Hi Jack (😲), No panic, lots of other stuff to do before the 'cosmetics'.
But it's always good to see other folks ideas and slants on a topic.👍
Have a good trip, Doug 😎
What's the old saying, 'I had one of those - but the wheel fell off' 😁

Doug, when I get back home in a weeks time, if the wheel has not fallen off again, I will take some pics and post them.
Regards Jack.

Well, we had warned you that it might just go 'Ploop' and collapse 😲😁
Alls well that ends well 👍 What does it look like? Pic please?
Might pinch your mounting idea for my Sea Scout 😉
Cheers Doug 😎

Fleet Admiral Onetenor, Sir! Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!
That is a very good suggestion and blindingly obvious when you point it out. Luckily for me - and my dear little ships wheel - everything went swimmingly as I blundered along. I would really like to know what it is made of, but don’t think I will bother to write to Amati to find out.
Dear Amati, you know that annoying ships wheel? Well... 🤓

Evenin' / Mornin one tenor, PM me the story!
My first wagon was a '59 Hillman Minx, for a fiver. When cleaning it out I found 2s 9d (a half crown and a threepenny bit) change under the back seat.
Didn't run properly when I collected it. Staggered it round the corner, cleaned the plugs and drove serenely home 😁

Black dog wheel done sir. BUT I would have put some of your flash on a heat proof surface together with a little piece of solder and applied the iron to melt the solder. This shows two things. One does the flash melt and the other does the flash take the solder? These little tests are always worthwhile doing to avoid tears at bedtime. Or any other time for that matter😁
Doug, My first car was a '48 Ford anglia which I bought for a shilling sterling. I'll tell the story as to how if you like and mods don't object. Reg was GED127

Let me bring you all up to date. I called a meeting with me and the now famous wheel and noticed there was a lot of flash that had not been cleaned off the castings, so I started filing it off. it was not easy. The metal was hard to file and the revealed surface looked as shiny as the chrome outer. I clamped the rim in a small vice and did the flux and solder thing and it worked!
So I mounted the whole assembly in the cockpit of my Huntsman, braced it and superglued it. After a suitable time had elapsed I removed the support and the wheel promptly fell off! it is so heavy! Undaunted I got out the Gorilla Glue and that seems to have fixed it. Yay!

Exactamente! 👍
Don't think the wheel is rhodium though, for one rh looks a little greyer / duller, for two the EU moguls would object to selling rhodium as chrome! 😁

Hi all just a piece of general knowledge white metal is use in a lot of products in model making and jewellery where some my experience and patternmaking, in patternmaking we used to use tin lead, and of course this was changed and another alloy replaced lead, so the stuff you get now has various denseness, the model stuff tends to be soft and melts at low temp, as the stuff used in jewellery is a bit higher melting temp but not by much.my point is that both are sometimes plated and are sold as silver plate or chrome , fact the jewellery plate is normally rhodium. if you by Celtic jewellery it will be rhodium and suspect that the wheel my be the same, and it does not like the heat of soldering and does turn to mush.

Don't panic 😲
I'll beam you over some tissues from my Easter island friend 😁

Looking at your “helping hands”, which I think will be my next purchase, it occurred to me just how many “Labour saving” devices and techniques I have accumulated in some 40 years of building model boats. I don’t think there are many things that need fixing around the house that I wouldn’t have a go at thanks to the lessons learned with a hobby such as ours. I’ve gone all weepy now!

Hi Black Dog, yep, had already found it, also tried the Amati site.
Not very illuminating 🤔
Weight indicates more likely brass than white / 'muck' metal 😉
Nevertheless I would not solder it as it would be difficult to do without spoiling the shiny chrome finish.
I would use the photo etch super glue and to hold the bits the so called 'Helping Hand', see pics. I wouldn't use plasticine, the oil in it might interfere with the adhesion!
You're right, the wheel does look like it's from a Ford Pop 😉 My Dad had one too, the 'sit up and beg' model in the fifties, PYK421. Funny the things you remember ain' it!?
Happy sticking, don't get too 'stuck up', cheers Doug 😎

I got it from the excellent Cornwall Model Boats. Look in Amati model boat fittings on their website and select “ships wheels”. it’s the last one on the list and looks like it came of my Dad’s old Ford Pop. it arrived in a small zip lock plastic bag with no instructions or other details. Also for its size (40mm dia.) it is remarkably heavy - and very slippery. However I do this it’s going to need a jig to hold it (plasticine?) as the jointing tags are about one millimetre square.

Very likely teejay! When white metal gets hot enough it just goes 'Ploop' and all you have left is a Blob 😡 Of course if they are 'quality' they may well be chromed brass.
If in doubt I would use the super glue specially developed for photo etch.
Would help though if we had some pics of the parts, and maybe info about the source / manufacturer to see if we can find out what it's made of. cheers Doug 😎

Hi black dog please don't use solder , it may be chrome plate over white metal if so you could lose it as you over heat the white metal, bad experience in the past.

Hi black dog two part epoxy might be the way to go with your ships wheel, I would clean off the chrome plating at the joint.