SCO's Frequently Asked Questions

We try to keep things as simple as possible around here... we happily follow the KISS model (Keep It Simple Stupid).
However, we do seem to be asked a lot of the same questions from time to time so thought it prudent to maintain this FAQ page.
Hope it helps!

1). Can you please give me a free shark so that I may write a review?
The practice of giving away free product for a "Positive Review" even though it is practiced by many, is just not ethical. We did try a trade once years ago because we were promised by the reviewer that he was a big somebody and it would be great advertising. It wasn't, he did nothing for us. But he sure got a great discount shark!

In the last sixteen years we have received about 600 such requests for free sharks. Each one with a great reason why we should invest our personal time and money into spending weeks making free sharks to donate to them. Could you afford the time and money to provide 600 free things to people who do not value your time and labor at least equal to their own?

Each custom shark costs us hundreds of dollars and many days to create and complete. We'd have gone bankrupt many years ago working for free for even 1/10th the requests sent in to us for various reasons. Things have to make $ense to make sense and working for free just does not work anywhere. 

2) Do you offer military discounts?
USA Military only. Our prices are already as low as we can afford to provide while staying in business. We are a husband and wife team and produce every product 100% by ourselves here in America. The best we can offer is a percentage off of actual shipping cost depending on product and your shipping location. Thank you for your service to our country, and a thank you to your family for their sacrifice as well.

3). Why don't you list your phone number?
We spend a little over 2 hours each day just sitting answering emails and messages, instead of making sharks. It's a lot. We did try letting our number out once around 2012 but ended up getting phone calls all hours of the day and night.  Honestly, we just can't stop molding, casting and painting sharks to field calls.

So we have followed in the footsteps of other busy online businesses. Our website is specifically designed to showcase our products. Not to mention our Film Credits and even Happy Customer Gallery and Blog. Anything not easily made clear can be answered via an email or PM which we are able to catch up with on a break or assigned time for messages. This is how we handle this portion of the business where we are providing fans with commissions or custom shark displays. Simply the most effective and smart way to run things smoothly.

Now when directors or other large businesses need contact we will FT them or call with them, but those are for contracted large dollar opportunities, which is the backbone of our business and helps us afford providing these Bruce Shark services to our fellow fans for these insanely low prices. Thanks for understanding!

4). When will my shark begin production?
Once your order is placed materials are purchased to keep our line running smoothly. Your shark will go into the production line queue in the order that they were received. Please contact us to get an estimate on your projected shipping date.

5). What is the turn-around time, how soon can I get my shark?
Everything depends on our work schedule for films and private commissions. Please write us for a build time estimate. 
We are simply busier now than we have ever been all decade. In MANY cases we deliver ahead of schedule. We are typically working through a very high volume of orders. Under this high order volume, we have been able to deliver ahead of schedule about 30% of the time, just on time about 40%, and up to 2 weeks later than estimated the remainder third.
We maintain a very tight schedule, so the sooner you order and pay in full the sooner you will be scheduled in.  And then you get to be one of the 7400+ SCO Custom Bruce Shark Happy Customers too☺!

6). May I avoid fees and send a check or money order?
Yes, you may avoid transaction fees and send a check or money order within the USA. If you live outside of the USA, you may send an International Money Order. Please contact us and we will give you our shipping address. We will contact you the moment your payment is received and secure your order at that time.

7). I've placed my order; how do I give you my customization preference?
Once your order is received you will receive an email confirmation thanking you for your order. You may reply to that email with any photos, screengrabs, or descriptive words for us to use as reference. 

8). May I change my customization preference after I place my order?
You may make modifications to your customization request by writing us as soon as possible. It would be prudent to make any and all changes BEFORE your shark goes into the final detailing stage. Please contact us and we will let you know the progress of your shark.

9). What’s the difference between the Tow Sled and the Platform shark?
If you take a rubber glove and put it on a normal sized person, it looks one way. But that same glove stretched out on a very large and heavy man looks much different. The Tow Sled Shark was stretched on a slightly modified/larger and different shaped frame that was jointed differently for different movements than the Platform sharks. It was also padded thicker. In many behind the scenes photos the upper lip also hang down a bit more and the eye cut-outs much different in size and shape than the platform sharks. The skin wore and hung differently on its differently jointed frame as well. It had a much fatter look overall than the Platform Sharks or the Hooper cage shark.

This is why neither the Sled nor the Platform sharks look exactly like the display shark that hung by its tail at Universal Studios in the 70's and 80's. That display shark was a stiff fiberglass pull from the Bruce molds never stretched over any frames or waterlogged.
Beyond this please refer further to the large volume of information and photos on each shark's individual sales page for more explanation of the many differences. In the end it comes down to what you like better for your personal display☺.

10). We want to come visit your facility!
We make everything to order here, per each order, and we don't even have one single shark of our own on a shelf. So our website hosts all the fancy photos, happy customer galleries, behind the scenes videos from our film work and all that fun stuff. The rest is simply shop space and our living quarters. With our kids all grown and gone we now work out of our private home and from our studio and workshop. We do not carry insurance for facility visits and must keep our production methods secret as well. But thank you for wanting to!

11). Mike, what's the story on your All New Attack Pose Life Sized Great White Shark Head Trophy Wall mount/Conservation Project? You advertise that you modeled it after a real White Shark that you studied that was caught in a net. But there's a rumor floating around that you really made that for a film, what's true?
Surprisingly both statements are true!
We have been making and selling Life-Sized White Shark heads since our early days of Ebay. I think around 2003-04? That original bust based on our reference from a female shark I personally studied; which I modeled her on a taxidermy shell cut up to support our new sculpt.

Around 2014 Brannon Carty hired us to make multiple shark props for his film "Shark". We used a hard casting of our initial White Shark to add about 120 pounds of clay on to model his Life-Sized Shark. Our original shark head was in a relaxed pose, his shark was in the full attack pose. This we have since greatly updated and that is our current Life-Sized White Shark Bust. Beautiful perfection right down to her serrated teeth to boot!

Every casting of this incredible shark that goes on a wall somewhere is our invested effort to keep a real-world shark alive and reproducing, and especially from being hunted and taxidermied. So yes, she's modeled on a real shark, and yes, castings have actually been used for multiple projects including our latest.

12). Will you be coming out with a 3-foot Open-Sided Bruce Shark?
As we've advertised on social media and our Blog page, we have many shark models waiting in the wings for upcoming release.
Due to the unscrupulous copy-catting of our products it is necessary for us to post updates with discretion. We advise all customers to follow us on our social media pages and check our blog pages frequently for these release updates.

13). Will you be releasing a kit version of any of your products?
We currently sell kit versions of a few of our sharks. You may find them on their appropriate product pages.

14). Can I put my SCO Bruce shark in the water?
Yes, when you order let us know and I will paint on extra layers of automotive enamel paints and sealers to help protect the shark's paintjob from the water and sun. This should really help make everything last a lot longer. Plus, you can always touch the shark up with any enamel model or hobby, or car paint if need be after. Under typical indoor display conditions these sharks will outlive me. So just like any car or house or boat, rough handling can scratch and wear paint faster. Nothing is indestructible. But with the extra paint and topcoats everything should last decades and decades with careful handling.

15) My fins are loose, is there a way to secure them more permanently?
Yes, the fin attach point is only a simple little peg and slot like any museum display or FX prop joint. Not meant to snap-fit like any Lego system at all like a styrene or PVC or Nylon injection metal molding. I have experimented with dozens of little tab and slot type systems over the decade and it all still comes back to simply a peg and a slot to stick it in. Nothing could be easier. The more complicated the slot the more variation can be experienced with humidity and the less the fit is possible over the decades. These pure resins are perfect in every performance, especially long-term stability. But they do absorb and lose humidity as all Urethane's do.

The solution as we have provided all these years is one drop of glue, your choice. Simply insert the fin with one drop of glue on your peg and hold until set. Now, if you do not want a more permanent superglue attachment then simply use a drop of hot glue on your peg. You see, the fins have to be molded either white or grey. And a tight fit equals paint rubbing. So, what we learned about 1000 sharks ago was to use a thick acrylic paint on the peg that any glue that you use, it will adhere to paint instead of the bare plastic. So even a superglued fin can be removed and all you damage is the protective-paint on the peg or hole.  Perfection in simplicity☺! Don't worry about the 'disposable' paint on the peg, its job is to keep a bare plastic to plastic bond. But if that form of permanence is what you want then all you need do then is to scrape the paint off the peg and glue away. 

16) Do you do commission work?
Yes, we do! Write to us at contactsharkcityozark@yahoo.com for more info.

17) May I have a photo of my shark before you send it?
That is honestly a very good question, which we respect, and get quite often. Many years ago, we did try to meet such requests but were forced to just give that up. This is why we do not advertise this very time-consuming individual photoshoot service but instead rely on each shark's product sales page to fulfill this function for us like other online retailers.

Another reason we do not provide individual photos is the issue of different color values between our studio lights and your monitor or smartphone, making the shark look different than actually painted in person. We once honored this request back in 2011 and ended up repainting the customer's shark 3 times because he had his monitor set "too blue" and thought the white belly was still too blue.... We just do not have any spare time in our workflow being scheduled out fully now months in advance.

However, we have invested hundreds of hours into well-lit photo shoots of each and every product, with most products even now featuring videos as well! Not to mention our Happy Customer Gallery page with its many hundreds of photos clearly advertising what we sell. 
Please visit our Happy Customer Gallery, see the happy faces and excellent quotes. We have no doubts you will love your shark too. ☺

18). Do you offer payment plans for international customers?

For our US customers, we offer flexible installment payments through Shop Pay Installments — simply select Shop Pay at checkout to split your purchase into manageable payments.

For our international customers (including UK and EU), we are happy to work with you directly on payment arrangements. Please contact us before placing your order and we will do our best to accommodate you.