Friday night meant a meeting with friends and the handing over of a length of 22mm diameter brass tube freshly purchased from Eileen's Emporium. I'd decided fairly early on that I wanted to replace the rolled etch in the PDK kit with a length of tube and I think I've made the right choice. Although the etch was rolled the fact that it had a number of holes already etched in it when it was rolled had meant that the curve wasn't completely smooth, also as it was still about 5mm larger in diameter that needed the extra force needed to roll it further was bound to accentuate this problem further.

Cutting the bottom of the tube to fit the splashers and curving the sides of the firebox were time consuming but most of Friday evening and a hour on Saturday have got it to a reasonable fit.

The smokebox wrapper from the kit was used and this was fixed with by resorting to 'Paul', my trusty 40 watt Weller. The half etched outer wrapper, complete with the rivet detail went on too and the front of the firebox saddle. The kit doesn't include a back so I think that is going to have to be filed up from some scrap brass.

The photos show the boiler 'placed' into the frames so it doesn't quite line up exactly yet.

This has shown up one problem with the kit which I have been double checking with my photographs and drawings.The etches for the top of the frames seems to be too long at the front. When I site the boiler, which I measured and is the correct length, in the frames the saddle at the bottom of the smokebox appeared to be about 1mm too far back compared with the top etches for the frames. This caused me to check the drawings and the etch looks like it has the saddle about 1mm too far forward. It isn't just a case them being fitted in the wrong place because the holes for the handrails provided just to the fore of the splashers are correct. I'm left with two choices:

1) remove the frame, refile the tabs so that the from goes back in 1mm further back. Re-drill and re-fit the handrails.

2) add a fillet of brass at the rear of the saddle (I've tried this) and file the front of the frames back to the right place.

Anyway, while I ponder that, I turned to drilling the holes of the handrails and boiler fittings. I was expecting this to be a complete nightmare but for once things were easier than I expected. I think a combination of a new set of drill bits and vice with a V so I could hold the boiler straight helped a lot.

It begins to look like a steam engine!

David