Steampunk Protostar #23 - More Fin Detail

Today's build post centers around making details that will simulate riveted metal strips on the fin leading edges.

The first step is to make a template to be used to trace the required six curved strips.  The lead edge is traced on card stock using one of the fins as a guide, after which a second line is drawn defining the strip.  I arbitrarily chose a 4mm width for the template.

The template is carefully cut out from the card stock sheet.

It is then taped down to the back side of the Avery label sheet and the part is traced out.

At this point, I want to 'emboss' the rivet detail while the strip is still part of the sheet.  Things would get messy if I attempted making the rivets on such a thin cutout.

The rivets for this detail part are substantially larger than the ones on the previously made fin panels.  The process is significantly different, as well. 

Here I am using a dried up ball point pen to poke the rivets form the backside of the label sheet.

Instead of a hard backing board, I am using a piece of soft mat material, the kind that is used on electronic workbenches.  The cardboard backing from a notepad would work equally well.

Here, I am not using any reference lines or marks for placing and spacing the rivets.

Just winging it!

I don't really want the strips to conform to a 'factory-made' look. I prefer to give them the appearance of being done by eye on the ship's construction site.  Thus, they will be slightly uneven and not precisely spaced apart.  I'm hoping this will add to the 'Stemapunk-y charm' of the completed ship.

Again, the rivets are formed by pressing the pen with even pressure.  Since this is a larger round tool, I don't have as much danger of poking through the paper.

Here is a pic of the rivets from the show side.  These are much bigger and more prominent than the smaller ones used for the fin panels. A couple test rows of the small rivets can be seen in the upper right corner of the photo.

After the rivets are formed, the strip can now be cut from the label sheet.  Here is the first of six ready to be stuck in place to the fin....

 

This same method will be used for similar riveted strips to go on the fin trailing edges, nose cone, tail cone, body tube, pods, and around the various bits of proposed steampunk detailing.

 

I definitely see a lot of cutting and poking in my near future.....