Horsetan

These shunt discs are a minefield. I think CIE tended to use more of the square-faced ones. If I tilt my head clockwise, the shape and appearance of the red and blue lenses on the circular disc appear similar to the design used on the Great Western Railway / BR (Western Region)

I think we'll have a go at the cab and cab interior next - this is specifically aimed at 21mm gauge builders, and the diagram shows that it has a lot of parts!

I presume those are SSM's GS&WR/GSR/CIE signals - lovely things

Unlike British and Irish stock, US / Canadian stock has no buffers - all buffing and coupling forces are directed through the buckeye / knuckle couplings themselves, and there is no "buffer locking" on tight curves.

....and some interesting work on ex-Coey "K3" no.356, the ......mental Turf Burning Locomotive.

Well, if the oul report is right, then the extent of the drug taking and concealment was certainly of heroic proportions......

Just after another burst of work this evening. I did say I would start assembling the footplate (and the cab later) to give me an idea of how much space I would have for the chassis and its suspension system. OK so: The instructions direct that the footplate (part P11) is sawn out of the body fret: I did not remove the centre section (with the nameplates on) as I wanted the footplate to stay as rigid as possible. The instructions now dictate that the valances (part P8 x2) are removed from the chassis fret: It helps if you have a small vice to trap parts for soldering and filing jobs. I'm removing the traces of tabs from a valance here: ....and we end up with nearside and offside valances ready to go on the underside of the footplate: These valances must each be fitted 0.5mm from the edge of the footplate, so we use the digital calipers to help mark the positions at each end of the footplate underside: Front: Rear: Next stage is to bend down the rear drawbar at the rear of the footplate. There's a half-etch line for this, which you must have at the inside of the fold, and it's a simple 90-degree bend: ....and there ye go: The actual positioning of the valances in the right place, ready for soldering, was the part I really loathed. Remember that the original design of this kit is nearly three decades old, so there are no tabs-and-slots, or etched guidelines; you must use the marks you made earlier at each end, plus a couple of hairclips, to keep the valances in line and at 90 degrees to the underside: The potential nightmare is having the hairclips let go and the valances falling off during soldering. I had to be gentle when brushing flux along the join, and then being very quick with the soldering iron (I use a 25w Antex for most work) to tack solder at strategic points, a bit like the oul "spot welding": If it stays upright, I can then flow the joint so that the solder spreads along it. You don't need a lot of solder, and I only flowed it in three areas: The second valance is soldered in the same manner, so we now have this: Use your vice to hold the very edge of the footplate - there's not a lot to grip there!! - so that you can now fold the semi-circular coupling rod splashers into an upright position. I'm using a flat file to do this, but you can use a steel ruler as well: This is why I did not put any solder by the coupling rod splashers as I wanted them to be easier to bend up. I think we will leave it here for tonight: