Hi all,

I'm sure most of you have scratchbuilt a tow cable sometime, but I figured I'd post mine. So here goes.

First, I cut off the ends of the provided, plastic tow cable:


I then gouged out a small slot in both of them on one of their sides:


I then took three pieces of thin copper wire, and looped them through this type of drill bit like so:


I then turned on the drill, and the circular motion from it twists the wires together and out comes the finished product that I then glue to the plastic loop ends.



Here is the totally finished piece on my Panzer IV:



Enjoy!

-Joe

Thanks Joe. I'll be trying this method on some of my future builds. I have heard you can also use picture wire for tow cables.

excellent detailed step by step on your cable tech

Thanks!

thanks for the great tip and teaching session!

reb

I do something similar making the cable out of the super thin wire from a telephone cable. It is so much easier because the soft copper will hold its shape unlike the steel cables they provide with some of the kits.

Great ideas here...this is why I love this site!

Thanks guys.

Thanks for posting this. Good suggestion. I like the idea of using a drill to create a tightly wound cable.

Bob

Ever tried using MORE wire lenghts? For my Tiger I towing cable I used four. It looks far more realistic. Or, take two really thin wires, knit them together. Repeat for two more times. You got three lenghts of thin twisted wire And now, knit them together. You might be surprised, but it looks great too.

Tow cables for different vehicles use more or less strands. A tow cable for a panzer III or IV would be too weak to move, say a Tiger.

I know that. But if you look closely on tow cables, they are usually made from more than only two threads. It does not matter, if they are from Tiger, or PzKpfW II. I always use more threads, only thing that changes is thicknes of wire I use. (I used to pillage old transformator stations from factory nearby, so i have a buttload of various wires to choose from )

What we commonly call cable is properly called wire rope. It is made form strands of wire wound around each other and then, for the stronger ropes, made from winding multiples of these smaller ropes around each other. Wire ropes come in may configurations:

http://www.materialhandlingdelhi.com/udit%20real/wire/Steel-Wire-Rope-6x36-FC-.jpg
http://www.industrial-rigging.com/IMG/wire-rope3.jpg
http://www.alliedwireropes.com/images/wr1.jpg

Most picture hanging wire ropes are braided and not simply twisted and so don't look quite like the real thing. At least to me.

Paul