I work with 1/48 scale air craft, and would like to know if there is an easy way to work
with PE seat belts & harness’? It seems that I am all thumbs, any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Pat[8-)]
I’m still new to PE myself–but I hear of guys heating the metal over a flame to “anneal” the metal and make it easier to shape. HTH
OWL
PE belts, IMHO, absolutely suck!!!
I recommend cutting off the buckles and using them with masking tape for the straps. You can pose them, very easily, and much more realistically, in any way you want. WAAAAAY easier to work with!!!
I don’t know if PE belt absolutely suck but I’ll ditto what Fermis recommends. I’ve done my last couple of kits with masking tape and very thin gauge wire.
Re PE parts in general: You need an expensive clamping / bending jig, a single edge razor blade, and an illuminated magnifying glass, CA glue with micro brushes, and a lot of common sense discretion to throw out the ridiculously too small parts! PITA as far as I am concerned.
First, don’t feel you have to use all the pieces for the belt. Bend the buckles and then use the rest of the pieces at your discretion. Even just the main piece looks very nice as is.
For the shoulder belts, glue the belts with CA to the back of the chair first. Have patience and let the glue cure, its CA so a minute or 2 will work. Now use something to press down on the gluing point for strength while bending the belt down to confform to the shape of the seat. You may need a drop of CA on the seat to keep the thing down.
For the lap belts, same technique, glue the ends to the side, let it cure. Apply pressure so you wont break the bond, and then push the belt into shape. It doesn’t have to follow every curve to look right, so make sure it doesn’t float on top of the seat.
Here’s an example where i didnt’ use all the bits for the belts, still looks pretty good to me.
Here’s another one for an alternative idea. The lap belts are PE, but the shoulder belt is actually a decal. I cut the belt out with the backing paper and just glue the whole thing down. I use two spare PE buckels to the top just to give it a more 3D look. Tamiya and AM kits often have decal belts.
Thanks for the tip… Pat
Thanks, that does sound as if it would be easier. I have not tried working with masking tape yet.
Pat
I will try the masking tape it sounds easier to work with, the Old eyes aren’t what they used to bee.
Pat
I’ve got everything you mentioned and like you enough common sense to throw out some of the parts. This may be the only one that I will try to do with PE.
Pat
I will try your ideas they look very good to me and I really like the inside of the cockpit wall hope that I can do as good. Normally I build out of the box but thought that I would give this one a little more real look. Back during the Korean conflict I was a flight line mechanic on T-33 jets for about a year and then changed over to B-25’s so that I could get on flying status this was in the 50’s and I haven’t been around that type of a/c since then and the old memory fades a little as to how they looked on the inside. Thanks again…
Pat
I have found that a pair of tweezers and/or a needle nose pliers can work well with smaller parts such as seat belts etc. The PE tools seem to be most useful for the log straight bends. Of course that’s just my own experience, yours may vary.
Oh, it helps if the jaws on the tools are smooth. I think jewelers tools tend to have that feature, otherwise you can use the smooth portion of the jaws.
I too have an “Etch-mate” bending jig. There are others on the market that are just as good. However, with the exception of larger pieces such as flaps, cockpit tubs, etc I find that most of my work with PE involves using a pair of fine tweezers in one hand and a #11 X-Acto knife in the other. My thumbs never get near the parts. Trying to use your hands might be part of the problem some of you are having with PE. I’ve never annealed a PE part in my career without any problems.
I just use good tweezers, very sharp cutters, needle nose pliers, and super glue. That gets me 90% of the parts. The other 10% I take my chances with, or they are so microscopic nobody notices anyway.
i use surgical forceps- two pairs sometimes-for handling and a scalpel to remove them from the frame. i clean them up with a fine file whilst holding the parts in a pair of small pliers with smooth jaws. i apply tiny amounts of superglue using fine guage electric guitar strings as applicators and sometimes use accelerator. i don’t own any fancy or expensive folding tools; for most aircraft parts you don’t need them. and i’ve NEVER heated parts up; this can distort thin brass and leave residue which has to be cleaned off. seems to be popular, but i’ve got by without it. if you’re a beginner, use the plain belts first and paint the seat and harness once assembled. individual buckles are available but they look really fiddly in 1/48th; i’ve got some in two koster kits but haven’t done them yet. they promise to be very good though,as tape is more poseable than brass. good luck!
THe fancy bending jigs and such arent needed for PE harnesses… a good pair of forceps… micro pointy type… and a thicker slower setting CA glue or Gator glue… Gator glue is much more forgiving… and you can add a drop of thin CA after it dried to add strength…
Different brand PE behaves differently… The pre painted stuff is a bit more difficult… but you can make it look just as good as supple materials… it just takes patience… you have to bend it up to give it a natural sit… Look at your reference pics… then copy that… It’s alot easier to duplicate something with a reference, The Aires belts are my favorite… they ARENT painted… you can anneal them over an electric stove burner , dont use a lighter because you can burn up the small bits… once the metal has discolored cool them down slowly… this makes the belts very supple… I grab the buclkle parts with my forceps and anneal the belt… that way only the strap part discolors and you dont have to paint the buckles metal color… I glue my harneses first while they are all flat… then I bend them into the proper natural shape… then I paint them… If you paint first… they will peel… You will never get masking tape to form the complex fine bends that you can do with metal… you get a much better scale effect…
I also use lead foil for parts that seem too flat… IE harness items that have creases…
Absolutely!