recycle or throw away old fishbutt tail.

[Prince Calypso]

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my old tail.
my original plan had been to save up a bit of cash and buy a basic silicone tail from the mertailor and i pretty much had the money too but then Eric chose to raise his prices without warning and I could no longer afford it.

so I'm tying to figure out if i should try and salvage my original tail and attempt to repaint it or something or just throw it out and try to save up the money for a basic tail again and pray Eric doesn't raise the prices further.
if I do choose to refurbish the tail I have no idea how.
its a Alex plus tail, if I recall correctly from a conversation I had with Raina about it
with a neoprin backing and kinda crappy pain job.

so it it worth trying to bring it back to life, or should I just throw it out and be done with it
and if I do try and fix it up how should I do it
should i try repainting it, reapplying a different silicone to it, making it a sequin tail or what
or should i bite the bullet and attempt to make my own.
any help or suggestions or ideas would be appreciated

[Yulia]

I know that Fifi Tigg here on the forum has refurbished an old Fishbutt, and it looks great now!
But since it is alex plus I'm not sure if it is something you would want to use.

[Fifi Tigg]

I will be happy to help you out, but could you post up some pictures so I can see what you are dealing with? ;)

[AniaR]

^ Fifi is your best bet!!!

[Prince Calypso]

so here's the tail front and back.

3088030881

from a distance it doesnt look that bad but...

30882
30883
30884
30885

the color is fading out and rubbing off. The fins are frayed and tattered a bit. but the fluke got the worse of it i think.

30886
30887

it wasn't painted all that well to begin with but i could overlook it but the color is rubbing off on the corners. i thought those little white dots may have just been sand from my last beach trip but turns out their just where dots of paint rubbed off from the sand.

[Mermaid Wesley]

I think it looks ok. You could probably fix it up!

[AniaR]

Hmm are we SURE its Alex plus and not silicone caulking? Does it ever get white? ( usually a sign of Alex plus)

[Prince Calypso]

i've had it for a while and the only time it got even kinda whiter was the first time i modeled in it. other than that i keeps its color and form fairly well.
the texture has kinda worn down but you can still prety much see the scale pattern and the color has kept up well in most places except where it wasn't painted well like near the fluke and along the seems.

[Prince Calypso]

I'm also just over the color scheme.
if i can repaint it and attach some different fins and maybe a few other things i would fine with it.
it also needs to be taken in a bit. its stretched out a bit

[Prince Calypso]

so what should i do?

[AniaR]

do a very small patch test somewhere not noticeable to be sure if it's alex plus or silicone caulking. (I know she experimented with both) of it's alex, silicone caulking wont stick well to it. If it's alex there's a few older tutorials from back in 2011 on the site for how to tint it and use it best. If it's silicone caulking (it's so hard for me to tell cuz it LOOKS to me like silicone) fifi knows how to best deal with that. If it's silicone caulking you might have more options paint wise!

[Raayvhen]

You can mix powder pigments with the GE silicone. Squeeze a bit into either a plastic container or metal bowl and then mix the pigments really well into it and then you can experiment from there.

[MerEmma]

Wow, your tail has held up well. I don't blame you for wanting to fix it up, but it seems like it's in really good shape.

[Prince Calypso]

Yeah it has and the problems i have with it are a bit minor and your average wear and tear i'm assuming
but i just want a change.

[Prince Calypso]

do a very small patch test somewhere not noticeable to be sure if it's alex plus or silicone caulking. (I know she experimented with both) of it's alex, silicone caulking wont stick well to it. If it's alex there's a few older tutorials from back in 2011 on the site for how to tint it and use it best. If it's silicone caulking (it's so hard for me to tell cuz it LOOKS to me like silicone) fifi knows how to best deal with that. If it's silicone caulking you might have more options paint wise!


I'll try that out and see what happens

[Fifi Tigg]

You can thin down aquarium silicone with turpentine, then cover the tail and fins with it.
Then dust over the colour pigment of your choice and once set recoat with more thinned down silicone :)

[Prince Calypso]

You can thin down aquarium silicone with turpentine, then cover the tail and fins with it.
Then dust over the colour pigment of your choice and once set recoat with more thinned down silicone :)

would i have to reapply the scales stamping/ texture or will it still appear scaled after i apply the thinned silicone?

[Fifi Tigg]

Depends on how deep the original scales are and how thick you do the thinned down silicone :)