A start

Well, in Sunday I had some free time to make a start on the High Level Kits chassis kit for the Dapol Pug.

After five minutes the Dapol body was reduced to its constituent parts:

There is one typo in the instructions that confused me at the outset - it refers to unclipping the cab at the sides and FRONT of the cab, where a quick look at the model showed that the clip was at the REAR.  Simple to spot, so not exactly a deal-breaker.  The metal weight is the source of ballast for the original model, and the space where it sits will be occupied by a motor in future.  I'm going to have to be slightly cleverer to get more weight into my model.

One of the next steps is to remove the hideous cab shutter that formerly disguised the motor that intruded into the cab.  This was done by using a miniature drill with a burr in it to carve away the mass of the shutter, then finished off with a scalpel.  I managed to do it without breaking any parts of the cab, nor carving off the beading around the opening, but I made one slip when trimming the very last bit off.  I hadn't realised that I was so close to the back of the cab window and scratched it with the tip of the scalpel.  So that's a bit of disguising that needs doing in the weathering stage.  Ho hum...

 

It's a fantastic improvement to get rid of the shutter and to be able to look straight through the cab.

 After that, things went well, with the replacement cab floor fitted, some dummy front frames, and then onto the two coal bunkers that are in either side of the cab.  These are exquisite pieces of design, all folding up from a single piece of nickel silver.  They are finished off with some 0.4mm brass rod and etched handles for the injectors.  This shows just how small and delicate they are.

The piece of wire sticking out the front of the bunker is as yet unidentified.  It may be a handle for the coal-door, but it isn't clear yet.  Therefore I've left it overlength until its use is clear.  I don't want my fireman catching his shins on it.

And after three very satisfying hours, that is it :-)  More tonight if I get chance...