As with the side skins the first job is to make sure the formers are “in line” as before from one to another and on to the next doesn’t make the skin look as if it shows an undesirable bump in the profile. The bottom skins need to be fitted to the keel profile first so some minor trimming to accommodate the prop shaft curve. The bottom skin also needs some steaming to fit the curve just before the balsa block, this curve is at the discretion of the builder so a gentle filing against a pre-made template to ensure both sides are the same.
The sheet is then applied to the base and clamped in position, this allows the steaming to be done and to pencil around to show the excess that can be removed before gluing and the outline for the former lines can be marked to enable some pilot holes to be drilled
I then use the same location method as I did on the side skins using 3mm dowels to make alignment much easier and less trimming after the glue has set. The curve at the bow is rather difficult to hold whist gluing as pins into balsa don’t hold very firmly so I used a build-up of clamps just to apply enough pressure to maintain the curve whilst the glue sets as well as a few brass pins.
Left overnight to set I can now use the plane to lightly trim back to the side skins

This is a simple construction from ply which when the angle has been measured and the height/front face calculated is easy to cut and assemble.
I used a solid brass joint which is the same size as the flexible joint that will eventually be used to enable the motor to be suspended in the correct position whilst measurements were taken. These dimensions were transferred to the front face so the rest of the frame could be made to support the front face. Once the joints have set I made the cut out to match where the motor wires exit from the floor. Still with the brass joint in place I marked out the 3 securing bolts these were spotted through to the floor. These marks enable the holes to be drilled (hardened using wood hardener) and then tapped M4, now the studs can be screwed into the floor ready for the final mounting of the motor.

The balsa block seemed to be a fairly straight forward affair and so the fitting of the block using aliphatic wood glue was just that. However form this point onward it got a little more difficult, carving balsa to the precise shape that I wanted wasn’t that easy, as the grain of balsa is variable to say the least, as the shape was three dimensional the grain altered dependant on where you were trying to shape it. Balsa is also soft in places and harder in others (I wish I’d steamed the ply) making sanding difficult. Solution – use the wood hardener on the block, this helped and eventually I had what I was happy with using a template traced from the keel plan in order to glass the hull, (more on the block later)

The hull is now ready for glassing but first I need to attach the keel, this is in three pieces which need gluing together first. Again relying on the accuracy of the laser cutting I’m confident I can glue these “off hull” as it were. This done, I then epoxied the length of the keel and then offered it into position, a very accurate piece of wood, lining up exactly as per drawing, I secure the keel by first having drilled some 0.5mm holes to take some brass pins and tapped them home to secure the keel. This was left to set overnight and then a light fettling to a condition ready to be glassed.

Fibre glass, the strengthening material that makes the whole hull feel solid and resistant to the ingress of water. Starting with the bottom skins I intend to do this in four operations. I first lightly attach the cloth to the keel with some small pieces of masking tape this allows me to cut the cloth to the shape of the hull bottom. I’ve decided to give Eze-Kote a go as there seems to be a lot of people that swear by it saying there’s no smell, easy to apply and quick to dry, “what’s not to like”
So here we go, according to the instructions paint the cloth to the hull and progress up the hull using light strokes and ensuring a light coat is applied. Well, yes, easy to apply and easy to paint on, it soaks into the cloth readily, and after about 25 minutes it was touch dry, though I wouldn’t try sanding until an overnight drying has occurred. At this point I was a bit disappointed with the amount of “weave fill” compared with traditional resin although I have to say it was a uniform finish. Day two sees trimming off the bottom excess and the same procedures for the port side skin as I did on the bottom, again a nice even finish. The starboard side and the stern were treated with cloth and one coat of Eze-Kote and the associated trimming leaving the hull in an improved state feeling much stronger.
This just leaves the issue of the weave not been filled, so another coat of Eze-Kote was applied and a third and a forth all in all making the process as long as using resin based product. Next I tried giving the hull a light rubbing down with 800 wet and dry and to my disappointment it showed signs of cutting into the class fibre, not amused! With hindsight this product may be OK for very light strengthening work not requiring a super smooth finish but I think I prefer the resin based system for the finish I’m looking for. I intend giving the hull an overall coat of resin when I’ve fitted the rubbing strakes this will assure me of a sound hull and an acceptable finish.
On price Eze-Kote is quite expensive and I would say more than resin based products, so overall I’ll stick with the resin and leave the water based stuff to light duties – not impressed, but I’ve tried it.

Steaming the bow
Whilst the fibre glass sets I will occupy myself doing a few necessary jobs but not very exciting. This may be helpful to others in there building challenges.
This is about steaming ply to a permanent curve because bending and clamping just won't work as it’s too hard to bend and likely to crack or break.
As I did with the crash tender I find it easier to make a jig for such jobs. A simple piece of MDF with a band saw cut at the radius of the bow is all that's needed.
I find that using a domestic jug kettle is ideal for steaming small parts, just bring to the boil and dangle the component in through the spout.
Leave it in the steam for about ten minutes (this is dependent on type and thickness of material, test for flexibility first). I turn the kettle on and off to keep steam in the void above the water until its flexible and its ready for clamping
Two clamps will secure it for a day or so whilst it dries completely when it will then keep its shape ready for gluing and pinning to the bow when required.

I am not happy with the Laser printed deck; however this is not to say it isn’t of good quality and most modeller’s would be pleased with the ready-made deck. Unfortunately I always like a challenge so I will be planking the cockpit deck as well as the main deck. I deliberated long and hard over what wood to use, traditionally decks are planked with teak and that would have been my choice however teak is not available. I didn’t want to use wood stain so using lime and staining wasn’t going to work for me, what other dark wood is available in the size and fine grain that could be used. I finalised on walnut, maybe darker than I wanted but I decided that it was “modeller’s choice” so a quantity was ordered which duly arrived.
The cockpit planking would be impossible to do in situ as sanding lacquering and polishing could not be done to a sufficient quality being inside a box! So I made a false deck from 0.8mm ply which will be removable for the planking process and finally fitted when it has been lacquered and polished.

Before the planking can be started I must design and build the motor housing box

The plans show one hatch, which is at the bow, this I have no issue with as it serves to allow the wiring to be pushed through when needed, however I think because of the rudder mechanism there needs to be a hatch (or two) at the stern. Rob added this feature in his build to access the rudder mechanism so I have taken his lead and done likewise, only I am going to have two to give some symmetry but mainly to give even more access to this area where the rudder, servo and water feed are located.
So for all 3 hatches there needs to be a sub frame built to support the deck when it’s applied. I just used scrap pieces of ply to construct each frame which were then glued into position and left to set. The frames were sanded to match the deck profile to avoid any unsightly bumps in the finished deck.
Now the hatch frames are in position I can apply the ply top deck.
The deck comprises four pieces, the bow, port and starboard pieces and the stern, if these were to be the finished deck (no further planking) then care must be taken to align the laser etched planks, so a trial fitting is necessary, although I am going to plank the deck I still wanted to check that the laser deck lines do indeed line up and with the trial they do indeed line up.
So first to apply is the bow, this has a slight curve - port to starboard so will need to be clamped whist the epoxy sets, I prefer to use small 0.5 brass pins for this purpose, so an amount of epoxy mixed its evenly applied to all the framework and all he pins are tapped firmly home and for additional safety I applied some elastic bands this is left to set overnight.
Following on I next used the same process to apply the port and starboard deck pieces then finally the stern deck. When all the decks were firmly attached they were trimmed to the hull sides, very little trimming was required around the box area the resulting deck was quite pleasing and would certainly be acceptable if you’re not a glutton for punishment.
This is as far as I can go with the hatches and deck until I’m ready to plank.

Part 1 The motor housing

The motor housing box which is a simple construction, but must incorporate ventilation to keep the motor cool, I am going to use the “Grating” I manufactured for my crash tender, I have just about enough to make an intake and outlet. The manufacture can be seen @
https://model-boats.com/blogs/37275#39275

The main construction frame is from 5mm sq. obeche with a 0.8mm ply skin, then around the grating it will be planked in keeping with the deck.
First to construct is the base location frame which is fastened to the false deck base, this is simply an oblong frame which will have the magnetic studs fitted in. After the base is set I can start the construction of the main frame. I drafted this out to make sure that it would clear the fan and cover the wiring and prop shaft. This drawing gives me a template to cut all the pieces so that it can be drilled glued and pinned to give the structure to fasten the ply skins to. I use a small disc sander to square all the ends and make sure where required that all “same” pieces are exactly the same length. Each end is pre drilled with a 0.5 drill to take small brass pins as well as gluing. I cut each ply side out ready to pin and glue the side frames to, then the cross pieces are added and the whole assembly is laid on a flat surface and clamped using try squares to ensure squareness.

I now have to spend some time assembling the grating to the appropriate size. First I cut the longitudinal pieces and lay them roughly in the correct place, I cut the cross pieces and start to join the matrix, it is assembled with light taps to push each piece together using wood glue in very small amounts to make sure the surfaces are not contaminated before lacquering and there is only minimal sanding after the adhesive sets. The gratings are to be framed with 1.5mm walnut edging and then mounted in the ply skin making sure they are above the surface by 1.5mm to align with the planking The walnut frame is cut nearly to size and then I use my mitre guillotine to cut the first edge on each piece, I then use the gauge to cut each piece to the exact same size, I can now glue each edge around the grating and using an elastic band around each until set. These pieces are now put aside for later assembly.
PS the guillotine I made some years ago and it was for mitring picture frames but I’ve not used it for some years but it works really well for modelling.

Part 2
The ply skins for the intake and exit have cut outs to take the gratings, these are done using a sharp craft knife as I am only using 0.8mm ply. I now glue the gratings into the ply pieces making sure the frames are proud by 1.5mm to allow the planking to be level with the frame. Now these are fixed I can add the remaining panels and complete the planking The planking is European Walnut and the calking is made from black 300gsm card, I cut the strips using a paper cutter which I added a 2mm graduated scale to make it easier to move the card up for each cut. Unfortunately the cutting process has the effect of curling the strips to an unusable state, so each strip is then passed under a hot iron which flattens them ready for use.
The planking is started whilst the two grating panels are still unattached from the main body, the reason being it is easier to sand and finish the panel to a pre- lacquering stage when it’s free to move on the sanding sheet.
The planking is started from the centre with the first plank having some brass pins at its side to stop it moving when subsequent planks are added, I work above and below the grating until I reach full length planks at each side, each of the planks have to have an angled end edge to line up with the sloping profile of the box, to do this I made a jig to be able to slide each piece towards the sanding disc to put an angle end on, the jig also serves as a gauge to make sure each piece is exactly the same length so all together I can prepare the planks around the outside profile from front to back, when glued in position these pieces are left to dry.
I can now assemble the grates/skin piece into the main frame and add the top; these are attached using aliphatic glue. As each grating section was finished before assembly there is very little finishing is required other than putting a skirting surround around the lower edge,
The top will have a red cushioned top to finish it off, however the sides were still only stained ply and I really didn’t like the look of it so I decided to buy some walnut veneer sheet for the sides, this was cut to shape and applied using the aliphatic glue. The housing is now ready for lacquering; this will need a few coats with a light rub down between
Now the housing is finished I can get back to planking the false deck.