Eduard have been doing seatbelts for some time now along with various other companies.
The steel seatbelts produced by Eduard are two sets of four one being for the Bf 109 and Fw 190. Both sets I have to say really do look the part with their pre-colouring.
A friend of mine did say to me that when he had used some steel seatbelts, that when he bent them at a sharp angle the paint started to crack and flake off.
The seatbelts are made 0.1mm sheet which looks like stainless steel.
The paint has been applied after etching and seems to be very flexible and when I was bending the etch sheet no cracks appeared. The painting has been done in such a way that you get a genuine 3 D effect with it looking like you have a folded piece of belt under the tightening strap. Under my trustee day glow light with magnifying glass you can actually see this, and how it has been done with cleverly using some shading to give this illusion. Their is also a padded section to go on the joining buckles which goes to give some protection to the pilot during flight.
The etch is very thin 0.06mm roughly including the paint although thin it is very strong and able to withstand much more bending than other forms of etch due to it being stainless steel.
Instructions
The instructions although basic in appearance they are very easy to follow which is usual with most of the instructions that you get in Eduard's other products.
Conclusion
I have to say that these appear to be one of the best photo etch sheets that I have seen and certainly bend with ease due to the strength. I would recommend these very realistic looking belts to any modellers looking to make their model builds more realistic.
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SUMMARY
Highs: Extremely well presented with the shading giving a visual 3D effect, very strong and flexible Lows: A very sharp blade or photo etch scissors needed to cut of the etch sheet Verdict: A real plus for anyone that is looking for more realism in their builds and far stronger than previous etch seatbelts that I have used before.
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About Adie Roberts (In_War_and_Peace) FROM: ENGLAND - SOUTH WEST, UNITED KINGDOM
I am disabled after a terrorist bomb I have in the past made models for TV and film and work with local museums making new models for display. I also take on commission builds for people
Interesting - I'm looking forward to trying a set of these. I stopped using the old color PE because the color would crack and peel, but in the smaller scales (smaller than 32nd) the 'cloth' belts that are so popular now can be much more tedious.
Hi Scrodes I really did mess about bending one way then the next and fortunately never experienced any cracking or peeling, and where normal etch would have broke in my the continual bending these stayed strong
Interesting, but to be honest, I can't help but feel steel PE seatbelts are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, at least for me.
I've hardly ever had problems with cracking or peeling paint with Eduard's current regular type painted PE seatbelts, especially after I made it a habit of airbrushing a coat of flat varnish on pre-painted PE before assembly.
Now ye olde style Eduard painted PE was a different thing (the first kind, which was phased out around 2006 or so, IIRC), the paint on them was very delicate and prone to cracking - flat-coating before assembly was pretty much mandatory.
I don't quite get the advantage of using steel, either. Again, my personal experience, but I've never had problems with brass PE seatbelts breaking. Sure, steel's tougher, but also much harder, mmost likely making removal from fret and clean up much more tedious. Also, I wonder if the steel belts will have memory, making bends keep their shape a pain in the rear. Obviously, annealing these won't be an option, unless one wants to give up on the pre-painted aspect...
But on the positive side, I quite like the paint job on these, the shading and all looks really nice. I also see they've reduced the part count, making integral all of the small bits that were previously separate parts. That's a definitely plus when bending and shaping the belts, as those small separate parts had the tendency of breaking off when making bends.
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