Broke my tow cable eyelet on my Heng Long KV-1 trying to get the eye into the U-brackets.

Anyone know a source for an STL for cable eyes?

Or some other kind of eyelet?

How about scale chain?

Have you tried Taigen Tanks? They have some very nice Russian cables for just $6.39 a pair. As for chain, ebay is a good source, try searching for doll house chain.

Their web site appears to be down.

Hmmm, I just checked it and it's working fine for me. I'd send you a link but I don't know how to do that on my phone. I just did a google search for taigen tanks and then clicked on taigen tanks. You can also try imex model company. When I get home I'll post a link to their tow cables.

I've found some crafting or picture hanging wire and jewelry chain from craft or dollar stores works pretty well for 1/16 tow cables and chain, might not be exact but it does the job.

You can get 1/16 Soviet cable heads on Shapeways but they cost more then the whole cable from Taigen.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/RA...ow-cables-set1
https://www.shapeways.com/product/HK...e-heads-set002

EDIT:
Here's the link for Taigen: https://www.taigentanks.com/collecti...multiple-sizes

Got to them through my phone; must be blocked at work. Anyway, their chains are sold out.

I think I have some Russian tow cables somewhere, if I can find them. Would you be okay with plastic cable ends? I know I have a couple of those I could stick in and envelope and mail to you if you want them. It's actually the whole cable, it's just plastic, so you could use it as it is or cut the ends off and add your own wire.

I was ordering some other stuff from Mato so I picked up another set of KV1 plastics, which include the cables.

I might try to craft some.

Found this:
https://cults3d.com/en/orders/82876142

Also:
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/vari...-and-pipe-1-35

Can't view as it's a view of your order page. The second one is for German tanks.

Haven't found any Russian ones to print.

I ended up modeling the end that came with the Heng Long KV-1.

Made up a cable by twisting some copper wire in my drill.

As soon as it finishes printing I'll put it together and post a pic.



Steve

Finished printing them and installing.

I made the eye very slightly bigger so it would actually fit on the Heng Long KV1 tow loop. The stock one broke going on which is why I'm in the fix I'm in.

I'm probably going to modify the design slightly to put a fillet at the base of the cable arch so that it's not so prone to breaking off.




I also printed some new U hooks for my Jagdpanther. These have actual clevis pins (I melted the end to stake it) so hopefully they won't snap off and get lost like the snap-on hooks do.

I put the tow cable ends up on Thingiverse.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6525155

You could download the whole tank in 1/10th scale for free and you will get the tow cable ends that you can scale down to 1/16.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5069466

Well, that would have simplified things! Those don't match the Heng Long version, but they look simpler to print and make cables out of.

Oh well, it was a fun little thing to model up in CAD, and I found a defect in our software doing it, so I get bonus points at work.

The Russians made several types of tow cables in WW2.

I used the 1/10th scale KV-1 model to get its tow cable ends. I modified them a bit to make them 1/16th scale, and I also added some internal "teeth" to the cable cavity for the superglue to dry and form a plug that won't easily pull out.

I modified the size of the tow hook to easily fit on the Heng Long shackle.

I also modeled up a shackle that uses a pin instead of the snap-on shackle Heng Long provides.

The models are available here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6528232

I bought some "fence wire" at Walmart. Said to be zinc-plated. Anyway, it is slightly thicker than the twisted wire I made, and I think it looks more to scale as a result. Also, this wire takes cold bluing solution fantastically. However, if you are going to apply cold bluing solution, do it first, before gluing, as the superglue seems to apply a coating to the wire that prevents the bluing from getting to the metal.



You can see the results of the superglue barrier here: It must wick along the metal or something.


Here is one where I applied the bluing solution before gluing. Worked perfect!


On the tank:


Full-size pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/koPg7ul