halfwit

The chassis is rigid with no provision for springing or compensation, but then springing/compensation shouldn't really be necessary with a wheelbase of only 30mm, at least not in EM. Turned brass bearings are supplied, I just haven't fitted them yet. Paul.

I would recommend having a look at High Level's range of gearboxes, there's bound to be one that suits. And that crane looks rather good so far! Paul.

Onto the chassis. Since starting this kit I've bought a second one, picked up from Robert himself at the recent Stafford exhibition. Having a second kit proved to be very usefull, as we shall see. The kit comes with two chassis, one spaced for OO and the other for EM/P4. The instructions suggest practising on the unwanted chassis, in my case the OO one as I model in EM, very good advice as some of the folds can be a little tricky. The first job with the chassis is to form the angled tiebars that join the axleboxes. The first tiebar is easily formed using a Hold & Fold, firstly by forming a right angle, then by bending the angled part back on itself 180 degrees with the fold line on the outside; However, forming the second tiebar on the opposite side proved rather more difficult, the chassis etching being narrower than my 5.5" Hold & Fold, preventing me from holding the chassis in the tool without crushing the finished tiebar; After a bit of experimenting on the spare chassis I cut a 31mm wide strip of .060" plasticard to sit underneath the top plate of the Hold & Fold, protecting the already formed tiebar whilst I bent up the second (top plate left off for clarity); By the time I came up with this idea I'd made a mess of one spare chassis, luckily I still had the other left to prove my idea on. I'm really glad that I bought a second kit! All of the photos show the EM chassis. Once the tie bars are formed (I strengthened them with solder as I went along) the sides can be folded and the 'U' shaped centre spacer (two are provided, on for OO and the other for EM/P4) can be formed and soldered in place; Note that the 'L' sectioned end braces have been left flat until now, the next job was to form the 'L' by holding the etch carefully in a pair of pliers, then bending the brace across the chassis and soldering it solid; Obviously a lot of care is needed to prevent damaging the end brace, but then you do have a spare chassis to practice on! All soldering done with my 25W Antex and 188 degree solder. Paul.

Thanks Mark. I would usually use 2 different temperature solders on an assembly like this, 188 for structural work and 145 for detailing. However, as nickel silver is much nicer to solder that brass, conducting heat away quicker and being generally cleaner, I've stuck to 188 for the whole assembly. Which makes for neater soldering as 188 flows better than 145. I used small chips of solder cut from solder wire, placed on the job where needed, which meant that the solder only went where I wanted it to go, keeping cleaning to a minimum. Paul.

Thanks for the comments, and the 'likes'. Mikkel - rivet counters may not be popular but we should be thankfull for those that get the small details right, because if the designer has taken care of the small details then there's a good chance that the rest of the kit/model will stand close scrutiny. DD - if it looks half as good as Adam's build then I'll be happy. Paul.

The tipper body is now complete and ready for a coat of primer. To get it this far I've punched out 244 rivets and soldered no less than 24 seperate etched detail parts onto the body. All this results in a highly detailed body, the bar has been set high for any future RT Models etched wagon kits! Here's a few images of the build; In the pic. above you can see that the lower bodyside 'u' channel has been folded and soldered in place, followed by the base of the 'T' channel above it, the end strengthening strip (angled at the ends) and the base for pivot. In the pic. below the end stops are being folded and soldered in place, note the half etched recess for positioning; The pivot strip itself, getting the shape right was a bit of a pain, with a strengthening strip above; Back to the side of the body, the middle strip of the 'T' section is now in place, and I'm soldering the narrow half-etched upper rivet strip in place, the ends will be bent around then soldered in place once I'm happy with the bodyside positioning. This strip is hardly noticable to be honest, but I'm glad that its there; And a final view of the end, note the 'T' section in the middle of the pivot; All of the soldering done with my Antex XS25, Eileen's 188 degree solder and Eileen's Strong Flux. Everything fitted as it should into half-etched rebates with the minimum of fettling. And it wasn't as fiddly or as tricky as it looks! The chassis next. Paul.

According to Adrian Booth's 'Industrial Diesels' (Bradford Barton) the wheelbase should be 6'6". The rod coupled version had a wheelbase of 6'0". Of course individual locos could possibly differ.

Not a chance Marc - I love snow! Paul.

In some cases cab openings can be chamfered to give the illusion of scale thickness. Iain Rice's 'Whitemetal Locos' book (Wild Swan) is well worth picking up. Paul.