I know this has been asked before but I couldn’t find it again.

So whats the best way to make ammo belts?
For my WWII dio I need to make 2 belts for a MG42 and I’m not positive how I’ll do it.

I’m thinking of cutting a small wire down into pieces and sticking them on a strip of tape and then covering the whole thing with glue to keep it all together and in the correct shape but I don’t know what kind of glue to use or how to keep the belt in the proper position (the figures are already painted so I would prefer to coat the belts away from them and then attach them when finished) while gluing.

Any advice or better ideas?

How about ANDREA MINIATURES - S5A11...?

It's a set of white metal MG42 ammo belts, ostensibly 54mm scale ( = 1/32), but should work for 1/35 scale as well.

They're available from Historex Agents in the UK
http://www.historexagents.co.uk

Go to the home page and enter the product code (ie, S5A11) to see them...

$0.02

acav out

Thanks Acav but I would prefer to attempt to make my own if possible.
There a commonly used item and I would hate to have to buy some every time I need 1.

Jacob, I'd go for the AM stuff. Since rifle calibre bullets and cartridges don't have a uniform diametre down their entire length (unlike pistol calibre), you can't cut it out of lengths of wire. In the end, belts of ammo gotta look clean and sexy, and its worth paying for that.

Good point Dave.

Just one question. How flexible are they being white metal? I know the stuff can be bent but could the belts be bent to be hung over someones shoulders without breaking?

There really not the main focus on this project so I may still try my own this time. Not sure yet.

Yes...the shoulder belt below is molded on,but the rest are not.

I'm not sure it'll be much help but what I sometimes do is to cannabilize the ammo belts of some of my DML kits. I usually end of with 2 of of the same kit which I like or those that have parts with conversion potential.

The older DML kits are relatively cheap and besides providing cheap conversion alternatives as opposed to buying resin add-ons is that the older sets do occasionally have some reasonably well molded parts including the odd MG belt. The DML Gen 2 kits of course have excellent MG belts.

From memory and experience, the white metal belts I pointed you at are 'quite' flexible, but - as with everything in this hobby - it doesn't pay to test them to destruction.
They ARE flexible, but also fragile - that said, with care, you can get them to drape quite nicely.

$0.02

acav out

I think it's modelpoint that has sets of brass and PE ammo belts in .30 and .50 cal. You have to bend the pe clips yourself.