The model building challenge continues. It's possible for me, though, to manage a couple of projects at the same time. (That's the same mind-set as having several research papers in progress and in the pipeline, in case anyone is curious.)
Here's a Locomotive Workshop kit of the Russian Decapod that I've been working on, on and off, for probably twenty years. I took advantage of the time while paint was drying on the challenge project to solder up the cab front and attach a large Russian-style headlight to the smokebox top.
A firebrick comes in handy when you're soldering with a pencil torch. My technique is getting better, those are stains on the wood, not scorch marks.
The week's progress on the main project is below the jump.
At the start of the week, the pilots and stepwells were still in their out-of-the-etch form.
That done, next I tackle the battery boxes.
That's starting to look like the underframe of a locomotive. Temporary large bolts to make sure everything fits properly. Measure thrice, tack solder once, check again, then hit it with the torch.
The instructions advise washing each sub-assembly as it's finished, to get the soldering fluxes off, and priming completed components. That's good advice, as there will be some parts that will be hard to spray paint later. I used Rust-Oleum flat black, and masked off areas that will receive further soldering. The rectangular nut-retainers will hold 4-40 nuts on the deck, and those transylvanian shapes will brace the stepwell to the underframe.
With luck, we're closer next week to something like this.
Keep calm and keep modelling.
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