Okay, time for a little break for luncheon (pukka pie and wedges
) and a small update.
Taking Peters comments on board about soldering irons and corrosive fluxes I decided to try without them, well less of them, so far it seems to be working out okay.
So far it's basically following the yellow brick road and nothing different from any other build, but we like pictures here.
I've had a long disgruntled relation ship with the 5/32" axles and their inbuilt inability to be readily stripped down, however there's a little note in the tender instructions that makes life so much easier. It's the addition of 12BA nuts and screw to retain the axles, rather than the fold over tab which is soldered into place. They are a bit of a fiddle to get lined up, hold in place and secure, but nothing overtly difficult and it's a nice idea I'll use again.
Mind, being the CAD hacker that I am, I'm already thinking of trying to make things a little easier when developing something like this in the future. It'd be so much easier if you had a doubled plate folded round which you tapped 12 or 14BA than trying to solder nuts on one face to a flat surface.
The only sticking point now is the rear one and it's fixed bushes and I am thinking of making up a little carrier plate from some scrap etch that screws to that nice big flat stay at the rear. That'll be this afternoons side track before it becomes too late once the brakes go on.
I've cut away the outside plate so that the rear wheels can be slid off the axles, this plate is near invisible on the inside of the rear tender frames, it's basically there to hold the two lower transverse plates in position. I didn't cut the front away as that axle and wheels can simply be lifted in and out.
It's a bit of a fiddle getting the rear one in place as the linkage for the scoop passes through here, but with a little Viking profanity and some wriggling it all goes together. Rather well actually given that the linkage is one fret that joins four different parts together, all assembled and fitted individually. You only need one hole or part out by 0.5 mm and you're in a world of pain, but not here, it all fits nicely.