Seat belts: Does anyone knows how to make metalic parts from scratch?

I use simple straight pins (as used in seamstry)

Just one more question...... ¿What kind of pins to use?

I use flattened .010 solder wire bent and cut to shape if and when I get the itch to scratchbuild buckles.


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I have also made jigs with pins to make buckles and wrapped very fine wire around them. It does work fairly good; experiment with different wire to find the gauge that gives you what you want. I usually make seat belts out of the "lead foil" that is wrapped around the cap on Wild Turkey 101(now kids, DON'T try this at home). You can thread the belt through the buckle and simply loop it over on the back side. Press it down good with tweezers/pliers and it looks great. Gary

I have used various gages of copper strands gleened from wire and also the fine steel & brass wire stock like K&B sells.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Pixilater Great idea, Woody ! I'm gonna have to try that on the next belts I make. Been doing the tweezer thing, but keeping it flat & the corners sharply bent was tedious. Your method sounds simple & easy !

Genius, Woody. Pure genius! Hmmm.... what wire do you use?

It works good as a jig for making small scale items out of styrene rod as well. I have made several early ejection seat frames like that. I made the seat buckets out of folded typing paper hit with thin CA glue from the underside. I think I have posted pictures of the seat out of my Rareplanes 1/72 Vought Pirate.

Great idea, Woody ! I'm gonna have to try that on the next belts I make. Been doing the tweezer thing, but keeping it flat & the corners sharply bent was tedious. Your method sounds simple & easy !

I had filed down the tips of a cheap pair of needle nose pliers and "weaved" the copper wire around the tips then flattened it. I had them "stepped" so I could make 1/48 or 1/32 buckles.

Hey Jesus, I have done similar projects in the past so let me share what worked for me. Draw the piece you wish to bend on some paper. Lay the paper over a scrap peice of wood. Press pins firmly in to the paper/wood at the inside radius of all you bends you will need to make. Clip the pins off about 1/16th of an inch from the wood. Now all you have to do is thread your wire around the pins. The best part about doing this is you can save the jig you have made so you may repeat as many times as you like. I hope this helps some. P.S. A piece of wax paper over the paper will allow you to glue if you need to.

Man, i should've thought of copper wire! I experimented myself and did rudimentary buckles using and unsheathed twisty-thingie wire left over from christmas packages... (didn't want to buy photo etch either...)

i used a pair of pliers and the tamiya decal tweezers. the decal tweezers are nice because it's a large flat surface with a clean edge.
hold the wire with the pliers and then pull&bend with the tweezers. should give the wire a nice corner. repeat for all the corners you need.

This is what i was able to do, but bear in mind this was more experiment than anything else. It's from the cockpit of a 1/48 Academy Sabre.

Hope this is what you were looking for.