Modelling chain is fine metal chain that stands in for towing, anchor and securing chains. Stocked are brass versions with rounded links in several gauges, chain made for the towing gear of armoured vehicles in scales from 1:16 to 1:72, and ship's chain of around one millimetre.
Part of it is supplied in fifty-centimetre lengths, so you cut off exactly the number of links a fitting needs, with no waste and no awkward join halfway along a run. A length of real chain hangs and catches on a bracket in a way no moulded part ever will.
40CM Universal Fine Chain M Size 1.0mmX1.8mm
4.36 €
30CM Universal Fine Chain S Size 0.6mmX1.0mm
3.96 €
40CM Universal Fine Chain L Size 1.4mmX2.3mm
3.96 €
Chain: Medium - 50 cm long (brass)
4.76 €
Fine brass chain with rounded links - suitable for 1/72 scale
3.16 €
Chain: Fine - 50 cm long (brass
4.40 €
A chain moulded into a kit always has filled links and lies in whatever position the tool left it. Real chain hangs under its own weight, catches on a bracket and, once painted, picks up a different highlight on every link. The difference is greatest on towing chains across the rear of a vehicle and on anchor chain at a ship's bow, where the chain is a visible part of the silhouette.
What matters is the length of one link. A chain with links about a millimetre long reads in 1:35 as a link three and a half centimetres long, a realistic towing chain. In 1:72 the same chain would look like the anchor cable of an ocean liner, so for smaller scales look for the finest series available.
Towing chains on vehicles hang from hooks and brackets on a load bed or a rear plate and tend to be heavier. Ship anchor cables run through hawses and over windlasses and have to hang free. Securing chains on hatches, filler caps and stowed tools are the finest of all, and they are usually combined with small rings.
New chain comes slightly oily from manufacture, so paint will not key to it. Degrease it and let it dry first. It paints best hung up and sprayed from a distance, since a brush simply glues the links together. Set the hang by anchoring both ends and placing a drop of adhesive only in the brackets. For soft draped runs with no links, carry on to rope and thread.
Towing chains are among the commonest additions to armoured vehicles, so the sets that follow on are in the military vehicle accessories.
