The cabin is best constructed on the body of the boat weather you are having it fixed or detachable, in my case I went for detachable. This presents additional problems if you want to have illumination in and on the cabin. In my previous model – The (Vintage Model Works Police Boat) I also had illumination on the removable cabin and this is achieved by using 2.5 mm bullet connectors, the socket is epoxied into the deck and the pins are epoxied into the cabin.
The cabin needs navigation lights, internal lights and a mast light this means I need 4 connections one will be a negative with 3 lives the 3 lights will be wired through RC switches. There are two pins at the front and two in the rear section of the cabin.
Now that’s sorted we can start to build the wooden parts of the cabin, first to be glued are the five pieces that form the periphery of the cabin sides, these have been strengthened with 4x4 framework glued to each piece.
Now the sides are set we can assemble the roof first gluing a centre spare in place to ensure we have a curved roof.
You may have noticed that the deck is in the process of been varnished, and looks a bit rough at this point. We have given two coats rubbing down between, we will have a further four coats to apply before an acceptable “depth and smoothness” is achieved.

As you will all be aware, the most vulnerable part of any craft is the bow and is often the area that gets damaged resulting in difficult repairs. This was something that happened to one of my boats --(carrying it down a flight of stairs).
To minimise the possibility of damage I fabricated a cover made from brass sheet that follows the profile of the bow and over onto the deck area, this will have an illuminated bow light built into this protector. The piece is made from two fabricated parts, which will be silver soldered together, polished and finally epoxied to the bow. The final picture I will save until assembly.

The internal cabin has a compartment, which serves as a battery cover (page 15) and a visual dashboard with dials and steering wheel. I wanted to add some detail and interest on the boat so the dashboard is to be illuminated. The body of the unit is made from 6mm black Perspex, there are 9 dials to be illuminated with different colour LEDs. They will all be powered by 6V so they all need to have different resisters wired in then they will all be terminated to a single terminal block to which 6V can be applied. The holes drilled for each LED will be countersunk to the same diameter of each dial on the laminated paper picture; this countersink was then painted with a mirror finish pen to enhance the illumination.
The holes are transferred to the wooden cabinet to allow the wires to pass through.

Although the motor is a nice looking piece of mechanical propulsion it has a fan on it that could cause injury, and in the real craft it is covered.
I decided to make something similar to the one I made for the police boat, which required a cover with an air intake at one end and an exit at the other to keep the motor cool in a confined space. Using some 2mm ply I made two side profiles that would cover the motor and fan, this was framed with 4mm sq timber to give attachment points for the top and ends. The end had incorporated a grating, which I made from bamboo; I found this close-grained wood was ideal to stay intact when cutting the small slots and then cutting into log lengths, this gives pieces that can be made into any size required
The wooden outer frame will be varnished wood (walnut) and the panels will be white, made from white plasticard inserts, the top panel will have a soft leather padded seat in light olive. (what colour will the hull be?)
The box when compete will be held in place by small magnets which had proved very successful on other boats, this requires a same size bottom frame to be attached to the deck with the magnet inserts

The whole craft will be powered from a Turnigy Heavy Duty 2200mAh 3S 60C Lipo Pack w/XT60U Connector; this is located in the front cabin and is switched and fused at this point. The two cables run from the battery in the tubes below the deck and emerge at the rear compartment where it is split into two exits, one runs round to the ESC and the other powers the distribution plugs located under the back seat.
The ESC three cables then run into the under deck tubes and emerge next to the motor mid deck. Smaller wires then run from the distribution plugs (under deck) to power the voltage reduction unit located next to the motor this reduces the voltage to 3.2 Volts. Smaller wires with appropriate resisters in line (if required) run to power:-
1. the rear tow light
2. front bow light
3. navigation lights
4. interior light
5. dash board light
maybe some others as we carry on the build

The battery will be located in the front of the centre hold and will be covered with a wooden cover that has the dashboard and ships wheel mounted on it.
The battery box is made from Perspex and consists of a compartment to hold the battery in place and a socket to plug into this allows the power to go through a fuse and switch then out into the front cockpit and then back through tubes to the stern of the boat.
The wooden cover is held in place with small magnets, on the cover can be seen the plastic cover for the illuminated dials ( more detail later).

This is mainly for the mounting of the servo, and rudder but also serves as a transit point for all the wires. In addition to the rudder assembly, it also has a water inlet point if for any reason I need water cooling for the ESC or motor however in the present set up water will be passed straight out of two exhaust pipes in the stern. Current pictures don’t show all the wires that will eventually pass through this area.

The motor and voltage regulator will be covered to avoid any water splashes and generally make it look appropriate to a cabin cruiser. The motor will be air cooled with a fan on the rear of the motor and this means the cover needs a through passage of air. As with my police boat I will make my own grating/vent grill using bamboo, I found its close grain held the small section well when using the circular saw. First I cut grooves at 1/8” spacing along a length of board using a jig which makes the spaces automatically (see Police boat for detail of the jig) the grooved boards are then cut at 90 degrees into strips, theses can be assembled to any size required and spotted with cyno to secure them. A location frame for the box is glued to the base along with some small 4mm neodymium magnets to secure the box. The box is a simple construction made from 1mm ply with 4mm square reinforcing corners and has magnets set in at the same spacing as the location frame. The grill is equal size for both inlet and outlet and is framed with a hardwood surround; the sides will be inset with white 0.5mm styrene sheet, as will all other internal surfaces and the top face will have a leather seat.

Space is at a premium in this craft for placing all the power equipment that needs to be hidden. I need a 6v supply to run possible bits of equipment so I have a voltage reduction unit that will fit behind the main motor and supply power to a distribution board, which is under the rear seat.
I will need to position the board over the top of the propeller tube so I need a block that will slide under the tube and allow me to screw the unit in position. This piece of wood took more time to make than I want to think about with cutting the tube slot and making clearance for the oiling tube.
The voltage unit now sits over the prop tube and wires can be fed through the under floor tubes to the rear and back inti the voltage distribution unit.
The motor was positioned when the prop shaft was fitted so I’m confident that it will run OK however because it was fitted early on it may need a final adjustment when everything is finished.

A change from plank prep and before the final planking stage I’ll look at the front cockpit
Next job is to decide what level of detail should I do in the front cockpit, the plans call for a fixed floor and a small bench seat, and this is what I will use as a basis for a little more detail. Since I have all my electrics running through the lower part of the hull, I will still need access to this part of the hull so the floor needs to be removable and an access hatch should I need to get to the wiring. I have made a false floor with a trap door and taken time to plank the floor in the same style of the main floor and the main deck, both the trap door and the main false floor are held in position with a number of small neodymium magnets this allows very quick access without the need for screws.
The bench seat is simple – a bench stood on four doweling legs, each of the lrgs has a small magnet inserted in its end and then their opposite pole magnets set into the floor, again this give instant access if needed. The craft can be piloted from the front cockpit so needs a duplicate dashboard and steering wheel, this will be mounted on a small angled table which again is mounted in position on a small rail with magnets inset which allow quick removal.