Tamiya-money for old rope?

[43rdRecceReg]

When you buy a Tamiya full-option kit, you'd expect the quality of the contents to match the bank balance busting prices they command. In the main, I'd say they do; but feel the kits are still overpriced. Be that as it may, in every kit you might expect to find some quality two ropes to go with your quality tank. After all, metallic tow ropes/ hawsers are a standard third party accessory upgrade item for most tank enhancers, I'd guess.
But this is what you get with a Tamiya; some plastic tow rope eyelets and...well..some bits of string.
Made up, they look a bit like this:

Tamiya-money for old rope..

Has anybody an idea how to seal one of these things prior to applying 'metal' paints?. I'd thought of soaking it in PVA, before priming. Simply priming doesn't work. The string is as thirsty for paint as MDF board..
Ok, perhaps I should just chuck it away, and buy a metal two cable from rctank.de., or elsewhwere.
Not wanting to give up on the one..as this is really classy, expensive string. Has anyone got ideas on how it can be treated to look vaguely metallic. Currently, everything I try makes it appears more and more hirsute and fluffy..

[Ad Lav]

I cured mine in some Tamiya extra thin cement. Next time I'll get a schumo one.

[43rdRecceReg]

I cured mine in some Tamiya extra thin cement. Next time I'll get a schumo one.

Sounds like a good idea, Adam. I'll try that.. After the note today from HM Customs, demanding £28 for the release of the Panzer IV parts I ordered from the AAF Tank Museum.. I don't think I'll be adding Schumo costs to my spiralling bills. Well, not for a while, anyway. All in all, getting the bits I needed from the States cost me £100+ in transportation costs That- considering I only spent just little over than on goods, is a bit of a blow. It might have been cheaper to send the parts via one of Elon Musk's rockets...

[wibblywobbly]

I've made my own ropes in the past using nylon string, to get the metallic or corroded effect I just painted them with dilute acrylic. It soaked in but did the job, looked perfect once dry.

[43rdRecceReg]

Dave (our very own Forgebear) does some Mato metal tow cables for around £10,50. They look pretty good.
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p5 ... _Long.html
rctank.de do a brace of these copper ones for 9 Euros or thereby (but postage almost doubles that.. ) Though Steve at Welshdragon does similar Taigen ones at a comparable price, with reduced postage..

2 flexi-copper cables with end fittings

2-flexi-copper-towing-cables-with-end-fittings.jpg (197.85 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

And so on...
But, having these Tamiya stringy bits with scale end bits (hope that's the case at least. ) with my Tamiya kits, I'm determined to seal and daub them first, if I can. Aber cables cost around 21 Euros and Schumo versions probably more..
While available cables are linked- lengthwise, I guess,- with particular models. I don't think it matters that much..

[B_Man]

I sealed mine with several coats of vallejo natural steel paint which seemed to settle down the loose fibers and make it look a lot more like steel cable. With a bit of weathering and some glue to hold it in place the final result passed inspection but it was time that could have been saved had Tamiya just included a metal cable. By comparison the Schumo steel cable I put on my Jumbo took about 5 minutes to weather, holds shape really well and looks like a miniature steel cable because that's what it is. The Jumbo was built out of parts from different suppliers so I needed an aftermarket cable and brackets but you shouldn't need to do that for a Tamiya kit with the retail prices they charge. The Panzer IV isn't a cheap kit and I was surprised with the shortcuts they had taken in some areas.

[Norton1]

Another option you all might try is going to the local hobby shop and getting the picture hanging wire they sell. It's the correct diameter and is steel. It does bend fairly easy so you need to be careful on that end. Pretty simple to make a little crush sleeve for them to fit into and the steel inner reinforcement pieces can be fabricated with air line as found on cars and trucks for air shocks. I have piles of that laying around from when I built cars.

Probably looking at a couple of dollars to make 50 or 60 of them.

Be well
Steve

[43rdRecceReg]

I sealed mine with several coats of vallejo natural steel paint which seemed to settle down the loose fibers and make it look a lot more like steel cable. With a bit of weathering and some glue to hold it in place the final result passed inspection but it was time that could have been saved had Tamiya just included a metal cable. By comparison the Schumo steel cable I put on my Jumbo took about 5 minutes to weather, holds shape really well and looks like a miniature steel cable because that's what it is. The Jumbo was built out of parts from different suppliers so I needed an aftermarket cable and brackets but you shouldn't need to do that for a Tamiya kit with the retail prices they charge. The Panzer IV isn't a cheap kit and I was surprised with the shortcuts they had taken in some areas.

Again, a useful example of experimentation paying dividends. Generally, I find the enforced improvisation this hobby sometimes seems to demand, is probably good for the old grey matter. It keeps opening up new neural pathways...hmm..but they often lead down to the local hobby shop
As I've pointed out a few times recently, several Tamiya full-option kits now overtop the £1,000 mark (round $1,380), and the others are now rapidly catching up. Little things,, like a length of string, do tarnish the image somewhat....especially when one has just shelled out a king's ransom.
Anyway, I'll try that natural steel paint trick. It may come in handy for fabricating barbed wire, and other bits of military diorama

[43rdRecceReg]

Another option you all might try is going to the local hobby shop and getting the picture hanging wire they sell. It's the correct diameter and is steel. It does bend fairly easy so you need to be careful on that end. Pretty simple to make a little crush sleeve for them to fit into and the steel inner reinforcement pieces can be fabricated with air line as found on cars and trucks for air shocks. I have piles of that laying around from when I built cars.

Probably looking at a couple of dollars to make 50 or 60 of them.

Be well
Steve

Thanks, Steve. When I was a boy I'd often look at tree branches to assess which would make a decent catapult, or longbow, and then which trees would make a mighty galleon... or SE5A. Those were the days of carrying apparently useless bits of things around in bulging pockets, in order to improvise some sort of weapon, or form of transport like a soapbox. This hobby gets the old peepers looking round the house for potentially usable- but otherwise bin-worthy bits of stuff. Worse still, it can encourage hoarding . Instead of dumping something that's busted, or outlived its usefulness, the notion that 'it might come in handy one day'..suddenly looms large, and stays the hand reaching for the garbage lid
Anyway..somewhere in the loft..I have a picture framing kit, but I shall have to swim through a sea of cardboard boxes and discarded memories before I find it. Luckily, I even have a mask, snorkel, and flippers up there somewhere to assist me..

[HERMAN BIX]

A man sure does need to be a 'Womble' to get along in this hobby !!

I get picture hanging kits from my cheap shop................I guess you guys call it pound shop or dollar-mart.
But the brass wire in them works a treat.
I will try to find a box and post a pic