As mentioned earlier today I promised to do a picture account on making the buckles on the hanging straps for this build. But before I get into it, I should say that the idea has come from a similar buckle that our good friend and mentor, Wojtek posted in one of his threads.
First up I gathered the technical bits required to make a small jig. A fine darning needle, a chunk of balsa wood, sewing pins, a pair of snips and I used 30 gauge wire.
1st step is to bend the wire round a thin darning needle and the anchor this into the balsa.
Looking at the wire with the loop behind the darning needle, place a couple of pins the thickness of the wire slightly in front and to the outer of each side of the needle. Bend the wire outwards 90 degrees.
Taking two more pins, position them to the outer side and slightly in front of the last two pins and bringing the wire forward and round the pins so that both ends of the wire are pointing in opposite directions and forming a loop.
Removing the pins gently from the balsa one at a time you will end up with a buckle shape. At this stage, if it is slightly misshapen it can be corrected with the use of some sturdy tweezers, but be gentle as this gauge wire will bend easily. Personally, I would stat again.
If the shape is to your satisfaction, snip off the surplus wire. In mine you can see the ends of the wire but normally I would trim this back so that the ends are hidden in the strapping.
Make the strap from some form of foil threaded through the loop, bent over and sealed.