Nautical Research Journal


Hanging a seventeenth-century rudder By Robbie Zielemans


87


Figure 1. Figure 3.


On my current project, I needed to attach the rudder to the stern post in such a way that the rudder was movable. T is was because I wanted to display the movement of the steering system, so I had to build the rudder’s hinges so they were functional.


T is hinge assembly consists of two parts: the gudgeon (Figure 1, top) and the pintle (Figure 1, bottom). T e pintle is the same as the gudgeon except that it holds the pin that connects the parts as a hinge. T e pintle is attached to the rudder and the gudgeon to the stern post.


Materials:


I found that three materials are usually used in ship model building are brass, aluminum, or copper. Brass I fi nd too hard to work easily. Aluminum needs relatively expensive chemicals to blacken it, so I passed on that as well to keep the cost low. I found a piece of copper water pipe that was corroded by the length of time it had been outside in the weather. I liked the patina and decided to use it for my gudgeons and pintles.


Making the parts:


First, I cut the length needed from the pipe, split it open, and fl attened it. T en I sliced off strips to the scale width of the pintle and gudgeon for the ship I was modeling. (Figure 2)


Figure 2.


T e second step was to mount the pin in a scrap piece of wood. T is ensured that the pin remained fi rmly stationary while I was bending the other components. In this case, I decided to use a small copper screw as the pin. T e threads in the screw would provide a bigger surface area for the epoxy to adhere to. Once the pin was securely mounted, the head of the screw was cut off . (Figure 3)


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