# Pirate Ship's Wheel Tutorial



## theedwin (Sep 25, 2008)

Great Tut Creepy!! 

And a fun video too!


----------



## SavageEye (Aug 30, 2010)

Looks great. I really want to try this some time soon! Question: Do you think that if you hit the skellies fingers with a heat gun and "mold" mold them to the spindle (so that it looks like he's holding on) that would be enough to keep him "attached" to the wheel?


----------



## ollieee (Sep 16, 2010)

Yes, a heat gun will work but be careful to bring the the temp up slow enough as to not burn the material. As for staying on the wheel, probably not if the wheel is moving. I found that a black wire tie (like the ones that come around the cords on power packs) tied around the wheel at a knuckle. This allows a little movement in the hand. When the hand is attached rigidly to the wheel, all of the motion is exerted on the wrist and elbow which after hours of movement causes damage to one or both of these areas as the plastic is rather soft. Even when allowing the additional movement at the hand, I have had to repair the wrist and elbow joints on my Helmsman each year. I am considering going to a Bucky skeleton for my Helmsman for this reason. Hope this helps!


----------



## Defenestrator (Jul 27, 2009)

Very nice tutorial....thanks for sharing!

I like the method for creating the wheel itself. Finding one that is the right size can be pretty costly!

SavageEye- I had several Walgreens skeletons that needed to hold pistols, cups, etc last year, but that all have the flat style hand. 

I needed each one to hold something, and I did successfully use a heat gun in each case. Once heated, the fingers became very malleable (also very hot, so gloves were required when forming his fingers). I wrapped his hand around a piece of PVC pipe (didn't want to damage the handle of the pistols with the heat) until the fingers took the desired shape. Once they were in position, I simply held the hand closed until cool, and it worked out very well. From there, I used one black zip tie just as insurance.

There are several skeletons in my Pirate Album  that had the 'heat gun' method applied, if you'd like to see the result. i would imagine that it should probably work out just the same for the helmsman application....


----------



## SavageEye (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks guys for your input!


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

I thought about trying to bend the hands, but I don't have a heat gun. The fingers seems fairly weak, so I'm not sure how well it would hold up to being bent.
I may give it a try, even if I don't use the fingers to actually hold the hand to the wheel.


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

One thing I forgot to mention in the tutorial was that I covered the outer edge of the wheel with thin veneer to make it look solid. It took the stain really well, so the colour matched the rest of the wheel perfectly.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

I had to log back on tonight just to tell you that that was the most fun instructional video I have watched in recent memory. I give it ....
 Five pumpkins!!! Love the wipes, sound effects, music, etc. Music kind of sounded like it came from something you would watch at the movie theater during intermission back in the 50s or 60s. You're a natural on the screen too! Great prop (pirates be one of my themes as well) and it was so easy to follow. Thanks!!


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

Thanks, Ghost of Spookie. The wheel turned out a lot better than we thought it would, to be honest. I'm just glad I remembered to grab some photos during the build! LOL We had fun putting the video together, too. I didn't think video shots of the actual build would be all that interesting, so we had to get creative when it came to putting photos together.


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

BTW... if anyone is interested, the music is a tune called "Boaters In Blazers". LOL


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

Sorry, Lau89ra... My bad.  But hey... At least I caught it and posted here.


----------



## Mistress of the Abyss (Sep 21, 2007)

Great tut!!


----------



## bobzilla (Nov 15, 2008)

Nice job! ! !


----------



## nimblemonkey (Jan 17, 2013)

about the skellie hands- couldn't you cut the digits and insert heavy wire that you could then bend into the position you wanted? just a thought- I also like the video, great job!


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

Nimblemonkey... Great idea. I think I will give that a try! Thanks.


----------



## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

Nimblemonkey.. I've started working on the fingers with your suggestion... works perfectly. Short (yes, hard to believe LOL) video tutorial to follow!


----------

