Harness and Seatbelt Color

[marcus4hire]

Hi There!

Just got my first ever Eduard harness set and boy, am I excited! Talk about some assembly required. I didn't realize so much was involved.

Anyhoo.

There are some excellent threads in here on harness prep and painting and I have read those thoroughly. However, they didn't mention anything about what color to use. I can take some guesses (bad ones, I am pretty new at this) but would like to hear from all of you. What colors do you use when painting harnesses??

Oh, these particular ones are WWII USAAF.

 

[Airframes]

Generally, the USAAF harnesses were a 'Rayon' material, a silver-tinged off-white in colour, which soon got grubby, and looked like a pale, whitish, greyish fawn - if that makes sense?!
Very late war USAAF harnesses were a light Olive colour.

 

[mikewint]

Most kits i've built call for them to be painted tan. The Do 229 has them in Hellblau or light blue which I thought was unusual

 

[marcus4hire]

Quick replies, thanks!

These are going in a B model Mustang, circa early-mid '44. Guessing that is later? Just wanted to confirm.

Also, while we are here, I have a follow up question. I took a look at the instructions. If I am understanding correctly Eduard gave me a couple of sets of 100% complete ready to go (other than painting) harnesses and a bunch of buckles with 'thin paper' mentioned a lot in the instructions. I am guessing I have the completed ones with nothing to add and several buckle sets in case I want to build my own? That is the only answer I am coming up with.

 

[mikewint]

The Do 229 is the only kit I have that called for me to actually "make" the seat belts and shoulder harness. Two paper strips 1mm x 15mm and one 1mm x 23mm onto which were threaded the photo-etched buckles. the paper was then painted and the belts attached to the seat

 

[Airframes]

The P51B would have had the 'off-white' harness, with dull metal adjusters and fasteners. The lap pad was brown leather.
the Olive harness didn't start to appear until about early 1945, perhaps very late 1944.

 

[stona]

Most kits i've built call for them to be painted tan. The Do 229 has them in Hellblau or light blue which I thought was unusual

That is unusual. Some late Luftwaffe harnesses were a green/olive colour rather than the usual beige but I've never heard of blue. Maybe someone saw something that was not contemporary in a museum aircraft.
Steve

 

[mikewint]

Stona, possibly because the Do 229 never made it into production? Only a few prototypes were constructed I believe

 

[stona]

Sorry,I read Ho229.
Steve

 

[mikewint]

No, so sorry, me dyslexic and can't read my own post. I should have written Ho 229
not the Dornier the Horton. only a few Ho 229 were built

 

[stona]

No worries,it's easily done! I was wondering what a Do229 was when I re-read the thread lol.
I don't know who made the harnesses for the Horten's but logically I'd expect them to be a standard system from an external supplier. You just never know though. I'm afraid the ins and outs of german harness supply are beyond me!
Cheers
Steve