Horsetan

The next bit of the work was - on the face of it - simple: seating four tiny caps into the half-etched marks shown for them on the footplate. The etch provides five, just in case you lose one of them: I tinned the backs of four of them with the usual 188 solder and Carr's Green Label flux: However, separating each individual cap, filing off any excess tags, and positioning them is the very work of the Devil himself: Eventually you get there: ...though if you use too much solder, you end up having to scrape all the excess off (as here).......which may take you longer than it did to position the caps in the first place. With all four caps soldered in their correct positions, I could then add the front mounting 10BA nut. This is simply screwed tight in position using the matching 10BA bolt, brushed all around with flux, and soldered. The reason why it's screwed tight is to prevent solder leaking in towards the bolt and soldering that solid! I test-fitted the smokebox shell, just to see where we were: ...and you can also see the curvature at the base of the smokebox front overlay. This is why you solder the front overlay at the top and upper sides, BUT NOT THE BOTTOM! As stated earlier, I used the handle of a needle file to form the curve, but you could also use a 3mm dia. drill bit. A useful point to note when forming the curve is to ensure that, when finished, the base of the overlay should sit perfectly on the footplate. If you can see a gap, your curve is too tight. Conversely, if the smokebox shell won't sit neatly on the footplate, it means your curve is too shallow. This can be a difficult area to get right, and photographs of 171 and her sisters don't always show the curvature clearly. I moved on to solder the preformed firebox and boiler barrel together: ....and since all the soldering is on the inside, with luck you should end up with a flush joint on the outside:

An early hangover.

Who's going to inherit that lot when yer man passes on?

Nollaig Shona Duit.

Careful now - any more an' ye'll have the whole set

I think you should start somewhere. After all, I had to.

Goes well with Guinness.

Between six and eight quid each so far. Depends on the class, really. Every class member is listed, as well as some useful photos. There is also a weight diagram at the back. I've picked up "S", "V", and "WT" so far. Waiting for "Q" and "800". Not sure the author will touch the 101/J15s - there are too many of those and, anyway, a very good book "Steam In Three Centuries" has covered that class.

Yes, I've heard about the dark side of those fellas. But the books are useful.....

Tooling technology means you can create one main tool for the footplate, splashers and cab. Separate tools could then cover the two main smokebox / boiler / firebox types: you just clip in / screw in the one you want onto the footplate assembly. The loco chassis is the same, anyway. The only real complication is the tender: I'd agree you would need dedicated tooling for each tender type, and that's where the real expense is.

Richard Pue will be covering the 800s later in his ongoing series of monographs on various Irish locomotive classes, but he's doing all the GNRI and NCC ones first. His books are limited to 500 copies per class, with proceeds going to the BCDR Trust.

I think SSM includes all the names in the express engine kits, e.g. the "S". The classes were so small, it doesn't cost that much extra to fit all the names onto the etchings....

I did wonder if the Mainline/Dapol/Hornby Gresley N2 would have given you a better head start, as well as a ready-made 0-6-2T chassis (5'8" driving wheels)....

I wonder what became of this?

As long as they don't take away sales from SSM

Meanwhile, one "S" class continues to take shape......

Smokebox front overlay soldered on tonight - the bottom of it has an upward curve, which had to be formed using the handle of a needle file to get close to the right curvature. Front frame laminates also assembled but will not be added to the footplate until the smokebox wrapper is on...... I think I have made a mistake with the buffer beam. Can anybody spot what it is.....?