I have no experience with that model, but I have a couple of general thoughts on your problems.

On the nosewheel, how much travel are you trying to get from the nosewheel? You really don't need much throw at all, most guys set up their nosewheel at first for way way too much travel. Coming in on the servo horn would cause the nosestrut to rotate less, and therefore the bend would be reduced. (I'm assuming the bend causing the binding is between where the pushrod exits the fuse and where it attaches to the nosewheel stearing arm?)

About the pushrods, the old wood dowl is the tried-and-true way to do pushrods that many of us did first. I agree, it takes a bit of messing around to get it worked out. It's not uncommon for that kind of rod to make a bend right before exiting the fuse, then another bend back in line with the control arm. Not right-angles, just a gentel curve to get outside the fuse.

If you want to replace those kinds of pushrods with the plastic or metal flex rods or cables, you can. But you have to make sure the outter sleave is properly supported all down the length of the fuse. That means setting up bracing or drilling holes in formers and glueing the sleave in place way back inside the fuse. It's easy before covering, but really hard after the fuse is covered. If you only support the rod at the ends, it will likely flex in flight, which will not be good.