The metal box is a fuel tank.
There is a small clear plastic fuel tank mounted at the back of the motor, which contains enough fuel for a couple of minutes flying. The metal box would contain enough fuel for about 10-15 minutes.
In the days before radio control, aircraft were 'free-flight'. This means that they would fly uncontrolled (in a big circle, you hoped!) and then glide to a landing. You only wanted flights to be a couple of minutes long, otherwise they might fly away and never be found. So the motor came with a '2-minute' fuel tank as standard.
Boats would be free-running – perhaps sent between two people on either side of a lake. They could also be run in a circle with a tethering wire. For that you could have a longer run – perhaps 10 min or so. So your father bought an extra fuel tank to give a longer run. He would have intended to remove the plastic fuel tank and connect the metal one to the motor when he installed it in a boat….
The pipes in the fuel tank are:
1 – fuel to motor. Connected all the time.
2 – fuel inlet. You plug this after filling.
3 – air vent for when fuel is coming in/going out.
Edited By Dodgy Geezer on 22/07/2017 16:20:26