A lil advice here please Re. seat belts & decals

[chato de shamrock]

At this moment I took a brake from making my seat bealt to ask a question thats been on my mind for a while.

I'm trying out making seat belts using medical tape. So far so good. I've cut the tape using a sharp x-acto to the appropriate size and the next step will be painting them. While I cut the tape I noticed a thread here and there came loose. Alright, I got my tiny scissors for small details and cut those threads off. My first question is can I do anything to avoid more of these threads from coming off in the future? Will the paint (bottle paint) hold the tape on the edges? What do you guys do, if anything?

My second question is i want to apply decals to the belts but first tested things out by applying a drop of glue to the tape and then after it dried I applied a decal over the glue to see what the outcome would look like. I also applied a decal over a piece of tape that had no glue but was already painted. What I noticed on both occasion was that the decal molded to the pattern of the tape. I dont want that look. How or what can I do so the decal stays flat? Adding more paint would mess the tape's pattern up and the purpose for using this tape was because the pattern looks good to use as seat belt material.

Any advice you guys could offer would be gratefully appreciated.

[gulfclk]

This is the way I do them ...



I use very thin lead tape, but you can also use lead from wine bottle necks (hard to find as newer wine bottles use aluminium now, and that is not as good as lead). I paint the lead in the right color on both sides. If it needs to be glued, I use super glue, but the biggest advantage of lead is that it can be bent and stays exactly in that shape.

To make the protections, I use 2 layers of lead which I bent. To give these a better look, I use toilet paper, peal all layers from each other and I use the one with the best structure. Then I make a mix of woodglue and water (50/50) and apply the very thin layer of toilet paper on the folded led. After drying, I paint it in the right color and the decal is set using setting solution.
Last but not least ... a layer of matt varnish over the whole thing ... and this is how I do it!

[disain]

If you just want to keep those threads coming out under control, just mix some PVA glue with water and apply carefully with a brush on the edge of the tape. Once it dry it'll be transparent and flexible.

Cheers

[MPWR]

Don't worry too much about loosing the woven texture from the medical tape. It's waaaay out of scale in 1/24. Seat belt webbing is almost textureless in full scale. In 1/24, if you can see any texture at all it's really too much. Sure it's a matter of personal taste- some people really like the woven look, despite the scale. But in 1:1, it would be like having seatbelts made out of cheap rough weave burlap.

Medical tape is good for seatbelts in that it takes paint/ink well, is relatively easy to handle, and is self adhesive (if you find that useful). On the other hand, it does have the weave texture, and (as you've found) threads do unravel from it after it's been cut. There are lots of other options, too. Lead foil drapes and holds shape very nicely, but it doesn't take paint that well- wrapping it in tissue can be an effective, if labor intensive method. Plain paper fixed with white glue takes paitn well, but can be annoyingly fragile to work with. Take your pick.

[Enzoenvy1]

Originally Posted by gulfclk

This is the way I do them ...



I use very thin lead tape, but you can also use lead from wine bottle necks (hard to find as newer wine bottles use aluminium now, and that is not as good as lead). I paint the lead in the right color on both sides. If it needs to be glued, I use super glue, but the biggest advantage of lead is that it can be bent and stays exactly in that shape.

To make the protections, I use 2 layers of lead which I bent. To give these a better look, I use toilet paper, peal all layers from each other and I use the one with the best structure. Then I make a mix of woodglue and water (50/50) and apply the very thin layer of toilet paper on the folded led. After drying, I paint it in the right color and the decal is set using setting solution.
Last but not least ... a layer of matt varnish over the whole thing ... and this is how I do it!

That setup looks incredible!!!!

[chato de shamrock]

That seat looks sweet gulfclk, but you lost me at, "i use very thin lead tape." Im assuming i can go to a hardware store and easily find it? And, just because its called LEAD tape doesnt mean its hazardous to ones health, correct? Can you give me some brand names for me to look up. I'm searching and typing this at the same time but so far havent found anything on the major "do it yourself" stores in the U.S.

Now please correct me if i'm wrong but Elmer's glue is a type of PVA glue, right? I found something that looks like white Elmer's glue.

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by chato de shamrock

That seat looks sweet gulfclk, but you lost me at, "i use very thin lead tape." Im assuming i can go to a hardware store and easily find it? And, just because its called LEAD tape doesnt mean its hazardous to ones health, correct? Can you give me some brand names for me to look up. I'm searching and typing this at the same time but so far havent found anything on the major "do it yourself" stores in the U.S.

Now please correct me if i'm wrong but Elmer's glue is a type of PVA glue, right? I found something that looks like white Elmer's glue.

Also look in the armour and military sections of on-line stores. AMV guys use lead foil quite a lot IIRC

I believe white glue/Elmers/PVA/Carpenter's glue/Micro Kristal Klear is all one and teh same kind of stuff.