Having dallied with a new piece of kit (and, as I thought, got the hang of it ) its time to get on with the kit. As you will recall, I'm building this tender-first and in the last entry had completed one side-frame. Time for the spacers and complete the other side-frame!

The kit comes with spacers for OO/EM/18.83 - and no indication as to which one goes where... That said its reasonably obvious from the positions of the folds/tabs. And that was the next point. All the tab slots are too narrow and too short! Still, having got that sorted, it was on to the soldering table -

Those who are reading the RSU section will immediately notice the error here - Kenton advises using an insulating layer under the frame. Next time! In the shot it's apparent that the rear (right spacer) wasn't quite sat down. It is now! So a few minutes later, the second sideframe and last spacer are in position-

The next job is to solder in the hornblock guides on the second side. Here it is crucial that the axles are at the correct centres- the guides are a 'sloppy fit' so the possibilities of innacuracy are many! I was going to arrange a jig from ally angle, notched at the correct centres and assemble on that. Unfortunately the frame spacers got in the way in one mode, and the axle-bearings couldn't be retained in the hornblocks in another - so in the end it was all done by eye, using part of the jig as a 'sight' and holding the hornblocks in place with hairclips (a most valuable part of the small tools brigade!).

Eventually all was fettled into place and seems square! Breathes a sigh of relief & fits the compensation beam (farily straightforward).

Next job is the brake rigging... In the photo of the frames can be seen the three holes for hanging the hangers. Issues? (1) they are too big - the brake hangers are suspended on 0.4mm wire - and those holes are a lot bigger. (2) More importantly they are too far to the rear of each wheel (to my mind). The tender wheels are only 3'9" in diameter - and these location points would be too far back for a 4' 1" wheel. So resolving issue (2) will also resolve issue (1). The third issue is the instructions - 'assemble the brake gear noting that the pull rods run behind the wheels'. Difficult to note that - theres isn't a drawing - not even the box art shows that details! At this point I must give thanks to 'Off The Rails' for providing some drawings and images from Russell - but even those do not show the rigging! Fortunately GW Locos Vii from the same stable has some of J Maskelyne's drawing of tenders - which do show them in sufficient detail to make a 'go' of the job. So on with the brake blocks/hangers -

a simple jig here - the various lengths of wire pass through hanger/block/hanger into the wood. I want to use the 'High Level' method to make the gear removabe - ie make the upper wire a push-fit into the frame. The right-hand wire in the shot is just a 'placeholder' and the soldered unit slips off it. The lower rods will run across the width of the chassis tying it all in position with the pull rods.

So the work tommorrow will consist of re-positioning the holes in the frames so the hangers sit in the correct relationship to the wheel and complete the rigging. Once the wheels are fitted, this section will be complete. I hope.