USCP 1:24 Racing Seatbelts -- very nice, but . . .

[peteski]

I placed an order with USCP for several items including these seat belts.  Smooth and easy ordering on their website, PayPal transaction, items all well packaged. It took some time, but that is not unexpected, coming from Ukraine to USA.

The seat belt material is the best I have seen.  The weave is as close to scale as I have seen, and the material is very soft (not stiff  like some other brands).

But there is a problem.  The belt slots in the photoetched hardware (like buckles) are too small.  The belt material ends up folding over.  It doesn't look good.
I took measurements and the belt is 0.149" (3.78mm) wide. In 1:24 scale that scales out to the 1:1 belt being 3.58" wide.
The slots in the hardware are 0.103" (2.62mm) wide.  Scales out to 2.47" in 1:1 scale.  I'm not familiar with 1:1 scale belt dimensions, so I don't know which (if any) of those are in-scale.  Still, what is painfully clear is that the photoetched hardware cannot be used with the belt material.  The belt cannot be trimmed to be narrower - it will unravel and fall apart.

All the other products I have purchased from USCP (this is not my first order)  were very well designed and flawless.  I'm really puzzled as to why USCP did not make the photoetched  hardware match the width of their belt material.   I'll have to see if photoetched belt hardware from other companies might have wider belt slots in them.  I would hate not to use that great looking belt!

[WGaree]

1:1 belts are 3” with most using a 2” anti-submarine belt between the driver’s legs (some are 3” for different sanctioning bodies and class rules) and do not fold at the adjusters (as shown in your picture)   some do fold like your pictures only at the quick release or if not done as a wraparound mount to the rollcage the tabs for bolt/weld in mounting    

[peteski]

Thanks for the 1:1 info Will!  Looks like the neither the belt or the photoetched hardware is perfectly to scale. Still, I think the slightly oversized belt would look quite acceptable (especially since its texture looks quite good) if the hardware (adjusters) was designed to correctly work with it.

[vintagerpm]

I use 2mm silk ribbon I buy from Amazon. You can get almost any color you want:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EDRZM8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mike

[peteski]

Great info - thanks Mike! 

While the silk ribbon does not look exactly like the stuff USCP uses, it looks much better than the "regular" ribbons from a fabric store.  Again, I wonder why USCP does not provide ribbon material that properly fits the photoetched hardware.