Cabling up!

Getting back to some actual model making and picking up on the 3D printed crane, things have moved on. Having already made a hook I needed to attach that to the crane with a cable. Now you can use cotton or a thread of some kind as the cable but they tend to curl and not look very realistic. Not great seeing your supposed heavy hook being curled upwards by the cable! So , my plan involved real cable - electrical cable!

Some scrap cable was found and a suitable length cut off. The plastic sheathing was sliced off revealing the several strands of thin wire.

From the bundle of wires a single strand was extracted and putting against the crane looked right.

Carefully winding the strand of wire around the winding drum required patience as it needed threading through the cranes structure as well!

I was going to cover the whole drum width but after 40 minutes I had enough! There was sufficient cable on the drum and enough left to attach the hook to. I had also primed the plinth that I had previously made ready to be painted up.

With some spots of superglue to hold the cable in place the cable was taken over the pully at the end of the jib and the hook now hangs nice and vertical! It all needs weathering and griming up now but that is a job for another day!