The Dunalastair boiler comes partly rolled - much better than many model locomotive kits where you have to do the job yourself. There is even a fold-up former to strengthen the tube inside.
I joined the bottoms with solder and then cleaned most of it off again for a nice neat finish. At this point everything looked fine.
The smokebox is a separate part with a back, front and wrapper. These are all marked with etched indications of the top centre, a boon when you are trying to line everything up and another thing other kitmakers could copy (please). I soldered the front on first with some tacks followed by a seam inside. The ends of the wrapper perfectly matched the bottom of the front former. The back went on just as well.
The centre line was then extended using a square to the bottom of the smokebox back. I used this line to align the join on the boiler.
It was only when I started fitting this to the footplate I noticed a problem. The firebox sides were longer on one side then the other. Then, looking along the loco the holes for safety valve and dome weren't at the top.
Somehow I've managed to get the boiler rotated around slightly. I'm going to have to unsolder this and re-do it. And when I heat it up for this, the smokebox will come unstuck. For a couple of days this is going back in its box while I work out what went wrong and how I'm going to fix it.
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