I have some questions on leather fillets.

1. What kind of leather are they made from? I assume it is "veg tan" (not "chrome tan", as it forms and glues nicely. (Veg tan is the unfinished leather, chrome tan is the colored, softer stuff).

2. Are they a triangular cross section?

I ask because I do leather work and have lots of thick veg tan which can be cut to a triangular cross section to try out. I cut a sample (just under 1/2 across).  I understand one can order it from some tool making suppliers but I thought I would have a go at making my own

Thanks!

Darren

While going to college I also began an apprenticeship in a foundry pattern shop. So one of my jobs was to add fillets to the wood patterns. They were either wax or leather. I believe the leather fillets on stunt models are  the same as the pattern fillets. They are still used and available, see: https://www.freemansupply.com/products/foundry-tools-supplies/freeman-leather-fillets

In the catalog photos, you can see the fillet inner faces are slightly concave. The result is the finished fillet is radiused in shape and not triangular. Both the wax and leather were shaped with a polished steel ball ( like a ball bearing) welded to a steel handle. In either case, the ball was heated with an alcohol lamp and the fillet was burnished to shape. In our shop we used aliphatic glue on the leather. The fillet stock came in many sizes.

To finish the patterns, they were shellacked then lacquered.

Norm

I would order from Freeman but they have a $250 minimum order (for international, I am in Canada ☹). 

I found this place as well, which sells by the foot:  http://www.filletexpress.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

For now, I will try to make some.

Bob Sawyer sold leather fillets in small quantities.  His widow is/was selling the inventory.  This e-mail is old, but hopefully OK

Estelle Sawyer  degs@earthlink.net

I have been using leather fillets on many of my models since 1948, when I built two JC Yates "Madman" from kits.l  The kits supplied leather fillets.  I do not cover the fillets with silkspan or silk.  They accept all of the usual model finishes.

This is how the fillets look, just prior to covering.