Harness confusion

[Sparzanza]

Some instructions for PE belts are extremely unclear. I suspect they're called a Sutton harness? If that's of any help to anybody.

 

I tried to make an illustration in MS Paint to demonstrate my point. Where on earth is the Y harness supposed to go? Do I fold it behind the U harness, or let the pointy belt things protrude from the top? It's annoying me quite a lot that the instructions don't tell me.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Sparzanza

[Wegener]

I did attempt to explain this but you’d probably end up better informed if you do a www search for ‘Sutton harness Spitfire’, which throws up several diagrams which are much clearer than my miserable attempt.  Radu’s website RB Productions also has photos of his assembled paper and etched brass belts, which are useful (to me anyway).

[Sparzanza]

So the Y thing is folded behind the U harness? Maybe... I don't know. It's doing my head in. The images I find aren't as clear as I'd like them to be.

[dennismcc]

These might help, from postings by the late Edgar Brooks.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Sparzanza]

Yeah looks like I have some folding to do. Thanks Dennis.

[Sparzanza]

Might toss these in the garbage after all. They just won't bend proper. I can't pre-bend them because I don't know how they're supposed to be bent, and when supergluing them into place with what I thought was a good superglue (Loctite) they just snap off when trying to bend them into the correct position and shape afterwards.

 

Photoetch is stupid and can f*ck off.

[STWilliams]

Have you annealed them first? (Assuming they are metal)

[Sparzanza]

Don't know what annealed is. :/

[STWilliams]

Heat them up, preferably using a gas hob, or a lighter if you don't have one, or a match as last resort. Get it as hot as possible, then let it cool down. This will make it far more flexible. Also worth sanding the surface you are placing super-glue on, to give it some grab.

[Sparzanza]

I did sand the surfaces that needed glue, but I did not heat up the parts. I'll give it a shot.

[dennismcc]

The RB Product paper and PE seat belts are great but fiddley to assemble, I used them on my last 3 Spitfire builds, below is some photos of them

 

And in the process of being assembled

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Sparzanza]

I know they're great, I've used them in the past - but I can't afford things like that at this point in time. Trying to make do with the OOB PE. Thanks for your input.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Sparzanza

[Out2gtcha]

1 hour ago, Sparzanza said:

Trying to make do with the OOB PE. Thanks for your input.

 

As mentioned above I believe, I would try annealing them. This will make the metal much less "springy" if that make sense. I would also definitely experiment (if you have any older PE belt sets) on an older set or even PE of the same thickness that are not seatbelts. 

 

The small hand held low heat torches work well, or as above a lighter held in the right manor. 

[davral64]

I like to harness confusion and sow discord.   Just kidding.

 

[Sparzanza]

I did heat them up with a lighter and they became sort of more bendable I guess, but the Y harness has already gotten a few pieces snapped off due to excessive bending. Because I still can't wrap my head around how to position them despite all the pictures and google searches. It's not easy being dumb.