For a 30 year old mount, I honestly expected a lot worse. I've seen yellow ears from both tanned capes and DP'd capes. To me, they really need painted either way. I've heard of people tinting the glue to prevent painting, but I've yet to see an setof unpainted ears that looked natural, tanned or DP.I wouldn't worry too much about cape size. Your first mount is always an experiment anyways. They all mount up about the same, so just use what you can get. Just make sure you buy the appropriate sized mannikin.