So assembling it all together gives me quite a nice rolling chassis. I'm not too sure at the moment about the ride height - it's probably about right at the moment but I'll have to see what it's like when the full body is fitted. With my CSB design I'm going to wait until it's finished and check - changing the ride height will need a tweak to the 3D design and simply print off a new set of hornblocks.
So in the instructions I'm onto the next page ( 7 - for those with the kit) which is the "frame assembly". There is the top plate with a small strip to solder on and the dummy side frames with a selection of half etched rivets to press out.
The edge of the top frame is bent over - I then use a hide mallet and a length of square steel to knock it over and then draw along the length to get it smooth. Using a glass plate to keep it flat and the small strips are soldered to the outside.
The next task in the instructions is the riveted strip to represent the angle between the top plate and the side frames. It's a thin strip with lots of half etched rivets - once these are pressed out it doesn't quite retain the flat square shape it started out as!!
A little gentle tweaking through the fingers to get it flat again then the spring brackets are folded over. At this point I deviate subtly from the instructions by soldering in the little triangular reinforcing webs. The instructions suggest soldering these riveted strips to the frames first before the triangular webs. However for small details like this I like to be able to hold the little web in place and apply the soldering iron from behind to minimise flooding it with solder. Also the instructions suggest filing the top flush before soldering in the web - I did do this but wish I hadn't. I would suggest soldering in the triangular webs before filing the top flush. The reason is once it is filed flush you have removed the metal connecting the bracket to the strip so when you solder in the web there are 3 components and yes the brackets did start moving if I wasn't careful. So fold over and solder the triangular web (only 2 components) and then file the top flush.
Once the ends have been folded to 90 degrees it is soldered to the dummy side frames.
The frames are finished off with the steps, riveted, folded and soldered on. The front drag beam and rear buffer beam cutout and cleaned up. In the photo above I marked the location rivet for the brake pin retainers - I recommend punching them out but then filing them flush. The reason being the pin retainers are tiny[*] with a half etch hole on the rear to locate over this rivet. Unfortunately the half etch isn't that deep so they didn't sit very flush. By filing the rivet flush I had a marker where they needed to go and could get it to sit flush.
[*] Don't any 7mm modeller say 2mmFS is too small and fiddly - these brake hangar pin retainers are just as small as anything I have soldered in my 2mmFS kits!!