Hi guys.....anybody got any tips on what is the best product to use for bullet belts..??
Also interested to hear from anyone who scratch builds bullet belts......

Thanks
Shultz

You can swipe ammunition belts from some of Dragons figure sets (like their Nam Tet offensive one) and use them...(I assume you mean the belts of ammunition used to feed machine guns)

Along a similar vein, is there a PE set for EMPTY Soviet belts?

I do mean belts of ammo...yeah....thanks for the suggestion Jon, just don't really want to have to spend money on a whole figure set.
I was wondering if anyone has a technique for scratch building ammo belts???

Thanks
Shultz

In some cases you can use a rip-tie. Depending on function and scale.

Thanks for the comments guys......I'm looking to use mine in 1/35th scale.....I did think about cutting streched sprue into lengths and sticking then all together. then, using strips of tinfoil as the belt itself??

any other ideas would be welcome

I cant seem to find anything on the net about making them.

Shultz

What do you need/want them for? Maybe there is another option. Scratching them from pieces of sprue each 2-4mm long sounds awfully complicated

What do you mean by 'empty belts'...?
I thought that once they'd gone through the chamber, the empty cases and belt links fell to the floor separately... ie there is nothing belt-like about them once they've gone through the gun. Unless I'm missing something particular about soviet belts?

Otherwise, I find the plastic or resin ones from kits, warmed in hot water, are the most lifelike, pe ones seem a bit flat...

hth

Richard

Hello Richard,
the Soviet Army and the Bundeswehr use machine gun belt, that are NOT disintegrating after firing. They consist of formed metal pieces in the shape of a "C" with a little
"tail" with a nose that gets into the extracting groove of the cartridge. These pieces are linked together with metal rings. Might be a little hard to do in 1:35 scale, either PE or turned metal
HTH
Hans-Hermann

PE one's can be a little flat,but a little dab of brass/copper paint on top of the 'round' will give it a bit more form. A small spot of red on the tip of every 5th round will replicate a belt of mixed ball/tracer. I have a fret of Aber .30 .50 cal belts for one of my numerous other projects awaiting the time to spend on them !

you may try a wire tie they come in all different sizes.

Hi guys, lots of comments about this, so thanks again.
I'm looking a use the belts to be draped over the side of a sdkfz 251, so they have to look pretty convincing.
Other than using sprue or wire pieces, I cant think of any other way????

I'm gonna try this method, and will update on here as to my progress/ success.....

Whew! Good thing that wasn't on the final exam at the Special Forces Weapons Course.

Actually, I am referring to Soviet (and German) non-disintegrating belts, like the one my friend below has. Note the "empty" belt exiting the left side of the receiver.

Ian- Now that we know (sort of) which gun you're depicting, you WILL need something like this. If you can get brass rounds in that caliber I would suggest spacing them out evenly, and running a long piece of Chart Tape along them pressing it down between the rounds. Flip the assembly over and repeat, so that the tape appears to be a series of rings connected with a small space in between. Again, refer to photo. I've tried this and it looks okay properly painted. Alternately, you could cut uniform section of hypodermic needle, slide the cartridges into them, and solder them all together. There would even be some flex I imagine. No, I have not tried that one, but I'd be happy to watch you do it.

Colin, you refer to Aber .30 cal. belts. I have the Mission Models .50 cal shells with ammo belt. They are tedious enough, but look great when done. I cannot imagine myself fiddling with the .30 cal variety.

Ian,
Post up some pictures as well as an explanation of what you do.

Ian, try tamiya weapon sets. The U.S. set comes with 30 and 50 cal. belts. Just cut off the projectile end and it looks like an empty belt.

I gave this problem, a lot of thought and managed to source some styrene rod, very thin rod, from Slater's Plastikard.

I cut the rod into lenths and glues them together.....very time consuming indeed.
After this, I then cut a very thin strip of kitchen foil and glued this down the centre to represent the clips that hold the belt together.

I have placed an MG42 next to it to show the scale.....it is very tiny and very fiddly and in the end, I'm not really sure what to think??

Any comments are always welcome.....

I'll have to see what they look like after painting I guess

Shultz

Mate they look fine to me, the only thing i would change is chop a bit off the end of one side of all the rounds to give the impression of the cartidge end being shorter than the projectile end, which if you see photos of link ammunition it most usually is (meaning, not equal length on either side of the link/belt).
It'd be ideal if you could get them to come to a point on the end, but that'd be bloody tedious to do, and at 1/35th i reckon if it looks like an ammo belt then it is an ammo belt!

Thanks Dave...your comments are really welcome.
The more I think about them, the more I'm warming to them.

Gonna do my belt ammo as un fired, draped over the side of a halftrack gun shield.

Thanks
Again
Shultz