HELP
I'm working on a helicopter cake for Sat. and I need help figuring out the propeller on top. Here is the picture. To scale the propeller needs to be 19 inches long. I made it out of gumpast and it broke in pieces. I now made it out of heavy duty aluminum foil and it has a great shape and thinness to it. I want to cover it in gum paste but then it will not be real thin and it will loss it's curved shape, I think. Ideas?
Can I leave like that (aluminum foil) or is that really bad?

Here's the actual helicopter I will make.

Are you planning to have it black or silver? I had a similiar situation on a cake I made previously and I 'painted' royal icing on the item. I just made the royal icing very thin. It came out very smooth.

I have only tried to paint fondant silver. I'm not sure if it would work on royal icing. I'm curious to see if anyone else knows the answer.

Have you considered using pastillage? It's stronger than gumpaste. Just a suggestion.

Aw heck, you did a bangup job covering it with the foil. Looks great as is! I guarantee those blades will break if you try to make them edible. I mean, the noble and authentic thing to do would be make them edible, but dang....those are some long slender little blades just begging to break. I think yours, as is, is perfect!

I think use it as is!! No worry of breakage and who wants to eat propellers anyway You could add gum paste accents where the two blades intersect for a little more detail but I think the shape looks great!

To __Jamie__ and Elvis:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I really wanted to know if I could leave it as is. I agree that no matter what I use will break. My heart already races when I make a delivery, I don't need anymore stress (that is if it even made to the car!). I am going to leave the foil, I actually think it looks nice, it's shiny and silver and thin! I will definitely add the accents where the blades connect, above and below.
I guess I just needed permission LOL!

Oh BTW, it's for a 3 year old boy...if he really wants to eat a propeller, I made the small back propeller out of gumpaste...he can eat that, although I wouldn't recommend eating that hard thing. I know the mom (the customer) will be okay with it, because she left the details completely up to me. Basically she told me "whatever works" earlier on when she placed the order.

Thanks again.

rnp3603 - I'd love to try pastillage, but I'd like to have some practice time first, as I've never tried it. Thanks for the tip. I'll practice with it one day.

Well to tell you the truth, I also think that they look fine like that. I just thought that you wanted to try to make them edible, which in fact will be something more to worry about not breaking. Good luck!!!

Thanks everyone!
Here's the helicopter cake.
I appreciate all your help. I kept the foil propeller and added gumpaste accents. I'm really proud of this one.

Outstanding work on this cake~! You should be proud of it...

Your cake is awesome!! Congrats!

That came out great!!

Boy......I never got anyone who would order something like that for a 30 yr old much less a 3 yr old!!! How DO you guys get such great orders?
How big is it? And would you tell us how much you charge(d)?
Terrific job!! Wonderful work.

Your cake is beautiful and your propellers look perfect!