Thanks, i have one of those and yes, it did go wrong, emitting magic smoke for a while. Now back working though and one of my favourite irons - how sad is that! I should have thought of the different melt solders. Thanks I will try that next time after cleaning up.

I know some purists regard it as 'cheating' but, for non-structural bits round the back, there's always super-glue. 

Provided you clean the mating faces as thoroughly as you would for solder, it will provide a very strong bond.  Make sure you've completed all the soldering in the area, though, as the fumes from hot super glue are very unpleasant.

In 4mm scale, I use superglue for lots of 'fiddly bits' - brake gear and the like.

An alternative, when you've got to the the stage you're at, is to hold the steps on either side firmly together in a pair of fine-nosed pliers and then apply a small 'cook's' blowtorch to the joint, to melt the solder enough to allow the back projection to 'bed down'. If you're quick, there shouldn't be enough heat flow to the other joints to melt these too!

Mike

I'd have used regular Araldite for this.  Not the quick-setting variants, they don't hold as well.  I did once make some steps quite similar to yours by cutting and folding some thin aluminium sheet into a cradle, holding all the components in place for soldering, but that was itself a time-consuming job, and I was no quicker in getting my steps made.

Andy

Thanks, for those comments, I find super glue can be a bit vulnerable to snapping off if given a sharp blow - not that I'm planning on dropping it, but derailments do happen and I'd hate to find a kit of parts. Araldite or an epoxy though would perhaps have done it. I'm going to have one more go at soldering it though by cleaning and then using high and low melt solders on opposite sides as KH1 suggested.

Was working on the water chute on the chassis tonight as I didn't understand the instructions first time round. Seemed pretty obvious tonight and went together a treat.

Brian