Steering Wheels. Pumps. Ladders.
Steering Wheels
To be accurate and authentic, a steering wheel should have an
iron hub with a brass cap. From the hub should project eight or ten turned hardwood spokes
into which are mortised the sections of the hardwood rim. In actual use, aboard a ship,
the rim is strengthened with brass faceplates, before and abaft. As with every other part,
however, the model maker can imitate and improvise. The most primitive wheel, and one that
should be used only on small models, is the sprocket wheel of a watch. To make a good
imitation wheel (Fig. 14), one must turn or file a hub and axle. These may be shaped from
a single piece. Then drill part way through for the spokes and make a brass rim, which is
bored all the way through to receive the spokes. Finally, turn the spokes and handles in
one piece, making them a tight fit for the hub and rim holes. The wheel should hold
together without solder, but for safety either hot or liquid (cold) solder may be used if
applied sparingly. When no tools are available for shaping the rim and hub from brass,
thick sheet lead that can be purchased at any plumber's supply store can be used. Being
soft, the lead can be cut and shaped easily, and pins or brads, cut to the right length,
can be used for the spokes and handles. To hold the wheel together, simply compress the
lead wherever a grip is needed.
Small steering wheels also can be cut with fine jeweler's saws from thick sheet celluloid,
the edges being smoothed and rounded with small files (Fig. 22). However made, the spokes
and rim edges should be finished to represent teak, and the faces to imitate brass. One
temptation in making a model steering wheel is to make the rim too large and out of
proportion to the hub and spokes. On an actual wheel, the rim is fairly narrow and little,
if any, thicker than the spokes at their widest part. Full size, they generally are from 3
to 4 in. thick.
Pumps
Although the actual design of pumps will vary with the type and period of
ship, there are many general hints on pump construction that should be of value. The
wooden man-o'-war style was to have the pumps on the gun deck, worked with long pump
handles or brakes. On merchant ships, the outlets were on the main deck just abaft the
mainmast. Since the 1850's, or thereabouts, cranks with handles and flywheels similar to
those shown in Fig. 15 have taken the place of the brakes. The crank shaft rests on the
fife rails while the flywheels are almost invariably inside the pinrails with the handles,
of course, outside. Full size, the rims of the wheels are about 4 ft. in diameter, 4 in.
thick, and oval in cross section. The spokes are usually curved instead of straight. Here
again, while brass is used by many experts for the rims and hubs, the amateur may have
better success with soft sheet lead. The spokes and pump rods in either case can be soft
wire. 
Ladders
There are all sorts of ways of assembling the variety of ladders needed
in ship models. Wooden ladders actually can be made of wood as shown in Fig. 18, using a
simple gluing jig of four pins, or they can be simulated with stiff cardboard. One way of
making iron ladders is to take a block of pine larger than the ladder to be made and rule
lines across it at the spacing required between the rungs. Along the two top edges, make
thin knife cuts where the cross lines meet the edges (Fig. 19).
Along the length of the block, rule two parallel lines spaced to the width of the ladder. About 1/2 in. from each end, drive brads on each parallel line. Stretch wires between each set of brads, arranging them so they rest about in. above the surface of the block. Put soldering paste along these wires. Tie a knot in one end of the wire to be used for the rungs, catch it in a knife cut, and proceed to wind the wire around the block, catching each turn in the knife cuts. Align the rungs according to the ruled lines and finally solder them in place. Then, when the solder has hardened, snip off the rung wires near the edge cuts, remove the ladder uprights from the brads, and trim them with scissors. When you are finished, be sure to save the block, as it can be used over and over again whenever ladders of that size are needed.