OK been a while since my first post. I have made a fair bit of progress on the first bogie, the brass chassis is now soldered together & I have started soldering the white metal sideframes & details together. Most of my time has been spent cleaning up the flash off the brass & whitemetal sections, and making sure all is square.

I used some small needle files for removing most of the flash on the brass, and also a piercing saw for some of the larger pieces. There is a LOT of flash on the whitemetal! Some of it is in really fiddly places to get to, which meant buying another smaller set of needle files.

The soldering so far has gone ok (I am a first timer at soldering brass & whitemetal), at least on the brass. I think I'm probably using a bit too much solder but I think I will get better as I go. I am being obsessive about getting everything clean-I have used a fibre brush, and cellulose thinners to remove any grease. I am using electrical solder for the brass, & low melt for the whitemetal, with a 25w iron. It's not temp controlled, but that's not a problem for the brass.

So far I've done ok on the whitemetal too, but I think I need to rig up a dimmer switch to the iron to reduce it's temperature a bit. I've not yet melted any castings but I think I am in danger of doing! The fiddly bits are not easy, especially getting the iron tip in without melting other areas.

Couple of photos below. Cheers N.