I have got on with some more of my W/C. I needed to cut out for the rear driver hornblocks. The wheels are split axles so they all need to be the Slaters plastic type. The chassis was then assembled, you will see I got two spacers in the wrong place, but hey who will know when I rub the writting out. I found it quite hard to get the chassis straight, this was due I think to the sides lack of thickness, which generaly made it distort when soldering. Got there in the end thanks to a 12" long steel bar and clamps.

Next bit on the bench were the coupling and conecting rods. These need to be modified for the sprung hornblocks. I have pivoted them on the pivot rather than doing a lap joint on the crank pin. These just need finishing and then I should be able to think about geting the chassis rolling.

There is a basic footplate sort of thing for the body to be built on, I have folded this to get it and the chassis to line up properly. This will aid getting the body located properly.

I found a site or blog by someone who has built this kit and the pit falls, it has been interesting reading. Most I knew about, but it has turned up some more problems that I had never even thought about.

I also had the motion bracket and cylinder front and rear on the bench for cleaning up and making symetrical. The cylinder spacers have now had 2mm cut out the middle ready to reassemble to the correct width. I will also join them all together so that they can be removed as a unit.

I am looking for a photo or two of the bogie so I can see what needs to be done with the one in the kit. This will need to be assembled with copper clad board as it has split axles too.

I do have a couple of body problems that I need to sort out or ignore! It is all to do with the roof of the cladding. Firstly the front I think will cure with a saw cut to get the flat in front of the chimney. but the worst is trying to get the rear ward slope over the firebox. The roof is all in one so will only make a parrellel level roof. I had been thinking about cutting a long thin Vee from the firebox front to the cab. I was thinking it will only need to be 1.5-2mm to nothing. Not sure how much trial and error the brass sheet would take.

Hopefully the next update will have the two chassis working and my mind in gear thith the rest.