daywalker - check with your local dentist - as they use small x-ray film they end up with a lot of 1 1/2 x 1 sheets of lead - I got a box 8"x8"x8" full of them about 15 years ago and it is still about 1/2 full (wife worried about germs so we boiled them in water) - they make great seat belts and LBE harness for 1/35 figures.
also just use the foil of a wine bottle.
must agree though that PE belts and buckles are really nice.
Plus they give jobs to a few nice people…
I have both the waldron and re heat PE buckles, and have used masking tape for 1/32 seats belts. I like the idea of the medical tape, as it has a good weave, so I’m going to go and track some down.
For 1/72 I’ve used Airwaves PE belts with buckles (after all in 1/72 it’s a little hard to thread straps and buckles together.)
Another kind of tape I’ve found good is fineline tape used for marking out the masters for printed circuit boards, it is available in a variety of fine widths and so is ready to go straight off the roll.
I have taken a pair of cheap needle nose pliers and filed the tapered points to flat rectangles the size of the interior of the buckle were the belt threads through. Then used fine copper wire to wrap in the correct shape then flattened them to make some realistic buckles. I usually use masking tape doubled over on it self. I stepped the pliers so I can make 1/48 then drop down and make 1/32 buckles. Can drive you crazy sometimes, but are there any sane modelers out there?