Howdy everyone,
I don’t normally post in this forum (I’m more of a plane man), but i’m currently building a 1/35 Tamiya SAS Land Rover for the Weathering GB.
Quick question which I’m sure somebody here can help me out with, what do you use/suggest to use for 1/35 chains?
I would like to put them on the smoke grenade dischargers. I can’t think of anything that small that would look like realistic chains.
Thanks in advance.
Chris.
cheap jewlery chain? like a fine chain necklace.
I don’t have a concept as to the size chain for which you’re searching [dimensions?], but I’ve had good luck in the “findings” area of my local crafts store. I notice you’ve listed Brisbane as your location, so you might use another term than “findings” — it’s the bric-a-brac [the technical term is “junque”] necessary to fabricate cheap jewelry, especially bracelets & earrings.
I think you would want to get chains in photoetch. Anything else would be too large. If you can’t find a set for that vehicle I would suggest finding a cheap set that has similar chains in it and go from there. a lot of early german tanks have smoke candle racks with chains attached. Try eduard. Bet you’ll find something for 10 or under.
Agree about getting PE chain for something that small. ABER has a dedicated PE chain set. Alternatively, you can twist two strands of very fine wire – the result is a passing resemblance to what chain in that size would be.
I’m kind of surprised I’m the first one to suggest this, but:
Doog: if you see the OP’s original request, he wants something to replicate the very tiny chain that was attached to smoke launchers.
Model Expo sells regular brass and blackened brass scale chains. They’re designed for ship models, but come in several sizes, so you should be able to find something to work.
Bigb: I use scale sized chain when needed for my 1/35 projects. The OP needs extremely tiny guage chain – it doesn’t exist except in PE form. He’s looking to put on a retainer chain for a smoke launcher cap or trigger device.
Even the old school Verlinden Sherman super detail set (remember when that was all we had to update either the Tamiya M4A3 or Italeri M4A!?) included a few small PE chains, and that was 30 years ago.
The Eduard PE set for the Tamiya Land Rover included PE chain for the smoke grenade launchers, but I’d go with Roy’s suggestion and find very fine wire and twist it.
Check out the “Precision Detail Chain”. 40 links per inch, which works out to .025" links, or about 7/8" in 1:1 scale.
I don’t know how big the smoke launcher chains are in 1:1, but a 7/8" chain is pretty small and I don’t think it would look out of place or out of scale at all. Especially when, unlike PE, it would actually behave like a chain.
Found an image of chain pulls on a build Hinksy did for the Norway 70th Anniversary GB, and they’re chain, not PE:
Doogs, thanks for posting that site, first I’ve seen it.
In the 1st pic below the bottom chain is 40 lpi and 3rd up is 18. Doogs is right about the size of the chain in scale. This would be good for tying down gear. The 18 lpi is about 2 1/2 " in scale. That’s a decent size chain. The other pics have them laying across a 1/35 hand. Now look at yours an see how big those are.
The 2 top chains are made form twisting .003 and .007, the gray one, wires and squashing it. The top one would be good for a smoke grenade type of app. I do not like the look of PE chains while these look the same, for something that small they work pretty well. If you want to make 'em instead of buy "em… the .003 wire comes from the wire of an ear bud headphone. Get 'em at 5 Below and you gets lots of wire to play with.
If you use a PE, or the homemade flattened one, chain for anything else they can be made to look a bit better if you twist every other link 90 degrees.
To the model railroad section of your LHS!
Some of the miniature chain found there will pass through the eye of the chain pictured above. ^^^
Brose around the section as there are many items that can be useful in armor & scenes
If its like this,
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/terryburke/01fdg2.jpg
Then fine wire twiswted up then flattened with a pliers.
Go half way down this page.
/forums/p/125284/1267511.aspx#1267511
Terry.
Thanks everybody for all the great responses!
In the end, I think i’ll have a go at Roy Chow’s suggestion and twist two wires together.
I don’t really know what guage the chain would be in real life, but i’m guessing quite small, like you’d use to secure a fence or something, rather than something that could tow a tank.
Also, I like the idea of having ‘created’ it myself, rather than buying off the shelf.
DoogsATX - great site, whilst i won’t use them this time, I’ll have to review their T&C’s and see if they can ship to Australia (and what their minimum purchase is to do so). I might just buy a bulk of different chains for use in the future. Also, thanks for posting those pics, really appreciate it.
Wing_Nut - thanks heaps for going to all the trouble to show those examples! Really beyond the call of duty [Y]
Terry - i think that’s what i’m after. I’ll get twisting.
Cheers everyone!
Chris.