1848 Stage Coach Wood Model Kit by Latina (Leather Strap Suspension)

From day one I was not happy with the strap suspension suggested by the kit.
Although I made a couple of laminated wood versions as suggested they were not anything like the standard used on the original.

It is far more for aesthetic reasons than accuracy that I like the leather wrap suspension; it is a substantial visual element and adds visual weight to the final design that is completely missing without it.

So the challenge was how to make them. I used the leatherette supplied with the kit and cut 1/4" strips from it.
Taking ques from the original full scale coach I concluded that one long strip was not necessary and in fact didn't know how to assemble it with one piece anyhow.

The trick was to 1st create a fixture that matched both the carriage and the rings points on the chassis.
All 8 pieces lay into the fixture then you can start from the inner most strip and lap each successive layer on top.

As each layer is applied and glued with CA I went from one side to the other in fairly quick succession, by the time one side was holding the next side was done.

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As with many things Modeling invention takes a couple of tries.
I did not like the results with the faux leather straps.
So I went on a search for a better material and settled on leather strips.

With a little more practice I have a much better result.
(Note the laminated wood strap in the background)
The CA glue doesn't work at all in this situation so I nailed each layer to the previous and then saturated the whole thing with water base poly.