Onto the chassis. Since starting this kit I've bought a second one, picked up from Robert himself at the recent Stafford exhibition. Having a second kit proved to be very usefull, as we shall see. The kit comes with two chassis, one spaced for OO and the other for EM/P4. The instructions suggest practising on the unwanted chassis, in my case the OO one as I model in EM, very good advice as some of the folds can be a little tricky.

The first job with the chassis is to form the angled tiebars that join the axleboxes. The first tiebar is easily formed using a Hold & Fold, firstly by forming a right angle, then by bending the angled part back on itself 180 degrees with the fold line on the outside;

However, forming the second tiebar on the opposite side proved rather more difficult, the chassis etching being narrower than my 5.5" Hold & Fold, preventing me from holding the chassis in the tool without crushing the finished tiebar;

After a bit of experimenting on the spare chassis I cut a 31mm wide strip of .060" plasticard to sit underneath the top plate of the Hold & Fold, protecting the already formed tiebar whilst I bent up the second (top plate left off for clarity);

By the time I came up with this idea I'd made a mess of one spare chassis, luckily I still had the other left to prove my idea on. I'm really glad that I bought a second kit! All of the photos show the EM chassis.

Once the tie bars are formed (I strengthened them with solder as I went along) the sides can be folded and the 'U' shaped centre spacer (two are provided, on for OO and the other for EM/P4) can be formed and soldered in place;

Note that the 'L' sectioned end braces have been left flat until now, the next job was to form the 'L' by holding the etch carefully in a pair of pliers, then bending the brace across the chassis and soldering it solid;

Obviously a lot of care is needed to prevent damaging the end brace, but then you do have a spare chassis to practice on!

All soldering done with my 25W Antex and 188 degree solder.

Paul.