A bird on a wire (cable)

Today, while waiting for the couriers to arrive at work (I started at 9, first one showed up at 12:30!) I was googling a bit for Inq28mm and found a conversion of some model, with lots of wires and cables on it. He mentioned he made them using a tentacle tool.

Well, that peaked my interest. I want to do some conversions with cables and I've been making the ones on my servoskull by winding solder wire over a brass wire base, and that takes time. When I ordered from Zinge Industries I noticed they also sold flexible cables and ammo feeds, but getting all of the cables from them would get a tad pricey (though I will get some mixed cables in the future), so how did he do it?

As it turns out, a tentacle tool (or tentacle maker as it is called) is the one sold by Greenstuff Industries and this is actually a set of 3 forms that create 2 different cables, one in 2 sizes, which costs $24,99. Sadly you need to add $24,99 shipping on top for basically 6 small pieces of resin plastic. 50 dollars atm is 45 euros, wow there! I can buy a lot of cable for that.

So, are there any other options outthere? Well, as it turns out, there are. I found a company in Germany, Bees Putty, who sell their own brand of backeable scultping compound, and this tool. Looks awfully alike (but as far as I read, this company made them first, USA was a few months later). But again, 20 euros for 6 pieces of plastic resin. I know you will ever only buy one set, and it is rather cheap compared to the punch die's I have, but still that is a lot of money. 10 euro shipping no less too. I found it in 2 more shops in Germany, but they all sell at the same price and at the same shipping cost.

I also found Forge Planet for 12 dolars for a set, with 10 dollars Worldwide shipping, but they assume you know what you are buying cause there is as good as no info. Also, non transparant. But 20,50 euro, the cheapest sofar.

Would that be an issue? Well, I see 2 issues. If it is transparant you would be able to see how thin you are rolling it, which is a plus compared to a non transparant one. Secondly, how do you line these things up? I see no guidelines along the sides to make sure you are getting it right every time.

Beesputty has a handy Youtube video that shows how it is done, using a block of wood and a clean desk:

Looks simple enough, doesn't it?

Leaves me with the last one I found sofar while doing nothing at work :)

ROLL-MAKER (this takes you to Ebay) Looks like an improvement over the other ones (in one way only). Yes, it is non transparant, but comes with 2 bits that help you align the 2 parts, so I see correct roll every time, and even let you align it 45 degrees perfectly as well as 90 degrees. 12 Pounds for a set of 3 sizes (all round cable) and 2,50 Pounds shipping to me from Spain. So 20,50 euros.

Which is best? I dunno, I have never used these. If you do use these, tell me how you feel about them so I can make my choice.