1/24 scale Sparco seat-belts

[FujimiLover]

Hello there. I'm tempted by these nice-looking photo-etched 1/24 scale racing Sparco seat-belts. These would look super cool in my Koenig models. Here's a picture of theme in red, but they also come in blue!

My question is, has anybody experience with these? And would I be able to sand down the ugly molded'in seatbelts that are currently on my Koenig-Competition models? Or, should I get an aftermarket set of seats as well?

Are these worth the trouble? For sure they'd bring extra realism to the models.

[chris coller]

I have some experience with them there seatbelts. My suggegtion to you is take some flat clear prefferably Tamiya acrylic and paint a thin coating over top. The ones I used chipped kind of easy as ran them through the buckles. One of my club members Marcos Cruz has used them with good results. Hit him up see if he has any tips for you.

[FujimiLover]

Thank you. I'm not sure what the future holds for my current Koenig Ferrari Competition model at the moment. I'm pondering getting another kit for the body and seats. If I go that route, I'll look into getting these photo-etched seatbelts as they do look really nice.

[chris coller]

I prefer the cloth type seat belts. I feel they are easier to work with. Are you still having paint issues with your Ferrari? If so have you considered stripping the paint and starting over?

[FujimiLover]

Yes, I am soaking the body in some stuff right now. I did get an extra kit as back-up in case the stripping turned out horrible.

[chris coller]

A toothbrush and some toothpicks should help. Scrub the body with the toothbrush and scribe the door panels to get the paint out of them and any other areas with lines in it.

[dwc43]

I've got some detail masters and I don't like them. Way tooo much work to assemble. I just got a set similar to the ones in the pics above, but mine are black. Two pairs to a package. I don't like the cam lock as much as I do the original latch and link styles used in almost all race cars. I found out the detail masters photo etched parts are the same size as the the ones in my kit like the photos above. So I'm going to make mine latch and link after all. I also ordered some belts that are silk screened on fabric. Hoping to use the detail master etched parts onthos as well.

[FujimiLover]

What would you use to make a home-made seat belt? I'm not to concerned about the photo-etched detailing, just the belt itselfe. Any thick sewing thread? My guess is you would need something about 1mm wide?

[chris coller]

Best seatbelt set on the market in my opinion is Studio 27 photo etch with adhesive cloth. It gives enough cloth to do 5 or 6 seats. Come in 1/20 and 1/24 on one fret. I cut down the 1/20 material if I don't have enough material. About $12 and can be found at www.stradasports.com. When you run out of photo etch pieces you can purchase them without the material from a few other companies. Just go under a search on strada sports and type seat belts and it should come up. Hiroboy .com is another source but the are over seas so shipping will be much more. There service is excellant though.