Hi Tiking!
Hey! That is quite something. And, I thought I was a detail freak!
As to your question about the kinks in the cabling for the crane. What we use here at the New Braunfels Rail Museum for models like that is simple. You replace the rolling sheave in the hook unit with a discarded hearing aid or smaller battery or small washers.
This coupled with woven fly fishing line eliminates that problem. Also it doesn't seem to be affected by Humidity or Temperature. Our H.O.tower crane stood for seven years with the location of the hook being moved several times. It never gave us any grief.
Don't worry about the crane in relation to your subject. My 25 ton Boat crane (Upper Rail and Turn, Traveler type) Was forty years old and looked to small to do the job. It launched thousands of boats over the years. It had an very interesting gearing system on the end of the cable reels. P.S. Is that a Homemade Pod -Racer in those pictures?