Real Leather Interior

[NYRich72]

I might be biting off more than I can chew, but I'm considering actually "upholstering" some seats with real or imitation leather.

What I am considering is either to cut and glue the leather to the seats or to make covers to go over the seats.

Perfectly willing to experiment and waste a few dollars and some material to give this a try. My biggest problem has been in trying to locate leather thin enough to have the required flexibility. I'm thinking that leather  of about .5mm in thickness might work but have yet to come across anything that thin.

I'm guessing that someone else has come up with the same or similar idea and hoping that I can get pointed in the right direction as to a possible source for the leather.

[Bainford]

Look into book binding leather. Very thin and lots of colour variety. Google it up for more info.

Also, there was a topic in the Tips & Tutorials section of the forum discussing upholstering interiors with leather, and book binding leather was discussed.

edit: Here's the link 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bainford

[SfanGoch]

Check out Alex Kustov's Leather Upholstery for Model Interiors 101 tutorial on his excellent Italian Horses website.

[Rick L]

Go for it! Modeling takes many stages of experimenting. Even with tutorials. I hope you find the materials and technique you’re satisfied with and can share it with us.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The grain of most leathers is way too large...and it's usually too thick...for good scale appearance in the smaller scales, but I've seen it used very effectively in 1/12 and 1/8.

Women's glove leather (and driving gloves) is often very fine-grained, thin, and you can occasionally find old ones cheap at thrift stores.

Both Etsy and eBay have .6 to .8 mm-thick hides available in very fine grains too.

You can also find sellers offering bags of scraps and cuts that are too small to do anything but modeling with, pretty cheap.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[NYRich72]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll be looking into the bookbinding leather which seems to be pretty much what I'm looking for.

[GoForItPainting]

Colors: Vallejo German Dark Yellow primer, Citadel Agrax Earthshade Gloss, Vallejo Yellow Rust, Citadel Snakebite Leather, Citadel Agrax Earthshade Gloss

[TimKustom]

Don't want anyone to bite off more than they can chew. As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat (or a seat).

Unless you need it to "smell" like leather, I'd keep it in in scale and use Uschi von der Rosten's decals.

Then only problem I had with them is getting them to be the exact color I wanted (a very "cool" gray, they tend to be more "warm"). But if you want this look, I'd seriously consider it.

https://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-leather-decals/