And so, some months after this (though it was primed shortly afterwards and a different chimney fitted):

and this:

Christmas has brought about this. The full gory details (and some gratuitous Ebay related musings) can be found here and in this earlier blog entry here. All in one piece (albeit briefly), it's been taken apart for final painting which will have to wait until I've bought some suitable paint. Reassembly following painting is one of those stages of model making which is fraught with apprehension. Will those assemblies, which went together so snugly in bare metal still do so with a coat of paint? Normally, this would wait until the topcoat was on, but we needed to check running clearances with the fully completed chassis. More suspense: will the wheels still turn? Does the flywheel get caught in the boiler? Will the newly installed pick-ups get tangled up in the brakegear and short? Have I put the motor leads on the right way round?

Here's the fully primed chassis for comparison:

The one bit which is nearly there is the backhead scratchbuilt from plastic and some castings from Backwoods Miniatures (a set of rejects from their exhibition stand). It's been painted since, but those pictures weren't up to publication. More as and when...

Update 3 April 2012:

Adam