C15 footplate

According to the instructions for the C15 locomotive kit, I should now be building the upperworks of the model. I tend to view instructions as an interesting piece of packing which I will read but probably ignore. To be fair the author does say they aren't the only way to build the model, just the one he feels works best.

I disagree. I like to get valances and buffer beams onto a footplate early to strengthen the thing up and reduce the possibility of it twisting. I suppose I could fit the footplate to suitable chunk of wood but at the moment all my spare timber is in a shed and not too hand. And I didn't think of this until after I'd started soldering. Maybe next time.

Anyway, the valances are exactly the right length (they aren't always) and fitted in the half etched slots well. OK, so there are gaps for tabs which seem to be absent on the valance but no matter. A little tacking in place with some blobs of solder and I was happy enough to add the buffer beams once these were laminated. Watch out as the front and back ones are not the same - you do need to read the supplied words to get this right.