Ammo Belts?

Aber makes a nice set of .50 Cal Ammo Belts it is set#35A47

You've got also a nice Verlinden's set. .30 and .50 Cal ammo belts. Sorry for the ref. !

If you don't want to pop for aftermarket belts, just use snips of copper wire to simulate the rounds, then paint over them to make the feed belt. This only works well for small scale stuff though, as they aren't very convincing in larger scale, where detail matters. IF you're real picky, use A/M kits.

demono69

Ammo belts really don't look that convincing when made from scrach. So better go with photoeched ammo. I here Aber makes some nice .50 cal. sets. Good luck, Fletcher

Thanks for the reply guys but I do most of my shopping at HLJ.com and they don't have PE ammo belts. I'm now looking at the ammo belts from the Tamiya US Infantry Weapons set and wondering if they're any good?

They are pretty good, although a little on the short side, and a little heavy, but not terribly so. The last set I had had a bit of flash and molding seams, but a folded piece of 800 grit sandpaper run between the rounds cleans them up pretty quickly.

They look better than the Verlnden items which are too flat, the rounds are well, not round! Being an etched sheet they have the correct prfile, but are only 2D.

There was an article in FSM about building a P47. The builder turned a bunch of brass rod or wire to make the gun ammo. Used a dremel and a file. A Herculean task at best, and not for the faint of heart,but I started thinking about it and if you were only making a short length or had it only going from the breech to the ammo can you would only have to turn a few that could be seen and the rest would be under the folds of the ammo belt in the can.

I tried this with a length of thin brass rod and it worked pretty well. Keep the speed low and use a jewlers file. I made one round about every 30 seconds. I got cockey on a few and actually hit the file along a length of rod. I then snipped at the indent and the ends. This allowed me to make two rounds in 30 seconds. I used a cut off wheel rather than snips so it didn't taper the cuts. Making a flat end good for spent shells, taper it with some sandpaper or on the file and you have the bullet. In the grand scheme of things it really didn't take all that long. Just tedious. Its a good "waiting for paint to dry "project. Now that I know it is feasable, I have to make a bunch of spent shells for a flak gun diorama. Its just screaming for the shells. A dab of flat black paint on the ends and it becomes a spent casing. And its cheaper pocket wise than a resin,PE or detail kit. Its just time expensive. And I can make any caliber shell I want.

You really don't even have to go all that far on the detail. 1/35 is about looking at someone from 20' away. So what does a .50 shell look like from 20' away?

Mike

Try doing a google search for "collector's brass". They make some very nice machine guns, parts and ammo belts.

I've seen the method that Mike (renarts) described above used and it does make great looking .50 shells. Like he says the biggest cost is time. For the belt that holds the shells you can use 2 thin strips of medical tape about 1 to 2 mm wide. Pre-paint it on the non-sticky side and stick your shells on the tape, apply the tape to both sides.