Saturday was spent soldering up the T1, an these photos show how far I got:

It was a lot easier than I epxetced. I made one modification to the body - E75 (the loco I'm modelling) had a flat top to it's cab cutouts. The kit is for the batches with an arched top, so this was adjusted with needle files. I also found that the bunker rear was too high, so it was cut down to fit - I suppose it's better to spend a few minutes with a file than finding that it was too small and having to make a replacement part.

The chassis needs a bit more work than the body. These are the frames.

A bit basic - so I'm making two modifications. Firstly, I had some Alan Gibson cast springs for the E2 project. I'll order some more for the T1 - they aren't quite correct, but will do.

The second modification is to fill the visible part of the motor cut out with brass strip, since I'm not planning on using the Airfix 1001 motor the kit is designed around.

The only real problem I found with the chassis was the slightly odd construction - a single continuous frame spacer sits at the bottom between the two frames and is located by various tabs and vertical pieces at the ends. Or do if the tabs aligned up with the holes in the side frames. I cut it in to two sections to get it to fit.

I'm now waiting for a set of Gibson driving wheels. I also have to work out what to do with the bogie - the kit comes with a lump of whitemetal, and is essentially an 0-4-0 with a loosely attached bogie flopping around behind it. Apparently that's how they used to do things