Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Steampunk ProtoStar, Part 35 - Detailing the Tail-Piece

 In this step of the build, the plastic tail-piece will get detail embellishments.  These are in the form of 'riveted' seam strips.

The strips are rendered in pretty much the same manner as the riveted panels on the main body tube - adhesive backed label paper punched with rivet detail, then applied into position on the tail shroud. The primary difference here is the size of the rivets.  These thin sections are punched with the tip of a ball point pen to make larger rivet heads.

The first strip goes around the very end of the tail. Standard paper shroud layout techniques were used here to obtain the proper curvature.

All of the paper strips used in this detailing step are cut to a width of four millimeters.  Rivets are spaced roughly 3mm apart, centered on the strips.

Marks are made at the wide end of the shroud to mark placement of  vertical rivet strips.  Note that the first strip will cover the plastic seam of the tail shroud.  This is one of seven that are required. 

Here is a photo of the rivet punching technique:

This is a photo of one of the completed strips:

Now, all of the vertical rivet strips are cut, punched and attached to the shroud. Note the circular details attached between some of the rivet strips.  These are sort of an afterthought, easily made by using a standard paper punch on the label sheet.

  

The completed tail assembly is now ready for shoulder masking and painting.