I made up the bonnet today. First the rivets were punched out, I use a gravity tool on a sheet of lead, then all the holes are drilled for the handles. The next job is to solder lengths of .4mm brass rod into grooves on the sides to form rainstrips. Then the bonnet is bent to shape and soldered to the front panel. I used 188 degree solder for most of this work. Here's a pic, bonnet rested on the footplate, before the end was cleaned up on a sheet of wet and dry;

The next job is to fit the cast brass fillers to the top and the cast vent to the RH side. Then lengths of .4mm brass are soldered across the inside of the bonnet to form catches for the doors which are trimmed to length after fixing. The doors themselves can now be fitted after being drilled for the handles. Now the handles and handrails were fitted, with 145 degree solder so nothing else comes detached, these are etched and were evenly spaced from the sides with a drill. A pic;

And a pic from underneath, note the brass rod going across to form the door latches - these are bent down after fixing, also note the locating tabs;

And now a pic of the bonnet in place;

I'l leave soldering it in place untill I start on the chassis....

So far so good, this is turning into a nicely detailed model.

The next job will be the rear bonnet which covers the gearbox on the prototype.

Paul.