Slowly it goes whilst waiting for some more detail parts....
Attention was turned as to how the body is going to be secured to the chassis as it was not evident in the instructions. To overcome this I soldered some brass angle, strengthened with some brass strip, into the ends at floor level.
These were drilled and tapped for M1.4 machine screws. The hole centres are different at each end so it can only be assembled one way.
The fixing from the underside. The buffers and couplers will be last items to be installed after painting, etc. This photo also leads onto the axle boxes and springs....
Quite frankly the quality of these is not brilliant and some were poorly cast so bits broke off easily. Perhaps I'm just being too Teutonic in my expectations about the quality of parts and quality control
. It's as if the items were removed from the mould, given a cursory glance (rather than check the piece all over) and thrown into the parts bag.
The collateral..... and one has managed to disappear into the ravenous carpet monster of Traal!
Then attention swung to the interior and I started this from styrene sheet. The aim here is to fix this (and the Connoisseur suspension units) to the chassis with small self tapping screws from the underside. The compartment end seat will be fixed to the body shell.
Being a coach with a tumblehome at the moment there is a gap between the partitions and the coach side and I have one or two ideas on how to close these before final assembly....
The battery box was detailed, supports made from brass strip and ready for installation.
Just another photo of the compartment end.
With hindsight what this brass kit malarky has taught me is to produce a checklist of items to check for when purchasing a brass kit. e.g. for coaches:
Wheels, Buffers, Couplers, Grab irons, Door handles, Door stops, Door hinges, Battery boxes, Dynamo, Electrical switch gear, Roof vents, Brake tell tales, Interiors, Lamp irons, Brake pipes, Steam heat pipes, etc, etc. And check the quality of the castings.
When purchasing a kit I'll just have to start asking manufacturers/traders to open the box so I can see what is included and what extras I would require?