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**m1ks** · 16-03-2012

A question for you tank guys.
I'm building my first 'proper' tank, a tamiya 35th panther, everythings gone together well but I have a problem in fitting the tow cable, the instructions aren't clear, (it's one of the older kits with provision for being motorised), it needs to go on the side as it would prevent turret rotation on the top but doesn't seem to easily fit and seems a little overlong, any tips or pics from anyone who's built this one would be appreciated!
Tanks in advance, (see what I did there,

, ok I'll get me coat!)

**dubster72** · 16-03-2012

I never bother with the supplied cable, it looks too unreal & in theatre, most crews had them somewhere easily accessible to minimize the time needed to hitch them up.

What I use is picture hanging wire, painted black & super-glued to the kit hooks. A touch of silver drybrush & it's done!

**spanner570** · 16-03-2012

Totally agree with Patrick, the supplied tow cables are awful.....

I too use brass picture wire. I cut off the loop ends of the plastic cables and superglue them to the brass wire, then run them in a straight line from one hull hook to the other. I paint them just like Patrick does!

Cheers,
Ron

**dubster72** · 16-03-2012

Ron & I make our cables the same way! He explained it far better than me! Here's a few pics to illustrate what we mean:

Tanks 029..jpg Tanks 041..jpg Tanks 032..jpg

Hopefully that will help a little. Which cable are we talking about? It occurs to me that as well as the main tow cables, there's another small coil that goes on the side of the hull about halfway down?

Cheers
Patrick

**m1ks** · 16-03-2012

Thanks for the replies fellas, however, it's not the realism of the cable that's bothering me, just that there don't seem to be any attachment hooks on the tank body to place it, i'll take a pic of the tank side where it's meant to go shortly and of the minimalistic instructions which show the rough shape and location but nothing like enough detail to fit it accurately with the stowage already there.

**spanner570** · 16-03-2012

If you are talking about the two main tow cables that are normally fastened to brackets on the deck, in practice these were usually just hooked fore and aft to the four big shackles welded to the front and back of the tank and just left loose on the deck, ready for instant use........

The small hawser is just fastened to the left/port side of the tank on small brackets welded to the side.

Cheers,
Ron

**andygh** · 16-03-2012

The tow cables should hook onto the tool mounting bracket at the front and onto a post mounted at the top of the side, furthest to the rear. If you're building the Tamiya Panther G then the rear mounting will be missing but don't worry about it, the cables were usually slung on anywhere convenient

Personally I twist up my own cables from copper wire or sometimes I use some cord that I picked up in a craft shop somewhere

If you google "panther walkaround" you'll get loads of photos which will clarify my waffle

**dubster72** · 16-03-2012

Here are some helpful pics... I hope! The cable was as seen fixed to the hull, or using the horned device to the right, then attached to the 'U' shaped chappies at the front ( with corresponding one at the rear )

You can see I've got the technical lingo down to a fine art!

SamuarMKV.jpg panther-tank-5710.jpg

Cheers
Patrick

**m1ks** · 16-03-2012

That last pic is helpful as it goes, thanks.
It seems the tamiya kit is missing a couple of handy location points but it does have one like the above pic sticking out the top of the stowage rack, it didn't look to protrude much so I wasn't sure it was there for the cable.