Thirteen months on and I reopened the box to continue building the loco. I have tweaked the chassis, having discovered that a few items were not quite in the right place. Work still needs to be done but the more serious work is on the body.
The first task was to start on the beading on the splashers. This proved to be difficult as the idea is to solder the beading etches on and then file most of them away. Fortunately there are seven etches in the kit so after ruining the first one I decided on a different approach. The result is not exactly prototypical but if I do one a day I will retain sanity and the end result will be a lot more satisfying than not having any beading at all.
Other tasks include adding the three firebox bands. The front one has been soldered in place, two to go. As I am doing only one splasher bead a day I have addressed the cab interior, fitting the floor and drag beam, then the beading around the cab and the fall plate.
I then started to fettle the etches and castings that make up the back head and other cab fittings. The brass castings are very crisp and bright. The white metal pieces are OK but I probably should have replaced them just to make soldering a little less intimidating.
David’s drawings definitely need photographic support so I searched out some examples that match the actual locomotive, 5014. One of the best is from Masterpiece Models web site. Sadly the Lee Marsh version does not have a cab interior photo yet. By the way, Caerphilly Castle appears to be non standard.