This probably doesnt warrant a full thread but I figured it might be more useful to post here than within someone elses build log. Sean Hopkins who is building a Chechen T-72 (check his blog on this forum) said he wasnt sure how to go about making the retaining straps which hold down the fuel cells and stowage boxes on the T-72's fenders. So I decided to do this quick step by step to show my method. The pics are pretty crap but hopefully they illustrate my technique.

You will require 1 soft drinks can (a empty can of beer will work as well!) and some hollow brass wire

Cut out a section of the can, it may be a little rounded but should flatten out ok.




Place the section of aluminium on the hull and scribe the appropriate width



At the end of the aluminium strip make a cut, how far you cut down doesnt really matter at this stage


make another cut, so you end up with three smaller strips at the end


Cut out the middle strip



Cutting out the middle section leaves the strap looking as it should on the real thing:


The end of the gap also needs rounding off very slighting with a modelling knife


Now get some hollow brass wire and stick across the two end strips


and roll up the ends around the brass wire


and you should end up with this




On this one I made in a rush you can see that actual the open section in the middle goes too far back on mid, this can easily be adjusted by gluing the brass rod further up on the end strips. Anyway im sorry the pics arent great, but I hope they show an easy way to make these retaining straps. There are of course some details to add to the hull, which are shown in my T-72 build blog

Sweet. Thanks alot!

Now I just need some hollow brass rod to continue.

Any brass rod will do Sean, I just suggested hollow because its a lot easier to cut. You could also get away with using solder wire or any other sort of wire-just make sure its the right scale thickness.

Sweet SBS Rob, do you think lead foil would work as well, or would it be too soft?
Either way, we have more empty beer cans around here than soda!

Jim

Jim
I think that a soft metal will work too. I use some most of the time I need to replace or just make missing straps. But instead of beer can aluminum, I prefer using wine bottle neck metal foil. Need to help the French wine producers

Olivier

beer can, wine bottle foil-whatever takes your fancy, just make sure you dont do the modelling after the drinking!

As to your question Jim-I did try using verlinden lead foil, and it does work ok but the stuff I had was too thick and didnt look right. If you can find thin lead foil then it should work just fine. Pleased you liked the SBS as well.