Hi Gang,I am a 1/35 armour modeller who`s been tempted to the dark side with 1/32 aircraft.
That aside i need help deciding the best way to go with aircraft seat belts,can anyone say what`s best ?.I have accumulated several WW 2 kits in my stash and just painted seatbelts just do`nt look right at all !.
Any suggestions ?????

Hi Dsnny
Here is an idea I've used reasonably sucsessfully in smaller scales,and assuming that you want to keep the canopy closed.

I'm on a tight budget and can't afford etch or similar so I downloaded a set off Google and printed them out on good quality textured paper.

Cut them out,added some detail with paint and fine point markers.

Once added the look pretty good.

Cheers


Chris

Hi danny,

Just follow this link, takes a bit of practise but it is defiantly worth it.

http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/belts/

The only bit which the article doesn't tell you is how long the belts have to be, but that's pretty easy to find.

James.

If hobby funds allows, I recommend trying out Eduard PE prepainted seatbelts - they are readily available in sets for either specific aircraft or particular nation's set...

I mostly use them for 1/48 aircraft and buy nation sets for models that come without seatbelts. The effect is quite nice and coloring / detail is very precise - only con I found is pre-painted PE pieces cannot be annealed by flame without damaging the painted detail, so brass must be pre-bent to contour the seats or hang more naturally.

It seems that there is quite a selection for both 1/48 or 1/32

Thanks James - that`s exactly what i was looking for,i have to work to a budget so this is just brilliant.
Cheers Mate.

No problem Danny,

Us cheaper modellers have to stick together

That site has a number of other useful things,

Another good site is IPMS Stockholm.

James.

Thanks for the link. I've used aluminum foil and painted it. It is more flexible than masking tape and folds nicely like cloth.

In 1:72 scale I usually just use fine masking tape (the brand I use have a slight woven texture) pre-paint it, cut it out and assemble.

At 1:48 or larger scale you would need to do some research to make sure you get the pattern right, but then again the thickness would be more to scale.