7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern Workhorse

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
My scattergun approach to my workbench means that, while I intend to pick commissions up on a "first come, first served" basis, sometimes I will pick up a box reasoning it might prove a relatively quick build and help the cash flow a little.

This is why I tend to find several part-built commissions littering the workbench!

I'll never learn.

As a break from the overload of Swindon stuff, and having recently collected the loco frames replete with internal wiggly bits from Mr Penn-Sayers, I thought this "finish it for me" build might prove entertaining. The client had started to construct it some time ago, but had foundered somewhere along the line and rather lost heart. Which is where I stepped into the breach.

The LNER and constituent companies liked their 0-6-0s. Every pre-Grouping company did, and it's not surprising that many humble tank and tender classes lasted well into British Railways. The GNR/LNER J6 is no exception. Essentially a superheated development of the GNR Class J5, 110 J6 Class locos were built between 1911 and 1922 in two series. This build is of the later 536 series. The client wanted a loco he "spotted" as a child, and which would fit into his chosen location. His original choice, for which we have a good photo, had a different tender to that in the kit, and the manufacturer doesn't currently stock that version. Happily, we've settled on 64253 which did have the kit tender and was "spotted" back in the day!

As the frets had already been cut up to begin construction of the kit, I won't bore you with illustrated box contents. Now under the Gladiator banner, the kit originated with George Norton and is an enlarged 4mm kit. Many of the loco castings are in brass, with choice of chimney and safety valves to suit different periods, the backhead is a single casting in whitemetal with much detail cast in situ. Turned brass and steel sprung buffers complete the essential parts.

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First, here are the frames. The inside motion kit started out from LG Miniatures, but needed quite a bit of work to fit satisfactorily. We think it's not actually quite right for the gear used on the real thing, but it does work. As I explained to Mr PP-S, during one of the periodic rumblings of dissatisfaction from deepest France, the client is one of those lovely ones who is probably going to be quite happy with it, as long as there's stuff moving about. The motor and gearbox are ABC.

The client had made a start on the build with the tender. The frames are compensated on two axles. The running plate and side frames, headstock and so on, are assembled. The problem that probably caused the kit to become a shelf queen was the tender side sheets. Etched as a single sheet, the builder is required to form curved corners - and inspection showed one bend was not at right-angles to the edges of the sheet, throwing the geometry out.

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Having extracted the part from the underframe, you can see the twist on the right-hand side.

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I gently annealed the formed curve with my micro-flame torch. Clamping some rod of suitable diameter in my bench vice, I made an attempt at reforming the curve with the help of a hide mallet. This got the side down to more or less align with its opposite number, but when trial fitting to the underframe the rear panel was obviously twisted.

I needed a slightly more scientific method of working out what was wrong. I measured 137mm from the front edges, and marked a vertical line using a square on both sides. This showed where the error was, as I said earlier: the curve had been formed slightly off true. Using my marks to help align the etch along the clamped rod, some more annealing, hide mallet persuasion and some thumb and finger tweaking seems to have solved the problem.

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It's never going to be spot on, but it's a lot better than when I started. Happy with the panel beating, I refitted the side sheets to the floor.

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This is where I am. I think I'll get some more of the superstructure fitted in tomorrow's session, then I'll take a look at the loco side of things. It would be nice to get something approaching a complete carcass by the end of the week. I can spend some armchair modelling time researching the details and fiddly bits this evening.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Progress with the tender, in fits and starts. The instructions are of the text variety, with random numbers thrown in to identify parts on etches. References to "folds" often tend to mean there's a bend involved that needs to follow a radius somewhere.

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Having had reasonable success with the tender bodywork yesterday, I wanted to get most of the carcass completed before I turned attention to the loco. I don't have much familiarity with LNER tender species, so I am relying on the instructions guiding me part of the way, with photos to back me up if I get stuck. Well, let's just say that my references are a bit scant on tender information, with next to no visible details shown on the front end in particular. Two mirror image parts form the sides to the coal space and tank, with another part joining the two. One part had been previously bent to shape, but was out of kilter. I thought I'd attempt a flattening process. Playing the gas torch across the bend for a spell, then gently pressing with my fingers - after a suitable cooling off, of course! - got most of the way without major deformation. With a small anvil as the flat surface, and some coercion from the hide mallet I was pleased to gain a pretty flat part again.

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Next, to work out the points where the curves were to be formed. I started with the "coal space back", the part in the centre above. It is designed to only fit the sides in one way, so I marked things up with reference to the side pieces. More gas torch action, and then some gentle bending round some suitable bar until it seemed to fit properly. Using the half-etch lines in the tender floor I marked bend locations in the side parts and repeated the annealing and bending process. So far, so good.

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Fixing the side pieces in place was a trial, but I got there in the end. The problem was the tender sides wanted to lean inwards to meet the internal pieces. I have a little try square that came to the fore to constantly check for a right angle between sides and floor. The end result is okay. Not perfect, but okay. The back plate could now be slotted in place and tack soldered to check alignments before running a fillet to fill small gaps.

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This is where I am, with a trial fitting of the coal space floor. You can see the floor etch doesn't quite match the side cheek radius, so I'm considering how best to deal with that. I may solder some scrap to the back of the floor and file it to fit properly, then fill later. I could also make a scrap fillet to make up the gap on the top. Thinking on that.

Now I've reached a point where the tender top goes on, along with some of the details such as vents, filler, gate for the coal space and so on - only I am unclear on such things. A plea, then, to anyone who might be reading this and has references for the Ivatt 6ft 6in x 6ft 6in "Horseshoe" 3140/3170 gallon tender so they might be able confirm some things for me.
  • I know most tenders had had their water scoop equipment removed by the mid-1940s, but did this include air vents and combined filler/dome?
  • Where and what orientation does the filler/dome fit on the back of the tender?
  • Whereabouts might the coal gate fit in relation to the front of the tender?
  • Are there any images that show overall layout and fittings on the front of the tender, such as brakes, scoop controls, handrails, grabs, tool lockers, etc?
  • Was there a handbrake column on these tenders, or was it fitted to one of the side cheek faces?
  • A vertical handrail was added to the rear side of these tenders in the 1940s. Was it only on the driver's side of the tender, or was there one on the other side as well?
Any information gratefully received, as ever. Thank you.

I suppose I should look at the loco for a bit.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Hi Heather,

Although I do have a few copies of the Yeadon LNER Loco volumes I don't have the one covering the J6. I do have the RCTS LNER Green book that covers them but the photos are very small and only a couple are post nationalisation front 3/4 views which unfortunately don't show any of the detail that you are looking for.
 

lankytank

Western Thunderer
Heather

Can you beg/borrow/steal a copy of Locomotives Illustrated 153? Predominantly 3/4 views of the J1 to J7 classes but you might spot something that I've missed.

Isinglass list two drawings for the J6's - drawing numbers 301 & 302, Gresley & Ivatt versions respectively.

If anything else comes to mind, I'll let you know
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Thanks for looking Rob. I've actually got both those publications here. I also have "The Last Days of Steam in the Eastern Region" (Eric Sawford), and a copy of the Isinglass drawing for the loco, though paired with the other types of tender!

This is the point where my LNER noobishness really kicks in. I gather the J5 and J6 classes were paired with about three different main tender types, generally cascaded from older GNR locos as they were withdrawn. As is usually the case, tenders were also swapped about during overhauls, so finding a photo of an actual loco with the tender you want is a bit of pot luck!

All I need, really, is clear images - should such things exist, of course - that give me some better idea of the layout of the tender. Even photos of other models will be useful at a pinch.

I'm pressing on with some of the details I know I can reliably identify, then I'll make a start on the loco bodywork.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Can you beg/borrow/steal a copy of Locomotives Illustrated 153? Predominantly 3/4 views of the J1 to J7 classes but you might spot something that I've missed.

I'll see if anyone might have a copy - I don't, sadly. I do have the relevant Isinglass drawing, which is proving useful for some of the engine picking details for the chosen loco. The tenders drawn up are the other styles these locos were paired with.

I'll keep studying the photos in the volumes I have for now. A penny might drop eventually!
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Something I wasn't looking forward to was forming the flared tops. The 'structions recommend "warming" the etch to aid forming it. Research showed the flare was about 11in radius. Obviously I didn't "warm" things enough - being aware that the etch might distort - and struggled to form the curve. I got there in the end.

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The corners are formed with fine fingers, which I've filled with Carr's 145, and will finish up with some low melt solder now the main hot work is done. The top deck of the tender is also in, as is the floor at the front. There are still gaps, but I'll fudge those later in the build, probably with some kind of floor overlay. I wonder if there was a timber deck layer…

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Finally for this session, the coal rails. Well, they're in now. I'm not really happy with them, and I'm tempted to blame the kit but that's not fair. I was about to fit the front coal board, which supposedly sits across the top of the stepped floor. I thought it wise to study some photos, and do you know what? Not one of the images I have shows this particular form of tender! In fact, the front board seems to be in front of where the tool lockers are, with coal piled up on the lockers.

So, I think a quick client consultation is required. I shall suggest I just build what I have as the designer intended. Rule One, as we say.

The main carcass is pretty much complete now. There are details like lifting rings, the filler, various bits around the front end and so on, which can wait for a bit. The loco really should move front and centre for a bit.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I said I wasn't going to post an etch shot, but most of the loco frets were still in more or less one piece - until Mr PP-S and I got to them!

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The patched NS jig top left shows I have some fun gentle curves to form into the brass footplate later. I hope I can still form the initial folds without it being rent asunder! The boiler is pre-rolled, so that's a faff I don't have. While the overall quality is there, and we are talking a copyright date of 1992, the etched parts do show signs of the enlargement from the 4mm scale for which it was originally designed. Nothing that can't be overcome, mind you. What you don't see is the other underframe etch parts. Alternative frames and coupling rods are supplied for the early and late series J6 designs. You can also see the alternate lower and shorter cab that brought the GNR locos into the LNER loading gauge. I've followed my client's lead by writing part numbers on the etch after the reproductions in the instructions.

I had planned to pile into the loco superstructure. As usual, I was sidetracked. It sort of made sense to carry in with the chassis instructions from where Paul left off, so into the brake detailing I went.

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I had my braincell in gear today, as I remembered to make up the brake hangers for left and right. Such an obvious mistake, and one I've made before! I decided to leave cleaning up the tabs until after sweating the parts together.

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And before I knew where I was, a few hours had spun by and this was where I have got to. Cross plates are thick NS, with little hinge affairs made up in brass. The adjuster rods from the main cross shaft are also NS, and needed some careful filing to lose the cusps. A while was spent working out the operating layout under the cab. Sadly there isn't a brake cylinder in the kit. I entertained a possibility of cobbling something together, but I'll be honest and say it's probably invisible anyway. I'll make up the operating rod that disappears up under the floor. I've left the main rigging loose so it can be remounted and painted, along with the frames. With all that delicate tracery in there, I expect I shall be brush painting things, as I'm not about to attempt dismantling it or relying on my poor masking skills.

Other bits missing, I've noticed, are the injectors under the cab. I don't know if they're a standardised part from the usual suspects, in which case I can probably find something in my Bits Box. Otherwise, it'll be confections of brass tube and rod.

I heard from the client this morning about the tender. As I expected, Rule One is invoked: as provided in the kit is fine.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I'm not sure whether I dislike Edwardian loco designers or kit designers right now. I have spent a good six hours today wrestling with recalcitrant sheet metal, and I'm about fed up with it!

Having got so far with the tender, I wanted to try and get the loco nearly to the same level. To be honest, if I haven't spent a day on the brake gubbins, I probably would have by now. Anyway, after having filed away several metres of cusps on the brsss and NS etches, fold up the cradle that has the NS valances on it…

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Some time, and several epithets later. That metal is thick! I scored the half-etch fold lines so they were deeper. I sliced through thin areas of waste so things could give more easily. I beat things with hammers. I won, in the end. Now, the fun part of forming the brass running plate to conform to the gentle up and down curves. Pesky engine designers…

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It wasn't too bad, actually. I formed the curves using the vice-and-rod routine used on the tender. The curves are only subtle, but it took some work with the Mk1 Eyeball to get them in the right places. Getting them near enough that some gentle pressure while tacking to the valances with solder was the aim. Again, I won.

Some while cleaning up the splodgy soldering followed. Now, the cab, which will be the last major act in the forming curves saga.

Remember, dear reader, this kit is an enlargement of the 4mm kit. The thicknesses of material in the 4mm kit were probably different to the battleship armour thickness NS etch in the 7mm kit. Anyway, let's say the instructions say to solder the NS framing into the brass etch cab while it's flat, then form the curves... and leave it at that.

What happens next is you need to do some eyeballing, mental arithmetic and geometry in order to work out where to start curving the deceptively simple cab shape. I mean, the damned thing has an almost flat roof. How hard can it be?

Damned hard, if truth be told - both forming the curves and the double thickness metalwork!

Using the front spectacle plate as a template, I marked various points where curves should begin. While the drawing I have helpfully gives the centre of the radius for the roof, it's not much help when it actually comes to doing the business. I decided to begin with gentle bends at the top of the cab side opening. Little and often, tweak, test against the front plate, tweak some more, and about an eon later I had formed one side to my satisfaction. I had sore fingers and backache, but it looked good to me.

The other side followed, with almost the same degree of success. I was about to leave it at that point. The thing is, the front plate should fit into a recess formed by the front frame, so it is flush with the edges. Yeah, like that was going to happen. Happily, the running plate doesn't actually have location lines for the cab to sit in, so I decided to make the front flush and allow the sides to be just a gnat's wider than they should be. Nothing else will be affected by this bodge, so I decided to tack the spectacle plate in place.

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I think I got away with it. Some cleaning up will be needed, but as my Dad used to say "a blind man would like to see it". The next challenge will be to fix the cab to the running plate. That, my friends, will be for another day. The coming month has been set aside for another build.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
With a bitsa month this month, with a couple of builds nearing some kind of completion, I decided to press on with the loco superstructure.

It took a while to reorientate myself, having not worked on the model since April. It sort of made some kind of sense to continue working with the sequence set out in the instructions. It also made some kind of sense to do some metalwork on the boiler and make up the front splasher/sandboxes. Both these involved flame to anneal the brass so it could be formed with a little persuasion.

The instructions are in written form, with some explanatory diagrams where it's felt helpful. Reference is made to a numbered facsimile of each etch fret. As you may recall, I made a point of writing the part numbers on the actual etch so they were easy to locate as things were chopped out. Unfortunately, the numbered and named parts don't always seem to match the appropriate part in the text sequence. I went through it and pencilled in part numbers as necessary, finding at times the numbers didn't quite tally. I made some sense of it in the end.

Of course, as the kit can build into two main variants, some parts can be discarded. The smokebox outer wrapper, for example, has two types. The instructions say to use one, but checking against photos it ought to be the other. The part numbers were somewhat muddled, it appears. All clear now, I think…

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The boiler was provided rolled. I was puzzled by references to punching rivets from inside, as all the half-etched marks were on the outside. While working through the smokebox assembly sequence, identifying parts and locations as I went, it dawned on me the boiler had been rolled inside out. Whoops. In this case, it must have happened at the production stage. The error isn't disastrous, but will need some care and perhaps a bit of jiggery-pokery when installing the smokebox wrappers. There'll need to be some filling of redundant etch holes, and perhaps a new hole or two.

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I also formed up some sub-assemblies, and decided it was worth attempting to join things together. At the close of play, the cab and floor have been fitted to the footplate, so I posed the boiler to see how it might look eventually.

This is one of those kits where the fit is often vague. I am being careful not to remove too much material while dry fitting parts, but there are numerous gaps - not just physically on the model, but also in the instructions. I'm going to have to do some serious photo peering to work out where some smaller bits go.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I've been at this nearly all day, yet it doesn't feel like I've achieved anything.

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Well, it seems perhaps I have actually achieved something. The splasher tops all went in, as have the front splasher/sandbox assemblies. The smokebox saddle-cum-cylinder block, plus the front frame extensions are done. More of a fiddle has been fitting the firebox sides where they sit above the footplate.

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There are odd little curved plates between the centre splasher and the front of the firebox. They don't really fit very well, with plenty of daylight on show. I shall probably fabricate new ones to fit better from brass shim. The actual folded up parts for the firebox sides also needed the curve over the rear splasher modified. Again, daylight, but some filler in the back and with the boiler in place, this ought not be too noticeable.

Happily, the parts remaining on the fret have reduced in number. I'm not relishing the prospect of detailing up the boiler, but I think that can wait for a day or two.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I decided I would fabricate new cheek plates. I haven't worked out what their function was on the real thing, though photos imply they were part of the main frames extended above the footplate and part of the firebox construction.

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On the right is the original kit part. On the left, I've sweated together two bits of scrap etch, and having marked out the top radius I've begun the process of cutting out. I aimed to make the replacement parts just a smidge larger all round so there was somewhere to aid with fixing them in place.

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Again, the original is on the right. You'll note, now I've scribed in the actual shape of the splasher, the lower edge is wider than the kit part. Rather than cut out to the scribed line, I marked a new line a fraction of a smidge to the left.

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And here are two new cheeky cheek pieces. Since taking the snap, photos revealed a couple of bolt or rivet heads, so I punched them in.

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Here we are attached to the loco. The plan of allowing things to be a smidge wider (I wonder if "smidge" ought to have an SI definition) meant it was less of a fiddle attaching the new parts to the back of the splasher and the firebox sides. While I was in soldering mode, I fitted the splasher fixing plates. It looks like the drafted boiler is looming large in my Thursday.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
I was always taught that a smidge is two standard gnat's crotchets. But I was brought up in the days of Imperial measurements which are now out of fashion, so I doubt that today's youth would have any idea what we're talking about or, indeed, how to estimate the standard smidge.

Brian
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I wish I'd kept it, but in my much younger days I worked for a civil engineering drawing office. Our staff magazine had a small article on "standard" units used by the engineers and contractors, such as "yards of room" meaning it was within prescribed tolerances.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Today was a day of pluses and minuses.

The pluses first.

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I made up the front buffer beam laminations, and fettled the front end so the beam would sit with just a tiny amount of footplate overhang, as per photos. I cleaned stuff up, fitted the sandbox lids, and spent ages peering at photos to prepare me for the boiler.

I drilled out the washout plugs, and then a massive clanging sound caught my attention. It was a penny the size of a dustbin lid dropping. Of course, any fool ought to have spotted it earlier. With the boiler having been rolled inside out the washout plugs would be on the wrong sides. They are in a staggered formation, and once I spotted that it was so obvious. Stupid me.

The question of whether to flatten the boiler and roll it again the correct way therefore became moot. No choice.

Out with the flames again!

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I've got this far, and I've just applied some more hotness to create these rather fetching shades of blues and purples. Once it's possible to handle it safely, I'll attempt to gently tease it further towards flat. Something elementary about metalworking keeps nagging at me, that although heat will have softened the material, working it will harden it again. This may take some time, and I can only hope nothing drastic occurs.

Wish me luck!
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Success! It was worth shelling out for the rolling bars after all!

Tomorrow, then, I shall repeat the process of joining the seam, and then carry on fitting the various plugs and stuff.

Once thing I need to ascertain is whether the enlarged photo tool used for this etch has led to oversize holes meant for handrail knobs. That could prove an entertaining prospect if they are.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Right, that's been a day of much swearing.

This kit is designed to build both main variants of what became the J6: the 521 and 536 sub-classes. The chief differences are in the boiler and cab, the 536 variant - the one I'm labouring over - has a shorter cab, boiler moved back, and sandboxes over the front splashers. There are other details, such as the overall modifications to the class to bring them within the LNER standard loading gauge, but that's stuff like chimneys and so on.

There are two different smokebox wrappers, depending on which sub-class you're building. The kit is designed so there is a shim wrapper around the front of the smokebox, and a slightly thicker one around the back. The latter slots into a half-etched recess, now usable and visible since I inverted the boiler yesterday! These parts went on quite well, so I broke out the rolling bars again to form the main wrappers.

The plan then is that a main wrapper bulks up the smokebox, soldered onto the shims fitted earlier. The instructions explain that tinning such large areas would lead to uneven results, which is sensible and understandable, so fixing is essentially by running solder along the edges as best as possible. This main wrapper went on well enough.

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Viewed from underneath, you can see a welter of clamps and twisted wire to hold the first wrapper in place. On top, I've bunged a nut and bolt through the chimney hole to help keep things aligned. Note how the rear shim provides a series of steps - which I can't make out on the prototype photos, but there you go. I fixed this wrapper with some carefully applied solder paste and the RSU. All seams are being kept at the bottom of the boiler, obviously.

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The view from above. Okay, I'm not using the chimney hole, it's the pressure relief valve hole. Who's asking?

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With the first wrapper fitted - remind me, should I have need to do this sort of thing again, to roll the wrappers so they are slightly smaller than the final diameter rather than leaving them a bit larger and relying on the strength of solder to restrain against the tension - the second half-thickness wrapper goes on. Using the bolt again, plus clamps, attempting to solder along edges with varying degrees of success.

I haven't recounted the fun trying to get the boiler more or less circular. That involved some brute force with a hide mallet! Happily, soldering held.

We now have a second step at the back of the smokebox. I'm beginning to think this isn't quite right, so I paused for some reflection. In the end, there's nothing I can sensibly do to resolve what I think of as something of an error, or perhaps more charitably a misinterpretation, so I must plough on regardless.

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The front of the business is filled with a circular plate, which drops into the recess formed by the outer wrapper. Incidentally, there are no rivets here at all. There should be. They are around the top where the pressure relief valve sits, and all round the rear edge of the smokebox wrapper. However, I felt I couldn't sensibly replicate the patterns I see in the photos, so best left off. The front of the smokebox ought to have a radiused edge to it. I think this will be formed by flooding solder around the edge and filing to shape later. I find the front plate sits in the recess, and isn't slightly proud as the instructions state it should be. I don't think I've made a mistake here, as I've aligned things using the chimney/valve holes as per the instructions.

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So, here's where I am. I think the lowest "step" is actually meant to represent the first lagging band, the rest of which I will need to mark out and fit at some stage. The bands are fairly prominent, and quite thick, and come as half-etched strips. They'll be fun aligning and keeping square round the circumference. Looking forward to that, I don't think.

With all that palaver I've not got round to the washout plugs or handrail knobs. As it is, I've had enough for today. I'll see if I feel like doing some more in a day or two, as it would be nice to fit the boiler properly and get the bodywork attached to the chassis soon.
 
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