ear tips! That’s amazing, I am going to have to play around with that and see if I can shape anything resembling close to their ears- thankfully I have a non chippy flapper to look at for an example!
I didn’t know that, Robin!! That sounds like an excellent method!
A couple months ago I was walking around an antique store and I spotted a black batwing flapcat on a shelf marked $3 (yes, THREE dollars!). I was so excited by my find that I didn’t notice that more than half his ear is gone and looks like someone had colored it with a marker to cover it, too. I’m gonna give that method a go!Woooow! I got mine for 20 each and I thought it was a steal! That is exactly my issue with one of them, the ear is colored in! Maybe this is a common thing!
$20 each is a deal! Ironically, the $3 kitty I found, I had already bought one just like it on eBay for $42, LOL. 😀
$20 each is a deal! Ironically, the $3 kitty I found, I had already bought one just like it on eBay for $42, LOL. 😀
Oh NO! Well two is better than one!
Something that I find works well and really matches the texture of the gypsum is a trick I learned restoring Breyer horses. It uses super glue and baking soda. Two things that you likely have laying around.
You dab the super glue on the spot and sprinkle on the baking soda. Just build it up until it fills the area. Dab, sprinkle, dab, sprinkle, repeat. The glue dries quick and the baking soda helps give substance to the repair. Don’t worry if it overflows the area or makes a big glob. Once the spot has been filled you shape the glue/soda glob with sandpaper until it meets with your approval. Sometimes you will uncover a hole in the mixture as you shape/sand. Just re-apply the glue/soda and continue on.
You will find the glue/soda really adhears to the base material. Much better than epoxy and it is easier to find.
When you get the glue on yourself, and you will ;), it can be cleaned up with finger nail polish remover.
Once you get the shape back then touch-up and you are done.
Robin, thank you! I’m in the middle of a horn repair that took out a chunk of a uni forehead, and this technique works remarkably well. Apoxie Sculpt isn’t available in town, and driving further out wasn’t in the cards this week, so having a trick that used items on hand has been terrific.
I’ll add that once I had the shape for the most part, I did add a thin layer of dark paint to mine. This has made both the necessary sanding and the carving of individual hair lines easier for me to see. (It does help that I’m working on a black uni, so the dark paint isn’t an issue!) For small repairs especially, this is definitely one way to go.
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