wood, required very few tools to produce and were very versatile and utilitarian. All-in-all, they were a very cost effective and valuable piece of gear.
Wooden thimbles and rollers are just as easy and
simple to make today for a model as they were then for a full size ship, at least at 1:48-scale or larger. At smaller scales, however, the wood cell structure starts to become a limiting factor and more care needs to be taken in order to complete these parts.