Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Ice fishing scene for customer

Just completed this ice fishing scene for a customer. Still needs a little tweeking but is essentially complete. There is a glass case that sits on top of this.



Another angle



And another angle



Close up of chewing tabbaco container.

Pretty cool Cecil.

what's the snow made of?

not to mention the whole piece as work of art, the icehole and deep dark water affect is awesome cecil.

It's silicone caulking mixed with crushed white foam. I have included how it was done below for those that are curious:

First step: Black felt on the base area where the ice will be. Notice I had to piece several strips together. Local store didn't have the rolls they usually do, so I had to make due with pieces. Hot glued the edges of the pieces down. Seams weren't even visible in the final scene. You could skip the felt by using black Plexiglas if you can find it, or paint the base black instead. However due to the pattern of the particle board, I wasn't sure if the painting would cover it. I believe it would though.



Step two: Clear Plexiglas put down over the felt, and a bead of silicone put in where the edge meets the wood.



Clear silicone caulking used to make ice and snow for the scene.



Step three:

Crushed white foam is added to the silicone to make the ice and snow. I mix it in an ice cream gallon container. No set mixing ratio. Less foam for more icy look. More foam for a more slushy snowy look. Mix with tongue depressor or paint stick. Used four tubes on this piece but need to do some more tweeking tomorrow with one more tube of silicone caulk mixed with white crushed foam. I want to increase the thickness in some areas and add some lumps to the ice.



Step four: Mix is spread on with spatula or in this case an old car window scraper. ;D Note the Clorox bottle is set in place where the ice fishing hole will be. I smeared vaseline on the bottom edge of the bottle to keep the silicone mix from sticking to the bottle.



Completed scene for the most part that needs some tweeking tomorrow. Notice how the dark Plexiglas shows through in some areas just like dark ice. Tip up was cut short and the remaining end was glued to the Plexiglas with five minute epoxy. The crossbar of the tip up was also pushed into the silicone mix. Flag was epoxied in place to keep it from popping up in the glass case. I embedded an icefishing depth check weight and some hooks and sinker (not shown). Also note the chewing tobacco container which has the lid superglued. Anything you want on the simulated ice scene simply has to be pushed in a little and it's there to stay. Same goes for the fish. I will come back tomorrow and pour some automotive clearcoat in the hole to make it look wet, if I find out by testing on something else, it won't attack any of the materials. I have used environtex for this previously, but don't like the stuff. I've had it yellow on me. Probably what I purchased had been on the shelf too long.



I prefer working with this material vs. resin as it never yellows and is not as dangerous as resin. (I absolutely loath the fumes from resin too.) With some experimentation you can do some neat things with this stuff. You could add boot prints etc.

Amazing.

I believe you could do a realistic looking scene of a trophy fish, complete with beak-spearhole, laying on the ground next to the outraged PM who is bare-handedly choking the daylights out of the GBH he just forced to release his late, beloved fish.

Nice fish Cecil !! I like the display but down here no one would understand. They would think it was some nut storing his fish and dip inside of a freezer

That is soooo realistic. Of course the LMB looks great, but I almost can't get over the realism of the snow. That's amazing.

Great work of art Cecil

You got some issues with Great Blue Herons dude?

Kind of reminds me the rainbow trout I had on display at a sportsman's booth show. It was a rainbow jumping out of water with a splash etc. A little girl with a serious look turned to her Daddy and said, "Daddy, why does that fish have ice attached to it?"

Nice bass? Come on Bruce! I know you refer to largemouths as green carp!

Moi? I never, ever see any GBH.

Seriously you've never had them visit your ponds Theo?

Just practicing the third "S", Cecil.

But I've never lost any really big fish, that I know of.

Very cool mount, very realistic

Thanks for the kind comments TJ and the rest of you.

I decided to remove the the tabbaco chew container as there is no need to have a container for any kind of panfish grubs when fishing for bass with a tip up. Gonna pick up a minnow dip net today and use that instead. I will post a pif or the tweaked display later.

That's not your average taxidermist's display. A true work of art.

That is cruel leaving a live fish out of water like that but if you give him a little CPR it should be just fine.

Very nice Cecil!

Here's the final tweaked version. (Side view) I replaced the chew tabbaco container with a minnow bucket dipnet which is more appropriate.



Looking straight down.

I like the clip on ice fishing weight Cecil! That is exactly what I caught a 5-6 lber on earlier this year, the LMB hit the weight while I was setting the depth on the tip up, the one in your display looks exaclty like the one I lost when I set the hook.

I like that you added more "chips". I was thinking it needed some but didn't have a clue how to make them. It looks much more authentic now. How about an old metal skimmer instead of the minnow net? It's amazing how realistic it looks.

Dang Cecil that is amazing. I just visited the Bass Pro Shop in Vegas and I can tell you that your work could be featured there along side anything that they have.

Hopefully one day I can catch something big enough for you to work on for me, you are quite an artist my friend. I know you don't post here looking for accolades but you deserve them. Keep posting any and all projects, it's great to see what you're working on!

i liked the chew can

Purdy cool fer sure Cecil.