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I've been wanting to do some stuff with rivets for a while now, but I've always lacked a proper material to use in representing the studded armour of the Heresy Era. So, after searching on google for various methods of creating rivets, I discovered the use of the tiny filtration balls inside water filters. However, having recently got my hands on a bunch of Mk VI studded pauldrons, I've found that the little balls in the water filter are far too small. My question is then, what can I use to accurately portray the studs used on Heresy Era armour?

A good bet is heading to the craft section and taking a look at small beads. You may be able to find seed beads in the desired size.

Ahh, I hadn't thought of that! If it's sew-on beads you're referring to, then I'm doubtful that I'll find any beads that are the size I'm wanting, purely because if they were that size then whoever was using them would find it hard to put a thread through them. However, I may be able to find some sequin-type beads that would be small enoguh. Cheers mate!

Hey Warpig, I've wondered this before, never actually got off my arse to aqquire some supplies for it either!
Have suspected that a jewelery makers hobby supplier.. maybe hobby craft (although they seem steep on most items), ebay seems a good bet, from a Chinese seller lol.

Just done a quick google on 0.5mm beads... turned up nail art supplies; which actually might be the best idea so far they will be flat on one side, with an adhesive patch on the flat face. Available in shaped gems and jewels aswell as rounds and many colours, solid, clear, metallics etc (them girls be crazy)

... maybe grab the vernier callipers and measure the stud size you want precisely? (...a ruler probably just doesnt cut it when measuring a rivet on a 28mm man )

edit;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-12-MINI-GLASS-BOTTLES-OF-BULLION-CAVIAR-MICRO-BEADS-glitter-nail-art-/360765981801?pt=Nail_Polish&hash=item53ff540469

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15g-Micro-beads-0-7mm-Caviar-style-nails-card-making-pottery-Postage-Offer-/170932544656?pt=UK_Crafts_Beads_CA&var=&hash=item27cc5fa490

Theres some ebay listings for 0.5mm and 0.7mm beads, with a bit of further looking, this seems to be about the smallest I can find. But they look potentially useful for power armour studs and rivets to me. If not a real pita to place exactly. Atleast by getting some with a stated size you could use a matching drill bit to pilot hole them.

@HairySticks - As ever Hairy, many thanks for the effort you put into finding solutions for me - much appreciated.

The first link looks the most promising, as the beads appear to be uniform in size, unlike the ones in the second link. However, I think I may have found a solution myself- indeed I have found one. After much experimentation with greenstuff in the past, I decided to give it one last go the other night - and succeeded in making uniformly sized studs. I simply rolled out a blob of green stuff to a uniform thickness, cut it into a rectangle shape, and then proceeded to cut that rectangle down the middle. I then simply made several uniform cuts perpendicular to this line in order to get many small rectangles of the same size. Rolling these rectangles into little balls gave me exactly the size I needed. After curing over night, I simply cut them in half (thus doubling my overall output of studs) to get my desired look. The only downside to this is it's relatively labourious compared to simply buying the beads in - but it'll do for now so I can get on with my Assault Marines. Cheers for the help everyone!

I made them out of little bits of milliput.