So there I was feeling quite chuffed that I'd managed to get the wheels on the J17 chassis. There is a video which includes it running on youtube.

Then I started work on the footplate, I got the buffer beam and valancing on quite nicely and then turned to the splashers. I felt quite good about the job I'd done until I put the footplate onto the chassis and realised that the kit had exactly the same issues as the previously built J20.

Now I don't exactly know what size wheels and flanges the designer had in mind but I think they would have made even the most ardent Hornby Dublo 3-rail fanatic blush. The splashers are roughly 4mm larger in diameter than they should be. This, of course, means the hole in the footplate is much too wide as well.

Printing out the GERS drawing and pasting the actual size of the splasher onto the kit really shows the problem.

The front splasher/sandbox is equally bad, and probably even more of a pain to fix, I'm hoping that the smokebox sides still fit once the top of the sandbox is lowered to the right height.

So I now have to remove the splashers, fill the gaps in the footplate, re-cut the splasher sides to the right size and re-bend the tops  to the new profile.

In summary - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

David