A little more work was completed on the Manor after my posting last night.

First up was some work inside the cab, soldering the cab floor into position and adding the strip to the inside of the cab sides.  I think the only etchings left to fit in the cab are now the seats.   I am trying to push myself with this build, and a key part of this is trying to solder everything rather than taking the easy option and gluing in small parts.

With the reinforcing strips added, the next job was working out what on earth the rivet strips I mentioned in my last post were intended for.  Eventually it twigged that they add the rivet detail to the flange running under the cab sides, so they were formed and soldered into position. 

Next up was fixing an earlier omission, the detail on the rear under the cab had not been soldered on at an earlier stage.  The first job was to trim the flange under the cab sides flush with the end of the loco, and to prepare the drag beam overlay adding the half etched buffing plates.   The whole unit could then be soldered in place under the cab, followed by the remaining cab steps.  Again thanks to lack of clarity in the instructions I didn't realise the kit includes two designs of steps, the ones I used  and an improved design that is easier to fold up.  

The final job of the evening was to be fitting the cab roof, after forming it to shape I decided it was a bit tricky for 1130 at night and called it a day.  I have another issue with the instructions here in that they don't explain how pt116 the cab roof curved support strip should be fitted, (in fact the instructions refer to pt116 as the smokebox step!)  My guess is at the rear of the roof before the curved insets, while pt95 the roof beading goes around the whole edge (and forms the gutters.)  My logic is to solder pt116 to the roof, then solder the roof to the model before adding the beading once its all in situ.  If I still have any, some lower melting point solder will come in handy I suspect...

As I am now approaching the point when I will need to roll the boiler, I need to search for a suitable vice to hold it in position. That said, looking at the instructions there are a lot of small parts which need to be fitted before I get there.  It is certainly starting to look more like a locomotive,