4 - Adding Fins to the S-Types

When everything else was done, I at last faced one more detail - the photo-etched fins.

I used a sharp hobby knife to cut the fins away from their sprue. The design of the sprue left one of the fins with stubs on both sides, which I cut away with my blade. I left the stub at the bottom.

There are holes on the models where the fins are to go, though the holes are much larger than the stubs on the fins. I squeezed a tiny pool of gap-filling superglue (Zap-A-Gap brand) onto my palette, dipped the end of the fin into the glue, then carefully placed the fin in position. I then used a point-ended toothpick to apply a drop of glue to the top and bottom of the fin where they met the hull.

I considered priming the fins, but in the end just painted them Polly S Dark Green like the other fins. It took two coats to get good coverage. I had at first thought that it might look funny to have four fins at the back of the hull, of two different types of metal. The photo-etched fins are obviously of higher quality. What I've learned, however, is that when the ships are on the tabletop, the fins you always see are the photo-etched ones (since they stick out the sides). So it doesn't look bad at all.

(The locator holes for the fins are visible after the fins are glued on. I considered filling them in with superglue and painting them, but realized that for me it wasn't worth the hassle - the defect was nearly invisible on the tabletop.)