scratch building aircraft seat beltsb buckles & clasps

zapme wrote:

... How do you know they are to scale?...

Appearance.  They will look "right" when you are finished with them as opposed to looking too big, too small, too wide, etc.

EasyMike is right, if it "looks" right then that's good enough. As for materials, for my 1/72 airplanes I use the white "paper" first aid tape with a bit of gray pastel dust on them to tone them down, and for the buckles and whatnot I found that short sections of 1/700 ship railing PE work just fine (I'm mainly a ship guy) and are a heck of a lot easier than trying to bend bits of wire into the right shapes.

i have found regular masking tape to work great. i usually cut squares for for the buckles and let the paint do the work. this works for 1/72,1/48. if the project is larger i'll still use tape but i'll make the buckles from wire and thin styrene. i have tried alum. foil, paper, electrical tape, and a host of other mediums. plain old masking tape wins my vote, even far above photo etch.

 i recomend fashioning then and painting then before installing them. tiny dabs of super glue here and there. you can drape them and shape them very easeally. good luck

Also try metal foil tape...you can get it at your local hardware store or can sometimes be found in the automotive section of some department stores. This can be cut to shape using a flat steel ruler and a sharp #11 blade. Cut out, then carefully peel the backing and place. If you want to weave the straps through it you can...just leave the backing on until you've got the straps placed where you want them. Use a little vinegar on the the foil, to darken its color...seat belts in military aircraft are not shiney or plated as it reflects light on and off the canopies.