The rigging for each mast was originally fastened to the deck with a rather unsightly piece of brass wire looped through the deck and glued underneath. I was sure I could improve on this however it may not be to everybody’s taste but a you may have noticed if there’s an easy way and a hard way I usually go for the hard way which tends to be much more time consuming and more difficult but for me much more enjoyable.
I wanted the rigging to be easily assembled at the lakeside so attaching the wires must be easily done; each wire has a turnbuckle at its end to tension the wires with an attachment point directly by a 4mm eye. I have decided to use a fishermen’s device, which is normally for attaching a trace wire (I think) it’s just a quick way of attaching the wire (this may change on final assembly it could end up as a simple hook (picture later)) This device then attaches to the eye, which is fastened to the deck. As I said in the original plan, it shows a piece of 1mm brass wire pushed through the deck and epoxied under the deck leaving a loop on deck. Although this works, I wanted to do something a bit more robust and challenging and bring a bit of finesse to the yacht. Therefore, I produced a fitting for each of the four securing positions.

These were made from 1.5mm brass sheet which was cut and filed to the double bulge on deck and straight on the sides the joint line was also filed to the curve of the sides to make a snug fit the two pieces were then silver soldered to form an angle piece. After trimming and polishing each piece had the 3 holes drilled and tapped M2 to take treaded eye bolt fitting, these will go through the deck and help make a secure fitting

The masts are proving to be a monumental task, who would think the addition of a few LEDs would cause such an amount of additional work however, this is the part I enjoy solving problems and making things. In a past page I showed the wires being hidden in a brass tube going up the mast (it was previously used as an aerial), it was now time to attach the LEDs and devise a cover of some sort.
First attach the LEDs leaving as much wire as possible to enable the LEDs to be fixed in the housings and also to solder to and as close to the shortened legs of the LEDs without damaging them and making it as small as possible. I think I can contain the LEDs in a space measuring 12 x 6 x 6.and a strap to fasten them to the Mast.
I want to keep the cover in keeping with all the other fittings of the Yacht so I’m using 0.010" brass sheet . To make a container of suitable size I am going to make a press tool to form them making them uniform throughout. A small piece of brass bar will be durable enough to make a press tool that will last for 10 containers. Using a 6mm slot drill I cut the required slots using removable end pieces making it easier to remove the finished parts from the tool.
I first cut the developed shape in a piece of thin card to test the tool. Satisfied that it will work I make a first sample test piece in 0.010” brass sheet, placing it in position I pull down on the drill press, the piece folds, but tears on one corner, the solution is to pre-bend the sides before using the press tool so that the wings I’ll be soldering don’t catch as it folds. A second sample proves much more satisfactory and forms a very pleasing result. Fast Forward and cut another 9 sample developed pieces and hope they bend up as good as the first one, they do.
The next job is to make another jig to hold the box while the wings are soldered to secure the box shape this is simply a piece of wood with pins to hold the shape as its soldered. I now have to drill all the holes, one for the LEDs and two fastening holes either side. Each box is trimmed and polished before finally fitting each one to the mast. I need to ensure that there is no possibility of short circuit so I made 10 more boxes out of thin paper, which I can glue in position. I will leave them off the mast until final assembly.

The electrics consist of one 7.2Volt battery to power everything that being:-
1 power switch and fuse
2 ESC – motor/ propeller
3 Receiver - Sail winch – Rudder - lights
4 lighting – cabin – navigation – stern – bow - 2 masts
I have made a black Perspex mounting which will support all the electric/electronic equipment/components. There are two voltage boosters to increase the voltage to power the LEDS on the masts, these have yet to be finalised.
The two masts have power wires running up inside and are terminated with a 3mm jack and a socket, which is mounted beneath each mast socket so there’s no need for any connection of wires during set up at the lake, just drop the mast into its socket.

The cabins are in a poor shape, the veneer is cracked and lifting in many places, and the wood (balsa) is very dry with little strength. In order to strengthen the whole structures I decided to give it a coat of EasyKote and a layer of 1oz glass cloth, this will solve the cracking veneer and the weak balsa. The next process was 2 coats of red oxide primer giving a base for filling of any dents and cracks with body filler. The final finish will be white and Light green, the same colours as the hull
The inside of the cabin was not very good and a bit rough to say the least. It’s a difficult area to prepare the surface for painting. Therefore, I have decided to line it with white plasti card, cutting the various shapes to be glued in position with a contact adhesive, I used this method in my Marlin Cabin Cruiser to great effect.
The rear cabin is a problem because it has a mast going through the middle and if you need access to the rear cabin contents once the yacht is fully rigged ready for sailing it would mean removing the mast – not an option. The solution is to have the rear cabin split in two so it can be removed one side at a time. The cabin is held together with magnets and makes a sold unit when in place

The rudder has been playing on my mind ever since I started this project. It only had a very small actuation arm when you consider the size of the rudder. It appears that once fitted the rudder is permanent and cannot be removed. The access is also very restricted through an opening 45mm x 45mm. I may consider making this larger.
So major surgery is required, I cut through the rudder shaft at the bottom pivot allowing the rudder shaft to be removed freeing the rudder I now have to figure out a method of replacing the rudder with a removable system. I had to cut free the tube within the rudder to be able to replace it with a larger tube, 4mm bore. The shaft now has a 4mm thread on the top, which can support a larger arm. At the bottom of the rudder is a small treaded hole which takes an 8BA screw through it to secure it in position. The rudder is now actuated by a remote servo set near to the middle of the yacht where there is more space, and a Bowden cable runs to the stern.

Now that the masts sockets are fitted the masts need to be finished. As I mentioned before I have inserted a brass tube running up the length of the mast initially to carry a wire to the top. However as the tube came in 300mm lengths I decide to put an LED every 300mm maybe a row of red and a row of green (just because I can) These will need a power supply . I also wanted the masts to be easily removable without any wires to be connected so at the bottom of each mast is a Jack plug, the socket is mounted at the base of each tube

I have worked out that I need 390mm for the main sail to move a distance to bring it to 90 degrees to the hull. However the two other sails don’t need as much so I think the solution will be to attach each line to the appropriate point on each boom so the distance travelled will be the same for each sail.
The winch is a HiTec 785 HB, which with a drum that gives a cord pull of 390mm at 3.25 revolutions. The winch can be set to different revolutions by altering the end points on the transmitter which makes it easy to set the length of cord that is wound onto the drum.
I found in some early mock ups that as the cord is wound onto the drum and overlaps each previous revolution,the cord gets tighter which means some sort of tensioning system will be required to allow the tension to remain the same throughout the 3.25 revolutions. I think a spring which applies tension to the winch will allow it to move back and forth as the tension varies, A spring in the line is the easiest solution but it takes away some of the available travel distance.
The size and shape of the hull means I will have to run the cord around a system of pulleys, which look a bit odd but is required to enable the unit to be removed from the hull in one piece making it easier to run the cord around the pulleys.
There will be three attachments to the cord run, two on the port side and one on the starboard, each then running into copper tubes, which ultimately end up on the deck. Each exit tube is anchored to the appropriate pulley leading the cord to the next tube that takes the cord to the deck.
The Mizzen and Foremasts are relatively easy to guide the cord as they leave the pulley via a copper tube and then to another tube that goes up to the deck. The main mast is somewhat more difficult as it exits through the top of the cabin, so this cord leave the pulley and then goes up through a copper tube and exits through a brass ferrule on top of a pillar.
In the pictures you will see the trial system on plywood which demonstrates the general layout works , however as mentioned before about tension in the system it tended to bend the 4mm ply so a more substansial,6mm Perspex is being used in the final product.
I have looked at a number of different attachment options , being the Knot, the cable connecter, the Fishing snap Swivels which may be the best option, to be confirmed.

The deck has had some months to harden so I thought I would give it another rub down with wet and dry to remove any of the remaining low spots and in preparation for a final coat. I also thought it time to look at how the masts are secured; they seem to be poorly located allowing them to move from side to side. The masts themselves seemed to be in good repair however, the main mast had a brass square tube running its length, which I am assuming were to carry power to a mast light, again these were poorly fixed with small pins soldered to them. I have now machined a slot along the length of the mast to enable the brass tube to be sunk in flush to the mast. The rear mast also had a brass wire running up its length which according to the plan was an antenna, this is now not needed but I have sunk a brass tube up its length the same as the main mast to put a light at the top of the mast.
The securing of both masts needed a better location method, the mainmast has had a brass ferrule added to its bottom and I machined a socket to accept it which was epoxied into the original location. I used a card template with accurate vertical lines marked on it which I used to hold the mast in its true vertical position while the epoxy set

The hull when I got the yacht was still with its white GEL coat finish. However, I wanted to have a two-tone colour scheme, which was to be a lower hull in white and the above waterline in a pale green (this was a colour I had seen on a Fiat 500, so I looked up the code and had the paint mixed)
So a nice sunny day and the first 2 coats of etch primer are applied, a light sanding and its ready for some minor filling with grey stopper fine filler, this dries fairly quickly but it’s advisable to let it harden for a couple of days otherwise it tends to shrink, usually after you’ve applied the final top coat. A final light sanding and it’s time to give a final coat of grey primer again time to dry and a final sanding and its ready for the topcoat of white, I decided to paint the whole of the hull rather than just below the water line.
I am now ready to draw the water line, the plans give details of this, and dimensions so I level the hull as per plan and then using a Vernier height gauge with a pencil attached I can draw a line all around the hull. Now all I need to do is mask the lower hull, the top deck is still covered from priming, I now have to wait for favourable weather conditions to spray the green top coat.
Aside you will see in the pictures another hull, this is the Marlin Cabin Cruiser which has shared the same colour scheme and has gone through the same paint preparation as the yacht.
Another fine day and the top coat is applied it takes 5 coats before I’m satisfied that the depth of paint is right and the gloss acceptable, apart from final polishing.
I will leave the paint to properly harden before final polishing and then apply the dark green line around the water line.

For me this is an important process that should not be done without thought, I often see model with insufficient attention to deck preparation resulting in the applied medium cracking /lifting.

So my recommendation is firstly to prepare the wood surface using reducing grades of abrasive paper, however this should only be done down to about 240 grade, a big mistake is to sand to a super smooth finish such as down to 600 grade. This has the effect of closing the pores of the wood, which limits the ability of the varnish to “KEY” to the wood pores, also being careful not to squash the grain of the wood by rubbing the surface after sanding with any hard tool.

Next, wipe the surface with a tack cloth to remove any remaining sawdust in the pores. Using a solution of appropriate varnish thinner (white spirit in this case) wipe the surface to clean away any remaining dust (you only have to look at your cloth after this process to see what you have removed).

I next use a 60 white spirit/40 varnish thinned solution to apply a first coat. After it’s dried then a light sanding before a second coat of 50/50. From this point, it is a personal choice as to how many more non-thinned coats you apply, but to get a gloss finish with that “depth” look then probably five or six coats will be required.
Finally, with the best will in the world you will get bits of dust land on your final coat. This is where I would leave the finish to harden for two/three weeks.
Then using a 1500 grit wet/dry with water and a dash of washing up liquid (to break the surface tension of the water), lightly sand the surface to remove any pips. The last process is to use a car rubbing compound followed by using a resin based polish (I use Autoglym Super Resin Polish) this polish has a very superfine abrasive in it, which will bring a super high gloss to your varnish with a silky feel to the touch.

This sounds a longwinded process but if you require this type of finish that will last then you have to invest the time and effort.
The pictures are at the 3 coats stage