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BYI Presents: Guide To Wiring

Started by greenstuff_gav, August 29, 2009, 06:28:18 PM

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greenstuff_gav

So, this cropped up while i was rebuilding parts of Adept Liwet and thought i'd give a quick headsup on how i'm redoing the power cables.

it's often written that to do make power cables and the like that you should use Guitar String. However, everyone's generally vague on *how* you use it and what kind to get and so on and so  forth.

So i ventured into my local instrument shop and asked for a G-String  ;D
seriously tho, ask if they've got any broken strings around; most instrument shops re-string guitars and all the old / broken ones get thrown out!
alas, the bins had been emptied a few days before i got to the shop, but even so, explaining i was sculpting and required ringed cable (like guitar wire), the bloke at the counter was more than willing to open packets so i could check size.
Eventually i ended up with:

getting over a metre and a half for £1.79!

so, once you've got your guitar wire and the miniature you want to wire-up (i suggest doing this before much of the conversion; guitar wire is stiff and you're more likely to break stuff off pushing it around! ), hold the wire alomgside where you want to have a power cable and snip off the appropriate length (adding a bit extra for flex/ attaching the wire)


Next, take a Decent Set Of Snips and carefully bite into the wire.
Guitar wire is actually a core wire with another wire wrapped tightly around it. so by trimming off the outside wire, we're left with the perfect method of pinning!

Here's a better example


next, drill a hole in the miniature where you want the cable to attach. Here i'm replacing the last injector on Damien's legs.


holding the cable firmly in place, it takes a bit of effort to bend the wire to the shape required.
It may help to use a set of pliers, but be sure to wrap the guitar wire in a soft cloth else you will damage the outer texture (which defeats the object!)


once you're happy with the pose, repeat the gently trimming to provide a piece of cable with thinner ends for pinning


a drop of glue into each hole and carefully slide the cable into place. be careful if you are using thin glue; you don't want to get glue all over the cable!


from here you can add greenstuff around the joints to give the impression of cables slotted under the skin, or leave as is for that Bolted On look.
Just take your time, and don't be afraid to pull it off and try again!
i make no apologies, i warned you my ability to roll ones was infectious...

Build Your Imagination

Kaled

One useful tip I have for guitar wire, is that, especially with the larger sizes, it's possible to pull out the inner core while leaving the outer spiral intact - then it's a lot easier to bend and position on the model.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Charax

funnily enough, this weekend I've been wiring up one of my models, but I used twisted jeweller's wire for my cables (not least of all because my mum used to be a jeweller and we have frikking tons of the stuff)

Good tip, I didn't know guitar wire had an inner core. I don't tend to use it because the core makes it too "springy" and hard to make tight curves with. I suppose Kaled's tip of removing the core might work, but that comes with the risk of the wire being too flimsy and hard to transport.

Hmm. wonder if I can take out the core and replace it with Jeweller's Bronze (a copper/zinc alloy which is really easy to bend and holds shape very well, almost no elasticity)
(No longer} The guy with his name at the bottom of the page