Front engine unit

Front engine unit
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

All I had to do was make a box to fit on the front engine unit. And it still took me ages 'cos I didn't read and understand the instructions properly.

The bodywork starts with folding up a simple brass skeleton which includes the top surface. Then the outer wrapper goes around this.

I folded up the support and tried it on the chassis. The holes for the bolts didn't line up. I puzzled for a while and then realised that I had the wrong chassis for the box I was building.

Then more puzzling while I tried to work out how the part I was holding could be folded up to match the drawings. The problem was that none of the diagrams or photos show inside (the smokebox end) of the unit.

My salvation was tea. After a mug of refreshment a light bulb came on in my head and I realised I had the wrong former. Looking at the pictures and the other bits on the fret the solution was there. Pick up the right part and everything works. And it only took me an hour to get this far...

Anyway, once the inner is soldered up, three 8BA nuts are attached to the bottom so it can be bolted to the footplate. Those on the sides needed to be filed back a little so they didn't overlap the edge and affect the lie of the sides. Some curious little "wings" are part of the metalwork but these would get in the way too so I removed them. I have no idea what they were supposed to do other than get in the way. Perhaps a chat with the designer will enlighten me.

The wrapper is half etched for detail and easy enough to fit. I started at the front centre where a lamp iron provides a handy centre mark. With the front face tacked in, the metal bends easily around the corners and with care produces a square and flat unit. In the end I think there is around 0.5mm difference between the ends - not enough to make me want to fiddle any further !

Detailing is limited to the lamp iron and a front step, both of which attach easily with a hot iron. Inside the end there are some parts to provide inner detail and also a raised platform in front of the smokebox. Some whitemetal parts will follow later but next I moved on to the back end.