The latest on No 735 is that some of the body is now mostly assembled. It is of the slot and tag design. I do not know what I did but all the seperate bits fitted in their slots, but not so when joined together. A little bit of fiddling to get right. In the end I basically only used the ones at the bunker rear, and the one either side at the rear of the tanks. The rest were filled off. I soldered 2 nuts onto the inside of each tank front and back, and 2 in the cab one either side at the rear. Holes where made in the footplate to take the screws. I am not sure of where ACE aquired this kit comes from but it is showing its age. Mind you it is still nice to construct.

I decided in the end to solder the smoke box to the footplate to be sure the boiler had a positive location. For some reason the smokebox took a bit of fiddling to get seated squarely on the footplate.

I just wish the designers of kits would stop half etching where bends are going to be, and of coarse I remembered after I had done them. I had read that you filled the half etch with solder and file it flush, you could then form the curve. The tank sides in the end formed quite nicely.

I checked the body to chassis for clearances, the only thing I think it is sitting a bit low. Not a bad thing easier to pack it up a little, notso easythe other way around. Looking like an A1 now.

Time for things to slow down with the build now, I always find the detailing takes as long as the build. Fortunatly there is not too much external detailing on this engine. I have got to figure out the Pull Push gear, A couple of good photos will get that developed. I also think it is time to strip down the chassis, to get it cleaned and painted. I would like to see it running.