These seatbelts are driving me nuts

Sorry for the delay, chaps. I have been asked to build up the Ki-45 from ZM that I got at the Telford IPMS show.

Once built it will be on display for a while at my old secondary School as part of a WWII display. I might also enter it at a local competition in February but I am not sure as I have no faith in the judges to actually know anything about the subjects they are supposedly judging!

in the meantime, for those using HGW seatbelts, I use standard white clue to bond the straps and folds where needed.... I just need more time to get myself organised and also some decent weather days for photography purposes!

Ditch the fabric seat belts and use either aluminium kitchen foil or some wine bottle foil cut into the strip widths you require. It is malleable, lays where you want it to, and threads through photo etched buckles etc. 

That would be great. Thanks.

Give me a couple of days and I shall put together a photo shoot of building up the Ta 152 seatbelts.

It seems to me that I need cross cut needle tweezers to act like a third hand by holding the PE buckle in a stationary position. Then thread the belt through the buckle by using tweezers in each hand.

Gad, and they say us who build 1/700 ships are crazy?  Threading seatbelts even at 1/32 could put me over. I have problems with setting up harnesses in 1:1 scale.

But like any good PE detailer will tell you, good lighting, optics, a good set of tweezers, organized work station, very sharp cutting instruments (both knife and clippers), and most important, a conditioned state of mind.  I now will pull some old PE parts and practice putting them together to get my eyes and hands adjusted before working on the actual piece.    

Hello!

That's the thing that puzzles me: How hard is it to understand that stuff gets damaged and lost all the time? When I'm printing custom decals I always order two copies. Just a bit more expensive but gives you an extra level of comfort. It's so reassuring that I rarely ever have to use up any of the second sheet details (although it recently happened once). Including an extra spare here and there would give the modellers extra safety that could be a large plus point from the market perspective. That's why it's strange to see it only rarely.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

snapdragonxxx

 

 

I think I have a spare set of the Ta 152 ones and can, if you wish do a step by step guide!

 

James

 

John

damouav

The trick for putting them together is patience, a good magnifier/lights and a steady hand.

I would add my single most indispensible modeling tool...a good pair (or several) of cross-lock needle-nose tweezers.

Also, for assemblies like this where they don't supply 'spares' in the p-e set...learn to do the work itself inside a clear zip-lock bag. [It's actually much simpler than it sounds; obviously, the tweezers above are an essential for this.] It really cuts down on those precious teenie-tiny parts 'pinging' off into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.

Like all 'detail' it's just a question of how much effort you want to bother with compared to result.

Good luck

This is HGW's seatbelt/harness for ZM's Ta 152.

You need a bright light, brand new blade in the knife and only take one part at a time from the etched set.

You will also need to use some superglue really carefully and with very tiny abounts so sharpen a cocktail stick especially for the job.

Every set differs, so you will need to work from the middle with the buckles that control the length and put those on. it might take some time to thread the belt material through the buckles. you need a small set of tweesers to help you with this with a very narrow end so you can grab the material and have full control.

Everything will come together but can take a long time to do, so walk away frequently and look carefully to the instructions ( they can often leave much to be desired, but when done and put in place then they add to the office and just look like the real thing.

I think I have a spare set of the Ta 152 ones and can, if you wish do a step by step guide!

James

My first model back was a 1/48 airplane. I didn't know about PE seatbelts then, I saw an article about making seatbelts with strips of masking tape.

After done, I learned of PE seatbelts. I thought I'd made a horrid error. Every airplane model since has had PE seatbelts. I hate workng with them. I don't know why the manufactuers bother painting them, becuase the paint always cracks and peels off upon bending the belts into postions.

I've yet to have anyone look at my small finished model collection and say "Gee, those PE seatbelts sure look better than those crummy masking tape seatbelts".

Oh, and I have a few packs of 1/48 cloth seatbelts. Unopened. Just some thoughts.

I have made several sets of the HGW belts before and are exceptional and in my opion and are light years ahead of the Eduards. The trick for putting them together is patience, a good magnifier/lights and a steady hand.

The visual appeal when done is brilliant and will set off any pit.

Okay, I just purchased Eduard PE seatbelts. I didn't like the Eduard seatbelts for the p-38 because they had too many little parts, so I bought seatbelts for a P-39. Way less parts.

I really like your idea regarding the one piece PE seatbelts. I'll look into that.

Thanks,

John

Hello!

I don't really have any tips here... Do you think you'd be better off with one-piece PE seatbelts?

Thinking about it maybe you could LIGHTLY treat the cloth with white glue to make it just a little stiffer - maybe that would help you to thread the belt through the buckles. That would also make the belts a litle "sticky", I imagine that could help here, too!

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł