Off the high horse.

Its been suggested that I regard low melt solder as an invention of the devil (though how he discovered it in a hot environment like hell is anyones guess. Maybe theres a special spot in hell where modelers are forced to try to assemble white metal kits). It requires some special kit ( ie a controllable temp soldering iron) that my 'make models with sod all tools' approach finds somewhat alien. I've therefor made the attempt to put together the railcar using a variety of glues; superglue for tacking things together, and 5 minute alraldite for strengthening the bonds. this has worked fine up untill this morning, where my 2 part mixing skills seem to have completely deserted me. the glue is brand new (special for this project) and its the Sellys stuff and not some cheap Chinese '5 tubes for a buck' product. Its all rather vexing, as is the problem of cleaning unset glue out of the recesses to have a second (and third) unsuccessful crack at gluing bits together.

However, its not all doom and gloom here at Chateau Dandruff. I have managed to get the 2 unpowered bogies more permanently attached to the underframe. A piece of 6mm wide brass had the holes drilled and then the bolts (care of Dick Smith electronics) were soldered into place. the holes in the underframe were enlarged and then everything was assembled. The center bogie required 2 bolts the correct distance apart, and required a bit of filing to get to fit in the gap in the GP-30 bogie.


Now that the bogies are on, I think it was the right decision to use the Gp30 bogies instead of those supplied in the kit. I have power pickup on all wheels, and they roll 'spurbly'.


The powered bogie is still unattached at this point, but I have a basic plan to achieve this. I'll build a brass frame on the chassis, and also one on the bogie, then just screw the 2 together and use some washers to get the height correct. there might have to be a bit of metal removal to get the whole thing round corners. I suppose I'll have to work out what the minimum radius is going to be.