Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions this last week regarding my original post for how to make my John Adams cake. I did end up making the head out of cake with the neck being a "staked" styro base (Thanks Leahs!) and a collar to cover it (thanks Doug!). Here's the URL ...

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1293651&done=1

Thanks again!