The inner keel is made up of 5 separate parts all made from ply, each piece is trimmed where the connecting pieces were and then lade on the plan and adhesive applied and pined in position leave over night to cure.
I chose at this point to make sure the hole (8mm) for the prop shaft was clear and the correct size, while attaching the strengthening pieces K6, if the pieces are glued correctly it leaves an 8mm sq hole at the correct angle making fitting of the shaft at a later stage very easy. I also made additional pieces to extend K6 to the stern so it created additional thickness to drill holes for the rudder and the water scoop, The rudder in the plan is small and not the type that is commercially available so it requires additional thickness to drill an 8mm hole, the additional hole (6mm not shown in the plan) is for a water cooling scoop which is required for cooling my ESC. Not everyone will require this scoop.
I don’t at at his point secure the propshaft as this will be done when the motor position is confirmed.
The keel now in one piece has to be glued to the box ensuring that it is on centre both at the bow and stern and straight all of its length I use epoxy to secure the keel to the box making sure it is also at 90 degrees to the box

03 Box Construction
Now we have sorted the slight deviation from plan we can construct the basic box, four nicely laser cut panels form the balsa wood box , the side have a partial cut in the height of the side which has to bend to follow the angled side of the box, I use aliphatic wood glue to construct the box, the sides of each piece has to be lightly sanded to remove the tabs which secured them to the original sheet and also to remove the sooty deposit which is left by the laser cutting. The side panels are all marked as to where any of the bulkhead pieces need to be aligned. Using some heavy brass bars to support the glued sides they are left to dry overnight, the end panels are glued in place the following day.I decided at this stage to leave out the centre bulkhead with a view to changing it dependant on the size of the motor housing, however I put it in position to ensure the side panels are at 90 degrees I will cover the planked surface with sticky backed paper.

02 Base board
I started by checking all the wooden parts in the box, what a treat this part of a build is, that smell of freshly cut wood (albeit a laser cut smell), all pieces are cut and numbered according to the plan which is accompanied by a comprehensive set of build instructions.
The craft is built on a box type construction, the base board being laser printed with a plank pattern. It was at this point I thought I would go “off piste” and add some additional intrest and actually plank the base board. This meant a delay in construction as the planking takes some time and then it needs finishing with five coats of yacht varnish before the sides are put on.
The planking is lime strip wood with black 200 gram card as the corking, this is glued to the base board using aliphatic wood glue, when the glue is dried the excess black card is removed using a scalpel before sanding to a smooth even finish. The final process is putting in the nail marks at the plank ends and intermediate spacings, this is done with the home made punch which lines up with the joint line and then a light tap with a small hammer which puts four small dints in the wood. These dints now have to be “blackened” this is done with a light twist of a sharp pencil in each dent.
Next comes the first coat of varnish which is thinned 50/50 with white spirit to ensure good adhesion and that the card cork soaks up the thinned varnish, this is then allowed to thoroughly dry and harden between coats so it could be sanded with increasing grades of wet and dry, then the final coat is left for ten days before final light sanding with 2000 grade wet & dry and finally polished with automotive polish

01 Introduction
Again after the finishing of the Vintage Model Works Police Boat I decided to have a go at their latest offering which is a 36 inch Marlin Cabin Cruiser
This model was originally an important model release for Vernon, being the first of its kits that was really large enough to take the bulky radio control gear of the day. It appeared in 1953 at 72s/11d (£94 today) and was reviewed in the November Model Maker who found the design, with its rounded cabin and open front cockpit, the 'nicest looking power boat yet kitted'. It was for 1cc to 5cc diesel power or a large electric motor such as the 12V Taycol Super marine.