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I thought I'd add the beading from some 0.25mm round soft brass wire from Eileen's wonderful Emporium. I use masking tape a lot when soldering these days, especially in 2mm and by the looks of things possibly for temporary stitches in minor injuries... Cocktail sticks for going round the bend. And that's one cab side done. The trick for me seems to be quick dabs with the soldering iron, very little solder, a good splash of flux and a lot of luck. Once you've got one tiny joint in the right place things become easier. Cheers Simon

Cheers Hauk, my drills are on their way from eBay. Thanks very much for the info and diagram of the bars too. Regards Simon

That's a lovely loco Neil, with a great finish. What paints and transfers do you use for the LSWR livery? Cheers Simon

Hi Hauk: Beautiful work and very informative, thank you. Could you give us an outline of how you made your bending bars? And where do you get those serious looking drills? Cheers Simon

Then I tried for a test fit on the Farish chassis: Not completely unexpected...I had a secret weapon to hand in the shape of a tiny can motor and with the timely discovery of Gareth's thread on ngauge forum, after some dismantling and modification, eventually came up with this. A wee bit more grinding and filing of the inside space. And we're nearly there!

More Tilbury progress. I make the tank fronts as a single piece first, to hold the boiler in the correct position, while the tank tops are soldered in place. The fronts are then separated by sawing the central piece away. Cheers Simon

Hi Tony: I'm working through my not-done-yet list. You need fractal fingertips for holding things in 2mm. Soldering's nice and easy though; the biggest heat-sink is me. Cheers Simon

Hi Grahame, thank-you very much. I used the finest nozzle on the Masquepen to mask the window frames on the Chinnook cockpit, which it did extremely well, with no blobbing. I would have thought that it could cope with boiler bands in 4mm scale at least. Incidentally, I noticed that my local stationary shop has got them in stock now. I'd be interested if anyone knew of a colour match from Vallejo for LMS red? I agree with you that it is a superb paint. Once the Tilbury's done (and painted red...) I'll get on with finishing some more of those unfinished projects. Thanks again Simon

Further Tilbury progress: I made up a smoke-box saddle that allows me to bolt the boiler components to the cab and footplate.

A bit further on, with the boiler/smoke-box temporarily bolted in place. Another thing about scratch-building 2mm locomotives in metal is that they are rather extra-ordinarily jewel-like objects. Pair of cuff-links anyone?

Hi EKR, it's the same thing really; just that in 7mm the little bits are the fiddly bits and in 2mm it's the big bits that are the fiddly bits instead. Cheers Simon

Here's the 2mm Tilbury so far. The boiler and extended smokebox and footplate. And the cab sides and tanks, compared to the 4mm version... Next to make are the cab front and rear. Cheers Simon

Just a quick hello to say that I've finished building these: And now have a bit of free time, here and there, to get on and finish some other projects, starting with a 2mm Tilbury Tank. Progress to follow. Cheers Simon

Hi Phil, lovely locos and beautiful running, (the dancing kid is good too!). I'm very impressed by the smooth sweep of your phone video, does it have stabilisers?? Cheers Simon

Hi John: I had a 7mm loco badly damaged in the post via ebay a few years back. I'd asked the sender to pack it carefully and unfortunately they didn't. They were however, refreshingly happy to refund me quite a bit of cash. Perhaps you could ask? Cheers Simon

Hi ArdsleyTank, thanks for your question. "Brunel" is a temporary victim of house-moving, book writing and other projects and he/she is currently stored carefully away in a box somewhere until I get some free time. Which I am very much looking forward to! For more information and a superb record of building the Armstrong kit, I can thoroughly recommend Raymond Walley's website: raymondwalley.com I am busy sorting the Ford Diesel out for its first public performance in April and will try to get some more pictures of that up soon. And briefly, I had to make a model Chinook helicopter for another window display (I seem to be in demand for those...) and came across some great products; Vallejo paint, a ready to airbrush (acrylic, I think). It's virtually odourless, smooth and strong, and dries very quickly. Also a masking compound in a bottle with a fine nozzle from Hobby Holidays, great for fiddly masking. It's good to branch out into other modelling areas occasionally, there's interesting stuff out there. Cheers Simon

She looks fantastic Castle. It's great to hear of the mix of youth and experience that you have on your team. Your thread continues to give a fascinating insight into the expertise and hard work at Didcot, and the mechanical innards of steam locomotives, as does your superb book. Cheers Simon

Hi Neil, it's good to see your Tilbury Tank back and building. It's looking very nice too. Cheers Simon

Hi Castle, fantastic post on the cylinder fitting. Of great interest both for modelling purposes and showing the hard work of how you go about maintaining the real thing. Some good hats too. I look forward to reading your book. Can we hope for further posts from the workshops of Didcot? Cheers Simon

Absolutely beautiful Nigel. Could you show us how you did the chassis/motor etc? Regards Simon

Nice work; T6s are beautiful locos. The footplate looks very neatly shaped. Could you describe how you did it? Cheers Simon

Hi Neil, fascinating and inspirational stuff, a really good read! Could you give us some news of your Tilbury Tank? Cheers Simon

Hi Peter; I heartily agree, those lamp irons are superb and well worth the work in making them. I'm really enjoying your build. I also fondly remember the Train Shop at Warwick, I reckon it must have closed about 20 years ago, we often used to go to the Curry House round the corner from it! Also, my supply of half-round wire has recently run out and I've been unable to find more. Could you tell me where you source yours? Cheers Simon

Kev, you're a star! Many thanks Simon.

Thanks Richard, I hope she enjoys it. The squeaky soundtrack is particularly jolly. I notice that what I thought would be a link to the video has just turned out to be an exercise in cutting and pasting. Why hasn't it turned blue, or why hasn't a still from the video appeared? Are there instructions anywhere? Curses on my IT skills! Cheers Simon