Here’s how I make tie downs, buckles and straps. It’s a mixture of techniques I’ve learned through the members here on Armorama, reading, and trial and error. Hopefully some of you might find this info useful. I’m not a great photographer, so bear with me.
First...The tie downs. Start with two slices of .020 rod, sliced very thin. Glue them about 3mm apart onto a piece of styrene. Bridge them with a piece of .010 square rod. (I usually draw a grid on a piece of .040 styrene sheet and make a whole bunch of them at once). Let it dry, slice it off with a razor blade, and apply to the model.
The buckles are made from very thin copper wire. The stuff I have is about .010 thick. Wrap a piece around a .040 square rod. Just wrap it around once to create a square loop. Slide it off the end, being careful to keep its square shape. Cut it with a sharp blade in the center of where the ends overlap and you’ll have a little copper square. You’ll have to fiddle with it to keep the corners sharp. Push the ends together to close the square loop.
I avoid using lead foil to make straps because I usually wind up super gluing them to my fingers.
So I use brown paper lunch bags instead. Cut them into 1mm strips, feed them thru the tie downs and around the tools/stowage to be tied down. 
Attach with diluted white glue. (Lead foil will work of course, but you’ll have to use super glue.)Lay one of those little buckles on top of the paper straps you just made and attach it with more white glue.
Now add a straight piece of copper wire about 1mm long in the center of the buckle, in line with the strap, pointing away from the end.
Trim the end of the strap to the length you want. Poof! You’re done!
Oh, yeah. Paint them with your favorite paint.
The hardest part I found is keeping the buckles square. But as with most of these techniques, you’ll quickly get the hang of it and in no time you’ll be banging ‘em out.
Happy modeling!!!!
Chris
