Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Was hoping someone here would know of a way to do this cause there is something I would like to modify. Everyone was very helpful when I asked how to make power cables, so was hoping someone out there would know how, thanks.

First off sculpting the this entirely is really tricky and i haven't done it successfull in my trys. So maybe use those instead of sculpting your own: http://zinge.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=17_70&product_id=84
They are flexible Resin with a wire inside for poseability.

If you still want to sculpt them here are my experiences with it:
My two attempts to sculpt something similar failed so far. My first attempt was to drill holes in blocks of plasticard and glue them to a wire. But i had a hard time alligning the drillholes correctly and at the end i trashed the result as i looked ragged. But with more time better planing and some putty for the final touchups it might be duable. (Still a lot of effort though)

My next attempt was to use a strip of metal foil (0,15 mm thickness) bent it into position and sculpt the details on. I won't go into details but just know that this isn't the best way to go.


If you only need to modify an already existing ammo belt maybe you can try to cut it into pieces and use a wire on areas where you have no belt pieces with the needed bend. Then you only need to sculpt those missing chunks and can use the already existing parts as reference for size and shape. Mush little bit of putty around the wire, let it cure and use this as the base for your actuall details.
Or you could try to pressmold a few belt segment sides to glue to the wire. Then just close the gaps with putty.

This is just a theory but:

Take a platic rod of similiar shape and size to ammobelt and just stick that to the mini. The trick is to bend the plastic before you put it on the mini. You can also add the "grooves" before you start bending plastic with either knife or file (use sharp edge).

If you don't have plastic rod you can use greenstuff but you should gs harden before sticking it to the mini as gs is pretty flexible even when hardened.

You probably have to heat up the plastic to bent it or it will snap if you apply to much force.

And on the GS approach adding a wire inside it would improve the approach i think. It would hold it's shape much easier and The wire can be used to pin it th the mini what would reduce glueing problems.
Also if you mix the GS with less of the blue component it will remain more flexible as far as i know. That would help in bending the ammo belt without the GS tearing.

Maybe i'll try that for my thrid approach if i need another ammo belt.

You'll likely need to buy/sculpt/carve something if you truly want to mimic the look of the stock models, but there is a quick and dirty alternative - zip ties. The "bullets" don't have the right profile, being triangular instead of cylindrical, but if you just pick out the edges in metal and leave the recesses dark they don't look half bad at arm's length. You'd need a pair to ensure that both faces are finished, but gluing them while flat reduces flexibility. Instead, hold one half in the desired shape, then glue the other to it - this allows the two parts to conform to the two slightly different radii more easily. Also, be warned that the ties are frequently made from "slippery" plastics - not all will glue as easily as styrene.

Again, it doesn't yield the slickest results possible, but it'll do just fine, in a pinch.

I've no idea how you would sculpt an ammo belt, I reckon your best bet will be with the wire and GS or Plasticard approach btdoomhammer proposes. However, if you want a quick route around it there are these:

http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=60_103&product_id=146

I'm just presuming that you want the bandolier/belt style, so they should look pretty good with that regard. I'm not sure how flexible they are, as I've never used them myself, but I imagine they should be reasonable flexible. If worst comes to worst, you can always use these, cut them into separate rounds and then, using the wire approach, drill through them and attach them into a belt of your own shaping. A little GS and they should be good.