Welcome aboard John,and yes this will be a complete build. What you have seen so far on this post is my current build,but you'll need to bear with me,as I'm not racing through this build like I did with my three scratchbuilds. This is my first ever kit build,so I'm having to be careful that I don't mess it up.
Weak areas that I've noticed so far are the rear deck,which if you actually want to do any towing will have to be reinforced,otherwise you'll rip the towing bollard clean out,taking a good part of the rear deck with it. I've added a couple of pics so that you can see where I've reinforced the underside of the deck,and where I've increased the height of the access hatch sides. In answer to your other question,yes you can use the supplied motor to power this tug by R/C means,though I think that I'll be changing mine to either a 385 or 380. I haven't worked out yet just how I'm going to mount the servo for the steering,as the shape of the hull makes this a little tricky. When it comes to painting however,I'm not the best person to ask,as my painting tends to leave a lot to be desired. To be honest John,I havent even decided on the colours that I'm going to paint it yet,that'll need to wait until I've built the model first.
Personally,I don't like the kit propshaft assembly,as the outer tube has no shaft seals,and is of a slightly too large a bore for my liking.I'm seriously thinking of ordering up a new one,thats of a better quality than this kit supplied one. I can see water getting into the hull of the boat very easily with the current set-up,even with the proptube filled with Vaseline,as the tube ends are open.
Just keep watching this post for further thoughts and pics of my build.
David.