Military vehicles, and I suppose others as well, frequently carry tow cables. Plastic kits may or may not provide them, but if they do, it’s usually either moulded entirely in plastic or as plastic parts for the eyes at the end plus a length of nylon or cotton string to put between them. You can buy wire tow cables from various manufacturers, but it’s also very easy to make those yourself.
What you need mainly is thin copper wire, and that’s easy enough to get: find a length of electrical cable, like from an old appliance that’s broken, or buy some in a shop. Be sure to buy a kind that doesn’t have a single copper core, but a flexible cable with many small strands inside (wait, a lot of people reading this will be British … you may need to be a qualified electrician to be able to buy this kind of cable in the UK :tongue-out
. Strip the plastic outer away until you get to the copper wire, then take a greater length of these than you need — about twice that is a good rule of thumb. The number of strands to take depends on the thickness of the copper wires and/or the cable you want to make, but it’s fairly easy to work out by taking a bunch and twisting one end together a bit so you can compare to the cable ends that came with the kit, then adding some more or taking a few off as necessary. (If your kit provides a full plastic tow cable, just cut the ends off and drill them out to a suitable diameter.)
Here’s 25 strands of 0.15 mm copper wire, which was about right for what I needed them for, twisted together a bit at one end:
[ATTACH]316404[/ATTACH]
Then I straightened them all out a bit by pulling them between my fingers a couple of times, and twisted the other end together as well:
[ATTACH]316405[/ATTACH]
Next, you need a hand drill like this:
[ATTACH]316410[/ATTACH]
Put a picture hook in the chuck and tie one end of the copper wire to it:
[ATTACH]316406[/ATTACH]
Make sure it’s securely tied, else it might come off later when you don’t want it to. The other end goes onto a similar hook that, in my case, is screwed into a plank on the wall:
[ATTACH]316407[/ATTACH]
But you could just as easily clamp it in a vice or tie the free end of the cable to anything else convenient. This is part of the reason for taking longer wire than you need: a fair amount is wasted in these knots. Again, make sure it’s tied on well to avoid pulling it loose when you do this:
[ATTACH]316408[/ATTACH]
That’s the strands held between the drill and the fixed hook. Pull them tight, and then just turn the drill slowly:
[ATTACH]316409[/ATTACH]
And that’s the second reason for taking longer wires than needed: the cable will shorten a bit as you do this. Check the cable to make sure it’s tight enough for your needs, and when it is, just cut it off at both ends:
[ATTACH]316411[/ATTACH]
Here’s a close-up:
[ATTACH]316412[/ATTACH]
It does show that one of my wires seems to have snapped and gotten loose a bit, but I can live with that. Now all that remains is to cut it to the length needed (13.5 cm in my case) and attach the kit’s cable ends with a bit of superglue:
[ATTACH]316413[/ATTACH]
Then just put the cable onto the model:
[ATTACH]316414[/ATTACH]
What you need mainly is thin copper wire, and that’s easy enough to get: find a length of electrical cable, like from an old appliance that’s broken, or buy some in a shop. Be sure to buy a kind that doesn’t have a single copper core, but a flexible cable with many small strands inside (wait, a lot of people reading this will be British … you may need to be a qualified electrician to be able to buy this kind of cable in the UK :tongue-out
. Strip the plastic outer away until you get to the copper wire, then take a greater length of these than you need — about twice that is a good rule of thumb. The number of strands to take depends on the thickness of the copper wires and/or the cable you want to make, but it’s fairly easy to work out by taking a bunch and twisting one end together a bit so you can compare to the cable ends that came with the kit, then adding some more or taking a few off as necessary. (If your kit provides a full plastic tow cable, just cut the ends off and drill them out to a suitable diameter.)Here’s 25 strands of 0.15 mm copper wire, which was about right for what I needed them for, twisted together a bit at one end:
[ATTACH]316404[/ATTACH]
Then I straightened them all out a bit by pulling them between my fingers a couple of times, and twisted the other end together as well:
[ATTACH]316405[/ATTACH]
Next, you need a hand drill like this:
[ATTACH]316410[/ATTACH]
Put a picture hook in the chuck and tie one end of the copper wire to it:
[ATTACH]316406[/ATTACH]
Make sure it’s securely tied, else it might come off later when you don’t want it to. The other end goes onto a similar hook that, in my case, is screwed into a plank on the wall:
[ATTACH]316407[/ATTACH]
But you could just as easily clamp it in a vice or tie the free end of the cable to anything else convenient. This is part of the reason for taking longer wire than you need: a fair amount is wasted in these knots. Again, make sure it’s tied on well to avoid pulling it loose when you do this:
[ATTACH]316408[/ATTACH]
That’s the strands held between the drill and the fixed hook. Pull them tight, and then just turn the drill slowly:
[ATTACH]316409[/ATTACH]
And that’s the second reason for taking longer wires than needed: the cable will shorten a bit as you do this. Check the cable to make sure it’s tight enough for your needs, and when it is, just cut it off at both ends:
[ATTACH]316411[/ATTACH]
Here’s a close-up:
[ATTACH]316412[/ATTACH]
It does show that one of my wires seems to have snapped and gotten loose a bit, but I can live with that. Now all that remains is to cut it to the length needed (13.5 cm in my case) and attach the kit’s cable ends with a bit of superglue:
[ATTACH]316413[/ATTACH]
Then just put the cable onto the model:
[ATTACH]316414[/ATTACH]
Comment