[7] Belbin studied art at East Sydney Technical College for two years,[3] where his artwork impressed his teachers and the famous, controversial artist William Dobell.
[4][6] Belbin enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1943[4] and served with the 77 Squadron,[7] as an armourer, in the Pacific Islands during the Second World War.
Murray introduced comic strips, drawn by Belbin, based on the latest RKO Pictures, the first of which was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
[11] In April 1949 Belbin produced a new comic strip, The Adventures of Flash Cain (a private detective), with many of the scripts by Ray Heath.
[11] This was followed by Kath King of Kismet Cove (a female writer and reporter) in August 1951, scripted by Sydney Ockenden, which continued until October 1953.
[1] Belbin's work appeared in publications such as Reader's Digest, where he was the first Australian to illustrate Reader's Digest Condensed Books,[1][4] and commissions from clients included Hawker De Havilland, the Flying Doctor Service, McDonnell Douglas, York Museum, the British National Railway Museum, Union Pacific Railroad, the State Rail Authority, and American Trains magazine.
[6] Between the 1940s and the 1970s Belbin produced numerous cover illustrations for a variety of pulp fiction and paperback titles on behalf of Frank Johnson and Horwitz Publishing, including the Famous Detective, Surefire Western, Phantom and Star books.
[5] In 1969 Belbin developed the newspaper strip, The Earlybirds, which centred on a team of flying, female trouble-shooters, most of the artwork from this comic eventually appeared as part of an Air Hawk adventure.
[7] In 1990 he released his first video, Days of Steam : Authentic Workings on New South Wales Railways 1949-1970, a compilation of footage from his private film collection.