Any tips for painting seat belts?

[Thorbrand]

I'm currently working on a helicopter and realised i've never really had to worry about seatbelts before since i've either had a pilot or the seat just didn't have any.

Currently i'm using a cocktail stick to paint the seat belts and then using the dry end to trim back the over spill of the paint, I'm using water based acrylic paint.

Is there an easier way? would dry brushing work?

[peterairfix]

If It were me I always sand them off and get PE ones as I just can't paint them but I would say its just down to a steady hand or have you tried masking them

[Thorbrand]

lol now i understand why so many modellers buy PE seat belts! I might try some maskol and see if that works, i'm not sure my tamiya masking tape is going to work for such a small area

[col68]

Alex if your using acrylics try sealing the seat with varnish then if you get paint on them while doing the straps you can wipe it off with a cotton bud and water

[PaulTRose]

What scale are we talking here? Fine paintbrush and some magnifying headgear works for me

[Thorbrand]

Its 1:72 scale. I got paid today so might pop down my local model shop and buy a very fine paint brush

[Thorbrand]

Ok so here's my finished result, i think it's just about passable. I ended up putting a clear satin coat on the seat

[Gern]

It's sometimes easier to paint the belts before the seat (I've done belts and straps on 1/72 figures that way). That's because you only have one edge to worry about when painting the seat. With narrow belts, you need to watch both edges at the same time and it's easy to stray with the back edge of the brush.