RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Looking to paint /weather the tow cables in my Tiger 1 what is the general color they can be painted or should I just give their bare metal a light weathering . These are not the bright brass cables but dark metal colored cables.

I use a natural steel colour with a brown wash over it

I use a grey/galvanised colour and brown wash. Also use a rub over with pencil on the grain to further highlight the weave.

The Troop Commander would have a fit if he saw your Tanks Tow cables shining,
Not only because you never want anything shining from fixtures and fittings on a Tank BUT because he would know the cables have not been greased as of course they must be,
Hermans got it just about right.

Keep in mind that the cable material once used is tarnished by the elements, the earths minerals, and any paint that makes its way onto the cables during field camo application.
The day and age of the tank you have will mean the tow cable material is affected by its theatre of operations (the earth minerals) and its level of support(rear area paint or front line field application)
Im taking a punt, but I reckon that a cable secured to the deck of a Tiger would be a very convenient boot scraper for any troops lucky enough to catch a lift on one, even the crew re-embarking would use those cables to get the mud off before resuming their respective stations inside the machine.
Rust?................no, never. The cable material, and the importance of such vital recovery items would mean they are fairly well looked after.
The company that made those back then still makes high grade cables, for cranes, drilling rigs, and mooring lines along with other uses.
Ive never seen them rust, even after long periods of abandonment.

Thanks for the solid advice guys,I will follow your lead.


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I use India ink for the base to turn the cables black, and then touch up with paint once it's installed on the tank. So far it's worked pretty good for me, but I've heard of a method for turning copper black that involves eggs and if I can ever find out exactly how you do it I want to give it a try. They say the sulfur in the eggs will turn the copper black and look very, very good when it's finished.

This subject jogged my memory,remember, Your asking about the goodies sent with new purchase’s from Imex.
Mine consisted of a pair of the copper tow cables! I now have three spare sets lol.