Humbrol metalcoat paint is real good, comes in a couple of colours, steel, aluminium etc, paint it on (I find aerosol works best) it looks dreadful and you panic, then you buff with a cloth, and it looks superb!
I rubbed a bit hard with the towhook so the brass shows through a bit, to give weathered effect. I am no expert here, it was just trial and error, more by luck really!
Plasticard base now looks like metal! 👍 and a bit of heatshrink for the handle. Using the bolts, the handle actually works, as the operator pushes down the hook goes to the pictured position, pull handle up, the hook pivots forward, so the cable can be put on. it means removing a bolt, and slackening the handle bolts, when the boat is running they might vibrate loose so for now everything is tight!
8 bolts holding it all on, bring it on tug boys!

well we are coming to an end soon, the next bit was really cheeky, and made me laugh, inspired by HS93 again.

The salvage hoses,

Tried allsorts of things, , old shower hose, big drinking straws, plastic pipe, what an earth do you use, to look "right!"

Get a spring (model train guys have loads, as do old style diy shops etc), strech it out to required length, pop a bent wire coathanger in it to keep the required shape, put heatshrink on it 😁 😁
Perfect! looks like a rubber hose, ok, I used the lathe to do the ends, but you could easily find something for that!

Here is the completed "tub". By moving the towhook out of the way, it all comes out in a complete unit

Once the tub was constructed, I enjoyed this part of the build, as it was interesting, and a challenge, and turned out quite nice!

Have not mentioned this before, if anybody is unfamiliar with modelling timbers, take a look on their website, it is joyous!

I had a few things from them, the small padlock that features on most of the pictures, on one of the hatches, door handles for the doors to the wheelhouse, the grating on top of the foam tanks, and a few other bits, very reasonable, and real quality.

I used elasticated cotton for rigging, so when the mast needs to fold down, the tensioned elastic can be stretched and unhooked.

The green/red nav lights where a real find on ebay, as they are an acceptable shape. I just drilled them out for very small 2mm led bulbs.

Dashboard is back in, but dont have a good pic of it, and I made a rear panel with the correct size and shape rear wheelhouse windows. This panel is held with self tappers, so can be easily removed for any future maintenance.

well nobody has asked for more..................
but you are getting it anyway!

some light on the subject! 😀

white LED mast, green, red and blue LED navigation lights, pygmy wheelhouse lights, same in front cabin, same in engine room. Pygmy lights so they give a more realistic yellow light, and not forgetting the searchlight, another LED.
Searchlight is controlled by a spare channel that is switch operated, I am using a Spektrum DX6I transmitter, channel 5 is for a gyro on a helicopter, or landing gear on a plane, so simple on/off operation, in conjunction with a cheap turnigy inline switch.
The rest are all operated using a real clever Turnigy switching device (turnigy are hobbyking). Using another spare channel via one of the sticks, I toggle the switch to go through a pre determined sequence on lights "on" and "off". its up to the operator when programming the switch, I have done it progessively front to rear of boat, so mast, nav lights, wheelhouse and so on.
I have used the right stick up/down so I am not fiddling potentially in the dark with the throttle stick on left, that could have disasterous results!

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=26114

Potential fire waiting to happen with the "pre wire" 😑

Not all went to plan with this build, remember me throwing the can of plasticote!, I actually lost some fittings and had to buy again, on the first water test I had virtually no steering, didnt show the pre-edited video of slamming the wall a few times, and quite a few other calamities!, here is a big one.......

After all the testing with cheap plastic "x"props, various sizes with a data logger, I took all the readings to Simon from propshop, explaing I wanted good quality 3 blade brass props. My feeling was, after all this work, they would look pretty, and why not have the bit that actually propells the boat to be a good quality. Simon and I decided we would have counter rotating, this would help stabilise the boat, particularly under acceleration (stop torque roll) and under deceleration. The data logging (eagle tree data logger) gave Simon revs, gps speed, amps, volt drop, mah, so as he is like me, a statistics nut, he was able to suggest an answer to what I wanted. I would give up some top speed, for a longer run time, but my goal was to stay over 20mph.
It was a bit unknown territory, a large heavy scale boat, not the best handling, but ridiculously over scale speed, everything running at max really. The motors were certainly budget, as I still didnt know if it was going to work properly. The lightweight plasticard build had now certainly put some serious weight on. The 4 x 5000mah lipos alone weigh in heavy.
Simon made up some real nice props, and I had an understanding, if they didnt work he would part ex back for something else. When fitted they really looked the part!

last pic is a good shot of the hull finish, it turned out like glass!
You can see the shape of the rudders, the boat turns real nice, no roll, and does not slow down.

so what was the calamity.????

I broke my own golden rule, fiddling and messing at the lakeside. I usually dont take tools, if something goes wrong, the lake side is not the place to meddle, but after a test session with the new props, although I got pretty close to what I wanted, I decided to try both props turning same direction. The results were not as good, so I swopped them back to counter rotating, had another run, in the middle of Gautby lake in Birkenhead, I heard a loud buzzing, and a slow boat, going in circles, yes you guessed it, one of my beautiful expensive hand made brass cleaver props is now at the bottom of the lake. Lesson, dont meddle at the lakeside! 😭

its pretty much up to date now. To give more info regarding data capture, I have an eagle tree logger, with gps expander, an lcd display, rev counter. I borrowed a friends, he has same gear, and connected to each motor/esc/battery combo, to compare both. it created a bit of a wiring nightmare!
When at lake, the lcd display on the boat shows pre determined info set by the user. I usually want gps speed, amps, volts. I always record readings in a book, so I can compare at a later date. it is usually changing props, in the huntsman 28 I can also change the gearbox ratio. This info helps with deciding what props to use, I like tinkering!

here is the finished article, well for now.

To do:

3 lifting hooks on each side
some towing rope etc

My new props are just being completed by Propshop, so looking forward to fitting them a lot of information has been used to make them, so hopefully they will work well! The boat will go better with them.

Video was with a poor camcorder, hence quality, I need a new one! and two cheap chinese keychain cameras, turn up the volume and enjoy!

some detail of the lights as asked for by Alan!