Monday 28th March

The body at last. The perilous origami of hopper body folding is illustrated in the photos. A few of the first folds can be made with a Hold & Fold, but mostly it's careful bending with fingers and thumbs.


Take the time to get each joint sitting exactly in place without having to be pushed together. Easier soldering and no burnt fingers. It's a job for the 40W iron. When the tacks are on and everything is aligned then zip up all the joints with a lot of flux and a hot clean iron.

Tin the batter plates 28 while still on the fret. Makes them easy to sweat or RSU into place.

Side ribs 32, now I see why there are so many of them. Tin them on the fret to make them easier to laminate. You'll need to squeeze the laminations tightly together otherwise they'll not fit in the slot in the body side. The easiest and quickest way I found to laminate all those ribs was to stack them up against a steel parallel on the RSU base plate (itself a 6mm steel plate) to get them all aligned and then to zap one end carefully with the RSU. The pre tinned laminations solder together and the pressure from the RSU probe squashes them together when the solder melts. They still need a little fettling to make them fit accurately in the slots on the body side. With the body laid on one side position a rib in its slot, run some flux around it and touch the 40W iron on the body next to it. When you see some solder melt on the rib introduce a little more solder. Just tack one end to start with. Then tack the other end, and then run solder along the whole joint. File them all smooth and clean up any stray solder. Phew, what a difficult (but ingenious) way to make ribs.



Into the cleaning bath and that's it for today.

4 hours. Total 21 hours.
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Tuesday 29th March

End ribs 33, hopefully easier than side ribs 32!

Top flange 34, more laminating. Solder paint and RSU to get these tacked together, followed by a run round with iron and solder. They need straightening a bit after soldering. Clean them up and straighten them. I clipped them to the body with hair grips.

Tack in place, making sure the flange is pressed down into the rebate etched into the top of the body. When all is in place zip round the flange with a hot iron to complete the soldering. If there are any gaps at the top of the body side and end ribs then fill them with a blob of solder. Clean it all up and pop it in the cleaning bath.
Couldn't resist just placing the body on the chassis for a photo.

3.5 hours. Total 24.5 hours.