Most important pic, the taaaaaiilll from the original thread
http://mernetwork.com/index/attachme...8&d=1383035795
I bought my tail slightly used. The tail was previously owned by Trina the mermaid so it was never made to my measurements. Because of that I can't review Mertailor's customer service, measurements compared to fit etc.
Craftmanship:
The tail is a 100% dragon skin tail with raised scales and twice as thick as his tails normally are. The tail weights over 30 pounds I don't know exactly but the weight of the shipment in total was 40lbs. It has one smaller dorsal fin and a set of ankle fins. Very beautiful and vibrant color scheme that has pearly glow underwater. It's sturdy and feels like it's made to last a nuclear war :D When handling it/putting it on I don't fear ripping it or anything because of the thickness, which is great.
But still even though it's beautiful I was very surprised how sloppily it was still made. I thought Eric would do super quality to his long time mermaid customers (Trina). You can't really see the flaws until you take a closer look. The first thing you notice is the seams which are visible. It looks like very little effort was put into hiding them. There is also some gaps in fluke seams (not drainholes) that you can even put your finger in. The silicone is not torn or anything like that the fluke pieces are not just glued/bonded together properly in the first place. This problems repeats everywhere in the tail causing holes, not ones that go all the way through but.. holes. There is also some mold imperfections mostly in the fluke area. When you compare to for example Raven's tails, every line seems to be in it's right place. In this tail they just go where they go and are in some places uneven.
only few of the holes found in the fluke, and the fluke texture
http://aijaa.com/SlfrTg
Another thing that puzzled me was that the tails base color, the silicone itself, is colored blue. In a pink gold tail... why?
Also the seams. There was lots of excess silicone in the seams (inside the tail) and overall how the seams were done was interesting. I guess it was in case of re-sizing or something. No matter why it was done so, it took a lot room off everywhere falsifying the fit. Inside the tail there were lots of "clear" silicone in places where it shouldn't be. Combined with the tails great suction, very uncomfortable plus because of the lumps of silicone in wrong places the tail didn't fit "like a second skin". It fit me as well as tail made to someone else could fit, but the lumps prevented perfection lol so to speak
The seams need to be re-done. I'm bummed that I have to do tail surgery to a new tail because of someone's lack of interest to do a decent job, but I have no choice really. The biggest lump I found inside the tails was 1/3 of my fist..so yeah. But while I'm at it I have the chance to perfect the fit too and try to make the seams look better.
inside the tail
http://aijaa.com/gLXywI
holes and the seam
http://aijaa.com/TdTLeF
Swimming/wearing:
Now we get to the nice part. The tail swims great and it has very nice kick!
It's nearly weightless in the water. Though it weights enough to help you sink if you let it, but it doesn't try to drown you. The suction is huuuge! Once it's on you could get hit by a tsunami or something and it wouldn't come off. It takes time to get it off. And getting in too is a different story. Because of the thickness rolling it down is out of question. So far tons of lube and lots of wiggling with pair of helping hands is needed :D the tail has monofin straps and without them putting it on would be impossible.
When swimming, the tail does not forgive you, it kind of forces you to swim the right way. If you want to avoid sore ankles/muscles just obey the tail lol
It looks amazingly realistic with it's movements underwater & on land. Super heavy on land, but I am now able to lift my fluke after little practice. The more I handle the tail the lighter it gets, it's my personal gym! haha!
Moving/swimming etc in a silicone tail is so different compared to other tails, this is all a big learning process to me and will take some time. I never thought it would be this different, but it's great still!
The end and conclusion:
But in overall I will give Mertailor 3,5/5 stars because in all it's a fantastic tail. If someone asked me could I recommend Mertailor I'd rather not comment.
The tail serves it's purpose, looks amazing and swims great and I love it. There is flaws that shouldn't be there and if I paid the full price I would have shipped it right back. This is not how pro does a tail. When pro does a tail you are unable to complain about anything. That is quality. And with the price tags these tails are having customer expects nothing more than 1st quality. I wont order my future tails from Mertailor, I might buy them used but that's because I can see the final product and have no suprises. I don't write this just to upset people or to say Mertailor does nothing but bad tails, no, these are just the facts based on my experience. I was a little bit let down.
I really like my tail and will like it even more when I'm done with the repairs. Can't wait to get back in the pool with it and start working. It is still the Finland's very first silicone tail :)
at pool, still waiting for better pictures
http://mernetwork.com/index/attachme...3&d=1387170023
http://aijaa.com/W6MFN7
There is also some pictures more in my new blog. Go check it out although it's in finnish :)
http://fintasticme.blogspot.fi/
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