Although I was quite happy with the ship’s wheels that I’d created by hand SEEN HERE, when I got a look at the new ship wheel kit created by Chuck Passaro for his supply store Syren Ship Model Company, I knew it’d be perfect for the Confederacy.
Chuck’s instructions for the wheel can be found HERE, so I won’t go into full detail. But, the kit comes with 29 laser cut pieces that eventually come together to form the wheel, along with small “jig” used to help in the construction and measurements.
First, the two sides of the halves of the jig are glued together to form slots that are precisely spaced. Small laser cut blocks are detached and sanded. However, as Chuck insists, the sides must remain precisely measured; so only the top and bottom are slightly sanded to get rid of the laster cut char and fit into the jig snug but not tightly.
Once the blocks are fitted in the jig, they outer portion of the wheel is glued into place. This creates gaps in which the spokes will fit.
Next up, the spokes – which are the most delicate part. Each spoke is laser cut with square edges. To round the edges, the spoke is mounted in my Dremel, which is in turn mounted vertically in a vise. Each spoke is just an inch or so tall and tapered from about a millimeter thick.
The Dremel serves as a lathe, and the spoke is shaped and ultimately detailed. I decided to get a little creative and documented the process in a YouTube Video.
The spokes are place and glued around the center core of the wheel, placed in the jig with the square portion of each spoke fitted in the slots created by the blocks.
Finally, the entire wheel is sanded and smoothed with 600 – 4000 grit sandpaper, then stained. Because the char lines and creases created by each piece made visible lines in the wheel, I chose a darker mahogany stain to cover that up as much as possible and make it less visible to the naked eye.
Because the wheels were now more ornate, I decided to give the base for the wheels a different treatment as well. Using a scrap of wood left over from a penholder I acquired some time ago, I cut and sanded down two pieces of framing to whole the new wheels.
I’m not entire sure what kind of wood this is, but it’s very dense and very hard, so although tedious it made for precision carving and sanding, and ultimately I believe looked pretty good.
The Lehman Shipyard 