Love Me Tender

Some good progress on the D49 over the last few days - pre and post the NEAG meeting.

At the back end of last week I discovered a couple of potential problems.

1. I'd not read the instructions... No, only joking. However I had missed from the instructions the fact that I ought have fitted the smaller diameter muffs to the tender chassis. This is not covered explicitly in the instructions, but alluded to in the parts list - so if you have a D49 to build, beware. After speaking to Bob and showing him the chassis on Saturday, I'll not take any action just yet. The likely issue is that the front muff will foul the loco-tender connection bush; we will see.
   
2. The other concern was that there were no tender axleboxes in the kit and they weren't mentioned in the instructions. Bob told me that they were to be done in whitemetal, but that he had problems with the supplier. Subsequently they have been produced in brass and I received a very nice set on my visit to Bournmoor yesterday. Problem solved!
   

The photos below show progress before the NEAG meeting:

The base of the tender body. Rather cunningly, the frames bend down from inside the etched base and the ends bend down from the outside to give a rigid (when soldered) frame. The second layer is then sweated on top of this after the lamp irons and fixing nuts have been appended. The layering must be lined up by eye and a couple of holes to aid this would have been useful.

Views of the undersides of chassis and base. Note overlarge muffs!

The body sides have been bent up and soldered to the base - half etched slots are provided to accurately locate the body onto the base. I have also started sweating. I mean started sweating the overlays for the sides/end!

Another view of the body on the operating table...

After the meeting - see the next post!!