Been down today to the Spotlight store and got felt, (should re-phrase that😁) bought some different coloured felt squares (reminds me of a little Audrey joke,- anyone interested, pm me😉) and made up the seat cushions for the rear seats/bunks and started on the carpets. Both bunks have hinged (aircraft hinges) lids and space will be used for the battery access etc. Have started framing the front bunk and it's a lot of fun making everything in the interior so it comes out in 2 pieces.

Found some nice orange felt,- just right for the odd life jacket (boat will need them as it's law here,(one for every person😁) so knocked one up as a trial. There are some trim pieces in the varnishing process at the moment, which go on the front top of the seat boxes. Also I have some 3mm grey felt which is ideal for fitting inside the frames as sound-proofing (keeps a bit of motor noise down) Also finished the grab rails.

Managed to fit the grab rails to the cabin tops and glue down the 'cushions' on the seat/bunk boxes. Front varnished box trims still being processed, (it's a pain as a day between coats means it takes a while) Rails were drilled and 1.5mm pins cyano'd in, then correponding holes measured and drilled in the cabin tops and rails attached with a drop of thick cyano on the pins.

Rear seat varnished trims on and insides painted. Made a start on the lights using some ex xmas lights which I bought a swag of cheaply a few years back, at a big hardware store post xmas sale. They are handy as the tops are flat and they are quite compact and the colour's not too bad. I strip the insulating covers off and bend the legs at right angles so they will go straight through to the inside of the cabin. Next I cyano a 1/3 diam piece of black heat shrink on to the LED to create the viewing quadrant, paint the top and bottom with a thick coating of Reeves acrylic black and Bob's yer aunty,-ready to fit. I'll use the white ones for the inside lights and make one up for the stern light. I have some 3mm white LEDs I will use for the riding light on the cabin roof.

I usually just run my LEDs straight from a 3v source and dim them by adding a resistor as necessary, but I have bought some small V/reg/bucks which are even better, as you can vary the brightness much more easily, and they work perfectly, plus if you need to run big LEDs you have the variable voltage capacity there. I could have used the square/flat LEDs which are easier, (if you can find them) but I'm not paying a rip off price for them (about $6 ea,-- $6 per 100 on Aliexpress!) no thankyou very much!

Been having a play with the dash lighting using one of my my favourite Xmas LEDs. Lights up pretty well and still remains nice and clear. Also glued in the rear seat boxes and managed to make both interior complete halves removable (with a lot of complicated delicate chainsawing.)

Also made a power terminal block for all the necessaries (ESC etc). it's fed from the battery at one end and all the rear terminals are joined with brass rod. Handy screw on terminal blocks bought from from Ali Express

Making sure the bits fit in the boxes. Hopefully I'll be able to cram everything in, such as on off switches, UBECs etc. Once the floor's screwed down and pumps or whatever are fitted below it, the basic stuff should be easily accessable. RX will be going right up in the bow as usual.

Finally received my dummy motor/cooling fan today and just had to have a play😁. This comes in kit form with around 40 screws for assembly, but no instructions. Took a few hours of mucking around to put it together and test the fans, (2 fans are mounted under the air cleaner in the engine body). There is a way of assembling these step by step as some pieces need to go on in certain directions before others or you can't get the next one on. Quite simple when you have it sorted, but would be a hell of a lot quicker with instructions.

All in all, the parts fitted exactly and it turned out nicely. There are a couple of options , (distributor with leads or chrome water outlet and corrugated top hose) -I chose the latter due to the lack of room and the need for an engine box. It is the perfect size for this boat and pretending to be a 283 Chev small block, it has replaced the MK3 Zodiac motor in the original👍👍😁 Took a bit of time to cut all the notches etc to allow it to fit with minimum clearance (need some floor to mount the engine box) taking the interior out and replacing it a hundred times to get it right. Now it fits with about 1mm clearance round the exhausts and drive motor.

This model motor would be ideal in a Riva model or similar and clips onto a 32mm brushed motor. Might purchase another one for a future project along those lines maybe. Fans are 9v, which suck air through the air cleaner, and put out a reasonable flow through the alloy body/heat-sink, and over the motor. I've only run them on 7.5v so far and they're not too bad. I'll see how effective they are once running (if the jet performs as hoped)

Decided to do a bit on the lighting side for a change and knocked up the riding light for the cabin roof. LED is once again my fav Xmas light LED with the insulation cut off back to the lamp legs. I soldered The Neg wire to the inside of the bottom end of the 4mm od brass tube and the Pos to the leg on the lamp. This was insulated with heat shrink tube,- then the Neg leg was bent in an arc, and when the lamp was pushed back into the tube, it acted as a contact. This makes it simple to replace the lamp as there is only 1 wire to remove and no soldering involved on the tube, plus the lamp is just a push fit.

The base is just hardwood stock, sanded to shape and painted with chrome paint. Brass tube is cyano'd into a corresponding 4mm hole in the base and the whole thing mounted to the roof with 2 dabs of cyano gel (in case it gets knocked, it should just break away without too much damage)

Decided to make the engine box (bass wood sheet) last few nights and thought of a different touch for the top, rather than plain paint. This was a 'glass' topped table with our local coastal area chart and stained frame. I remembered I'd seen it on an engine cover on a large launch years ago, so I thought why not give it a go. Found a local chart on google, copied it, shrunk it to size, - glued the thin acetate sheet to the back of the frame, - the frame (stained bass wood) over the map - and the whole shebang to the cover (same way I did the gauges).

Turned out reasonably well I think, as well as being something a bit different. A bit more tidying up to do on it as it will be fitting into/onto a cover which will hide the servos under the rear deck. The rear of it will be open to allow the fans in the dummy V8 to get some air. On that subject, - I was also thinking of finding a heat sensitive switch to turn the fans on if the motor gets too hot, to avoid having them running all the time. Another job done, 99 to go😁

Jingle bells, jingle bells, nearly Xmas so thought I'd put up some Xmas lights, -still some more to hang in the cabin😁

More Chrissy lights for the internals, - one for the main cabin and 1 for the for'ard cabin. Running on around 2v. Will have to be linked up with the hull, separate to the nav lights, with an easily removable socket. It will all have to connect through the front ledge of the for'ard cabin. Off to the electronics store again tomorrow.😁