When I am resident in the UK, this will be my "projet du jour". I have a reduced workbench made from a B&Q kitchen cabinet door complete with Dremel, Antex soldering iron and the basic tools to complete a kit, except for the painting thereof. That will be done later.

I bought the Comet Ivatt Class Five Caprotti kit some time ago (the receipt says February 2014) but added all the necessary extras at the time for a total cost of £220. I subsequently bought the optional horn blocks so that the driving axles could be sprung.

This first entry is all about "opening the box". Progress in the coming weeks will be slowed by Christmas activities, etc., but I intend to take my time anyway and detail the progress on this blog.

First of all, here is the box sitting on my small work bench:

The box itself came beautifully packed and will be useful for carry and storing the locomotive when it is completed.

The contents come in numerous packages. I have laid the basic kit out here. The tender is on the right, the engine on the left:

Next up, the additional pieces that I ordered to complete the model, at least up to the painting stage. These include motor, gearbox, wheels, pickup, horn blocks:

And last but not least, the basic instructions. There are additional downloads from Comet that are invaluable, making for a comprehensive set of instructions. Also, individual packs within the box contain their own instructions.

All in all a somewhat formidable set of parts, though there is one simplification that the early Caprotti design has - no outside gearing is visible as the rotary poppet drive was installed between the frames. My next post will consider the options that are available from the kit - several different variants are covered - and my selection of an individual locomotive.