Look at those lovely rivets !
The photo doesn't show clearly the beautiful curves around the perimeter of the smokebox or ends of the cylinders but be assured, they are there. It's one of the design details that make a pre-grouping steam locomotive - an air of elegance that somehow went missing in later years.
As usual the lumps are courtesy of the GW Models press and followed the half-etch dimples in the back of the part. One impressed the front and back of the box were joined with stretchers. Interestingly these are brass as opposed to the nickel faces. I assume this is to make best use of the metal in the etching process. Locating bits is a touch harder when they are spread across two different sheets, but not enough to worry about.
The boiler arrived pre-rolled. I just had to solder the seam at the bottom and then fit the formers at front and back. These incorporate holes to allow the boiler to be bolted to the smokebox and cab front. Normally I ignore these and go straight in with the soldering iron but this time I've used them so I can ensure nice alignment of this major part.
Mind you, trying to do up the front bolt was "entertaining" as none of my screwdrivers fitted properly into the space under the loco, something always seemed to be in the way. Hindsight tells me that a nut spinner would have been better to start things off than a pair of pliers but at the time it didn't occur to me.
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