A couple of hours more this evening working on the Pug. All spent on the firebox build, and if I'm to do it properly, an intensive and painstaking job.
It started off by the curving and building of the firebox itself. The tab and bend method works very well, helped by the half-etched lines that help form an even curve. I started by tack-soldering the ends in place, and then filling the rest of the join around the entire edge with a fillet of solder.
After this can fixing the lost-wax brass castings of the steam turret and the safety valves. The ends of the steam turret are drilled out slightly and some 0.5mm wire soldered in to represent the pipes. They aren't quite even, but I had a heavy handed fitter in the shed at the time of the last bout of maintenance ;-)
The handwheels are so delicate that I really didn't want to flood them with solder, and I am already using two different grades to stop previous work falling apart - 188 degree and 147 degree on this.
I then had to switch to the 70 degree solder to start on the firebox back. The gauge glasses are now in place and the holes drilled for the wire on which the firehole door handles and the regulator will be mounted. The casting is only propped in place at the moment, and the gap around the edge won't be there when it is soldered in place.
And that's it for the moment. I'm out of the country for work tomorrow, so it'll be the end of the week before I can pick up a soldering iron again. And yes, soldering these sort of details is tough on the eyes and the fingers!
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