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Thanks Simon, Something to try for the next kit I have lined up :-) Mmmmm.....getting ahead of myself here.....still quite a way to go with this one first! I did enjoy putting that boiler backhead together - very satisfying!

Been jumping around in the instructions recently whilst patiently waiting for the smokebox and firebox wrappers (which we're missing from the kit) to arrive. Soldered on the boiler bands - something I thought would be relatively simple, and then discovered was incredibly fiddly! In the end, I decided the best way to achieve this was to run a thin layer of solder to almost fill the half-etched strip around the boiler, then lay the band over the top of this having pre-formed the curve, flux and heat with a clean iron tip to melt the solder underneath, whilst holding the band in place with the above-mentioned silicone squares to protect my fingers. After a bit of cleaning up and a polish, I was quite please with the results! Deciding what to do next created an interesting dilemma: 3 options - the cab details (which needed the firebox wrapper), the front of the boiler (which needed the smokebox wrapper) or start work on the chassis (which I'm just scared of). Decided to give up waiting though and decided to attempt to make my own. Started with the firebox wrapper. It was easy enough to work out how long it needs to be, but there is no info anywhere (including from the vendor) about how wide it should be. I plumped for measuring the gap in the internal cab floor as a guide, although this looks too wide when I compare it photos of the prototype. That being said, it doesn't look too out of place once in the cab itself. Either way, I rolled the curve round a piece of dowel without any issues, and then soldered it to the firebox face, before dimpling out the rivets. Firebox doors, regulator, gauge glasses and manifold details were all added. A steady hand was needed for this! Once again though, very happy with the outcome, even if that firebox wrapper is too wide..... Now I need some advice from some wise heads.....the instructions say to solder the internal floor, firebox assembly and tank extensions into the cab at this point. I'm thinking that this would make painting extremely difficult. I reckon that I could solder the firebox to the internal floor, before soldering the floor onto the footplate. This could be lifted out as one unit for painting and weathering. However, I guess this would then have implications for soldering in finally if it was already painted up! Or should I keep everything separate, paint & weather them and find another way of attaching them all? What to do??!!

Same loco as I'm building :-) I shall smile nicely at my dad again sometime soon!

Agreed....the long tank version just looks a bit out of proportion to me. My dad kindly nipped up the road to Leeds (Middleton Railway) as this is the closest prototype to where they live to take some photo's for me. They only had the long tank version, and it looks even odder in the flesh. Luckily, I only needed cab details, to this one sufficed. Interestingly, the long tank versions had a coupling rod which was articulated horizontally to help them get round tight radius curves (along with the flange-less centre driving wheels). Not sure if the short tank versions had the same? Even if they did, I have no intention of recreating that on my first attempt!

Just a couple of pics after the cab/tank assembly has been soldered onto the running pate, along with grab rails, some brackets and a couple of steps on the front of the tanks.

Soldered the tank/cab assembly to the running plate now, and starting to attach some of the grab hand rails on the cab and tank front. As I’m treating this build as a learning process, I’m constantly finding new ways of doing things. In our kitchen, we have a silicone pan mat so you don’t scorch the work top. Much to the dismay of my wife, I cut a couple of squares out of it, as they are very useful for gripping parts of the kit whilst soldering them together - high friction and low heat conduction - perfect!

Managed to grab an unexpected half day off work (courtesy of the Sultan's Golden Jubilee) yesterday, which gave me some time and an excuse to crack on with an all too rare, mid-week building session. Having soldered the front of the cab between the tank sides, I attached the back to the cab, and the back bunker plate. I deviated from the instructions here a little bit, as I reckoned it would be much easier to fit the bunker plate first, as there would be more room for my unwieldy swinging of my soldering iron. This seemed to go OK - the back of the cab just needed a small amount filing off to make the perfect fit. Next, the tank tops were folded to 90 degrees and soldered up, and worked with wet&dry paper to blend the seam. Not much needed to be done though - my soldering technique is developing Just a little solder to take off where it joins the front of the cab, as one of the locating holes for a tab needed filling. Got some small detailing on the tanks to do next, and then I'm waiting on a couple of replacement parts (the smokebox wrapper and firebox wrapper) before I can do much more on body itself. Back bunker plate was curved over some wood dowel and my leg Back of the cab attached Tank tops soldered on and cleaned up - just a bit more work where they join the front of the cab needed placed on the running plate to give me a sense of progress!

Starting to look like a bit of progress now. Soldered on the beading around the cab opening - I had thought this was going to be trickier than it turned out to be. Turns out a bamboo skewer is pretty good for pushing the beading round the corners, as well as using them to grip things without burning my fingers. I tacked the beading first, and then ran a seam of solder round the rest. Next, I soldered the cab front between the two tanks. Think I'm finally refining my soldering technique, as there was very little cleaning up needed. Sitting this assembly on top of the running plate, and things are really starting to take shape. Next I need to bend the back to the bunker, and attach the cab back. Was quite pleased with this! Simple things......

Grrr.....actually looked at one of those over the summer when I was back home for a few weeks, and decided against it! Can't remember why. I'll attempt to craft one myself when time permits and have another go.

Added spectacle rims & bars this morning. May well remove the left hand set (done first) as I found that bending the bars first, and then soldering them in gave a more polished look. Though looking at prototype photos, the bars on the real locos were bent all over the place!!

Thanks Simon, I love this forum! A wealth of information everywhere you turn! I'll definitely get some scrapers - I've been using a curved craft knife blade, but I'm still finding that I'm scratching the brass. De-soldering braid sounds like a must too, so I'll get some when I'm back in the UK next. I will also endeavour to use less solder! I've kept telling myself that from the start, but not following my own advice! The back of the cab and the tank sides are next on the instruction list, although it will probably be the weekend before I get my hands on it again......work gets in the way! John

Done a few bits of detailing this weekend - spent a bit of time on the springs, as suggested by Simon, and although you can't really tell from the photos below, they now look much better. Bit of solder from the front that needs removing, and then they'll be done. Constructed the oil pots and attached them to the running plate without any problems. The sand boxes were next - simple job of folding up and soldering together. All was very satisfying, until I came to solder these onto the running plate, and then I used way too much solder, which has left me with lots of cleaning up to do. Might need to do a different part of the build first though.....seem to have done a lot of cleaning up recently! I think it's fair to say I didn't give enough credit before starting this build, to how long this process takes! Lets say I'm learning to be more careful to start with, to save myself time later.... Still, this model is all about teaching myself how to do things, and better to make the mistakes now than a couple of models down the line!

Very definitely helpful! I was thinking the same - they are attached quite well, so some polishing shouldn't be a problem :-) As for a photo, all the photos I have managed to find so far are all taken from below the level of the footplate, and therefore I can't tell which way up the base plates need to be :-( I'll keep looking

Spent quite a while trying to remove some of the scratches I'd foolishly put onto the footplate - now it looks much better. To speed the process up a bit, I, probably very unconventionally to the purist, adapted a sanding drum on my mini-drill and wrapped a strip of wet&dry paper to it, secured with a small blob of super glue. Set at about half speed, this took the tiniest amount of brass off the footplate, just about removing most of the scratches. Worked very nicely :-) Next question is probably quite basic for someone with more loco knowledge than myself. At the bottom of the leaf springs, the instructions say to fit the rectangular bases. However it's not clear whether the flat surface goes at the top, or the bottom to form a kind of tray. Hopefully the photos below will help explain..... These are the base plates for the leaf springs ​Should they go this way up........ Or this way? Obviously nothing soldered yet! Look forwards to receiving your wise words of wisdom John

Hi Peter, any photos you have would be appreciate! Having some reference points would be really helpful. I have a few photos of the real thing found online, but not found much by way of kit pictures. I hadn't really thought about removing the flange....I need to keep things relatively simple on this one, but I'll definitely look to see if Slaters do one or not. Would be a good excuse for me to get a lathe though ;-)

First go at laminating today - the leaf springs are made up of 3 brass etches, with a fourth half-etch adding the detail. Not sure if I went a bit overkill with the solder; I tinned each surface first, before applying more flux and soldering round the edge of each layer. Seemed to work though, although it looks a bit clumsy in parts. Needs a bit more cleaning up with the file. On question though: whilst cleaning up the solder on the footplate, the needle file causes some light scratching to the surface of the brass. You can see them on the photo below. They appear to be very shallow, but will it be noticeable after it's all been painted up, or should I try and smooth them out with various grades of wet&dry paper?

I bought a second hand Antex 660TC with a 50W iron over the summer - I tend to have it at about 350 degrees for most work. I'm using a 2.3mm tip at the moment, which whilst fine for the smaller parts, I don't think it was big enough to retain the require head for the thicker parts such as the buffer beams (these were made from 2 lengths of laminate brass etch). I have a 4mm tip now, so I'll have a play around with that.

Sound advice. In future, I will start with the chassis. The only reason I didn't this time was because I hadn't really soldered anything other than wires before this, so thought it would be a good idea to start with something that didn't matter quite as much if it all went wrong!

Thanks for the advice Martin - got most of those things in my mind now; just need to get my hands on some scale drawings. Was a bit undecided as to what to start with. The instructions say to begin with the footplate, however I've read a fair bit of advice which suggests starting with the chassis. Given my novice status though, I thought I'd better start with something more simple and less crucial (?) than the chassis, and opted to follow the instructions. First job was to solder on the front buffer beam. Made a bit of a mess on top where it joined the footplate. I think I'm using too small a tip on my soldering iron (2.3mm) for the larger parts such as this - it seemed to take a fair bit of persuasion to get the solder (145) to flow. It seemed to partly solidify at first, before melting again and then eventually flowing. Also learnt I need to be very careful where the flux ends up; it turns out that solder and rivets are not friends ;-) A bit of cleaning up with the craft knife, files and fibreglass pen sorted this out though. Next came the valances, which to my surprise, I made a relatively neat job of! The rear buffer beam was attached next. That was the nice 'easy' stuff done - now onto the more fiddly parts of laminating the leaf springs. Maybe I'll stick to my small iron tip for this bit! Was quite pleased with this - I think I'm using way too much solder, but I guess I'll learn to judge this better with experience

Yep, mine is 7mm. I'm finding even this fiddly, so goodness knows how you put together 4mm kits! Thanks for the ideas - I'll give'm a go. I'll see what I can find by way of a toolmakers clamp....I live in Brunei at the moment, so sourcing your 'less standard' DIY tools is somewhat challenging!

Soon I'm going to be getting to the point of soldering up some fairly fiddly bits on my model - what have you been using to hold the small parts of brass together to stop them moving when you introduce the iron? Burnt fingers or just tweezers and gravity? They look really good, and I imagine if I try that there would be bits of brass sticking out all over the place!

Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 canal tank Many moons ago when I was in my teens, I built an N-gauge layout in my bedroom. Hours of quiet fun, inspired by my uncle's passion for railways and my dad's DIY and artistic skills, left me with many fond memories. Sometime during that period, I remember reading a Railway Modeller article about a model railway called Ivydale All-Hallows (December 1996), which featured a heavily weathered 7mm scale Manning Wardle. Not sure what it was, but something caught my eye with this diminutive little loco, which was beautifully scratch-built. I knew then that one day, I wanted to build something similar. Whilst my modelling hobby faded somewhat, as university and then work and travel took over, the desire to one day get into brass kit modelling, and eventually produce something of the standard I saw in RM over 20 years ago, burned strong in the mind. Needing to start off with something relatively simple, I recently purchased a 7mm Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 (short tank, that would have worked on the Manchester Ship Canal) from the old Agenoria range. This was recommended as a decent starting point for someone with no brass kit building experience, and I intend to 'teach' myself (hopefully along with the teachings of the many experienced modellers using this forum) the art of brass kit building using this kit. Not expecting it to be all plain sailing, and I'm sure I'll make a complete mess of things many times throughout the build, but I guess that's all part of the learning process. I'll attempt to post regularly, as I love following other people's workbench projects on RMWeb, and have gleaned many a helpful tip whilst researching before buying the kit. Currently living & working in Brunei, finding everything (or indeed anything!) I need is somewhat challenging! So after a summer of purchasing tools, supplies, equipment and a certain amount of excess luggage, I'm now ready to begin :-) Any words of advice, constructive criticism (be gentle!) or thumbs up are welcome The brass and nickel-silver etches