1:72 seat belts

Hello

Im adding afew minor details to the 1:72 hawk that Im building, and would like to add seatbelts the the cockpit crew seats instead of just painting them on. Any ideas on what I could use to make them?

Thanks for he help.

Hiya,
If I am not mistaken, they make after market seat belts that are universal in 72nd. Either check with Eduard or Aires…
Also, you could make your belts out of surgical tape “non poruse”. This kind of tape can be found ant any Hospital/General Care supply stores.
Hope this helps you out a bit…
Flaps up, Mike

Has anybody tried or had any luck using painted masking tape?

Hiya once again,
I have used the Surgical Tape method many times on my builds and I like the out come.
Its basic but yet effective. I mostly use the tape method on my out of box builds.This tape is not painted though. I paint em once they have been attached to what ever I am using them on.
As for painted tape, I should not see why it shouldn’t work like regualr non painted tape. Make sense?
Flaps up,Mike

I have used it few times. I just put some Tamiya tape down on my cutting mat, and then paint an appropriate colour, usually Tamiya Deck Tan.

Once dry, I just cut the tape into thin strips. I make bucles out of very thin fuse wire, and draw on stitching detail with a pencil.

The good thing with the masking tape methos is that the belts are self adhesive, and just need a coat of varnish to seal them.

All in all a very cheap way of producing realistic belts.

Karl

After examing a finished build recently, I realized recently that for the past two years I have used nothing but stiff metal AM seat belts. I now have almost every variety, every country’s seat belts and harnesses, painted and unpainted, and on and on. And I don’t like any of them particularly.
I find nothing is more realistic than lead foil because of the way it drapes and folds. However, when I get some from a wine bottle, I find it is too thick. And putting the buckles on it usually breaks lead foil if you have thinned the stuff by gently pounding it out with a hammer. There is the “Waldron method” which works especially well on the smaller scales. You can cut the middle cross bar on the hardware leaving just a little stub sticking out both inner sides. Tuck that part under the belt on each side of the buckle under the belt so that it looks as though the buckle has been threaded through, then put a spot of glue hidden on the back. (this works better with Waldron’s illustration). That’s fine for simple WW II buckles, but for elaborate jet harnesses, where the parachute is always in the seat, it’s not good enough. I just have a philosophical problem with the harnesses molded on, even to the finest resin seats. Harnesses look like separate components when they really are separate components. I can make one assertion without doubt (well, okay, it just MHO): Waldron makes the finest jet seat belt buckles and connectors anywhere at any price. They come on three frets regardless of which scale your order, and each fret is a different thickness of metal. The thickest one has such things as the five-point quick-release (as on European jets) in 3-D, and they don’t have that flat look of most PE hardware.
TOM