Working from the Tatlow drawing in "Highland Locomotives" I remodelled the downward extension of the main frames behind the bogie wheels as well as the after part of the frames which carry the rear driving wheel springs. The springs that were etched as part of the frames were cut off and discarded; these proved to be a remarkable 12mm too long, which I thought might be a record for inaccuracy in etched kit design. I’m not sure how to represent the springs yet, I’ll just leave this detail until a later stage. I have the running plate and frames pinned down to a block of MDF to keep them flat and have secured the frames to the running plate by means of a slot at the rear and a nut and bolt towards the front. The front steps are in place though I had to remake them as those on the etch proved to be just "any old steps" hardly matching the drawing in any dimension. It’s a sturdy construction and as soon the cast rods I ordered from LG Miniatures arrive I’ll put the wheels on and get the mechanism up and running.
I’ve made some progress with my Wee Ben tender chassis lately; I’ve soldered the white metal springs and axle boxes to the side frames and fastened these in turn onto the underside of the running plate. I’ve restricted side play on the wheels to a minimum; they don’t need much, so there’s plenty of clearance between wheels and side frames. The buffer housings were a problem as they met the side frames when I tried to locate them in their holes in the buffer beam. So I sawed part of the buffer housing away at the back, making a flat that mated with the inside of the side frame; in fact I had to remove so much material to do this that the hole in the rear of the buffer housing ended up "D" shaped; so when I come to fit the buffer shanks into the housings they’ll similarly have to be filed into a "D" shape to run nicely, and I’ll need to do away with the retaining nut somehow too. I’ve retained the chassis to the running plate by means of a nut and bolt at the front, which you can’t see, and at the rear by trapping the chassis under a length of angle section soldered to the buffer beam. Structurally the chassis is very strong, it’s looking good and hasn’t presented too many problems. However I’ve had a look at the superstructure and I must admit that I was dismayed by the coal rails which are going to need a lot of work to sort out as they’re etched solid, by which I mean the upright supports are etched in the same plane as the horizontal rails, it’s all going to have to be cut up and remodelled. I was even more dismayed by the way the flare of the tender sides has been etched as if it is stepped inwards, rather than stepped outwards; as if the designer was trying to give an impression of the construction of the flared section rather that confronting the problem of actually producing something that looks like the real thing. I must admit that at the moment I don’t know how I’m going to put this to rights, but it looks like a lot of work.
