tail feathers

Hello everyone!

So I'm working on a bird tail and I've done several in the past with various methods of getting the tails feathers to stick out a bit and not flop down against the back of your legs. I've built it around solid foam, used delrin rods, and ironed interfacing to them. I was wondering if anybody had any better ideas that I was overlooking? I'm sure there's a better method I'm not thinking of. Thanks guys! :)