Well,,, [sorry,,, we can't say "Well" anymore apparently it has to be SO],, so I shall enlighten you with a little bit of progress from the frozen wastes of North Norfick.
Having found my crampons and bottled oxygen cylinder I today braved the extremes of the north face of the garage and made a concerted effort at getting the D21 finished off,,,,,[excluding paint obviously,, so there is another 2 year delay] and this is quite quick for me as I only started it in May 2020!!!
So having donned my crampons and Steptoe style fingerless gloves I ignored the Niagra nose and got stuck in to fitting all the twiddly bits,,, 2 whistles, lamp irons, balance weights etc etc I have to say I'm rather pleased with the end result,,, especially when you compare it with raw material I started with way back when.
There is something strangely satisfying in taking a crock of *rap [see the 3rd photo]and improving it to the best you can,,, and it only cost me a new set of driving wheels,, motor and gear set and a book on the Locomotives of the NER and as all the labour was thrown in for free it has turned out to be a bit of a bargain.
Well [apologies for that] it could have but this little project has kindled a bit of an interest in NER loco's and so to give it a bit of company I have bought it a Q6 as a shed mate,, and found an old DJH D16 kit which I invested in many years ago which needs a bit spare time throwing at it,,, but a bargain whichever way you look at it.
One quick tip,,,, when you are trimming all the footplate heights with bits of plastikard to get everything to line up nicely it really is a good idea to glue them into the body,,,, as you can see,,, I have learnt this lesson just this morning.
I had the body sitting nicely on the chassis and everything being square and equal etc etc until I separated the body from the chassis to aid fitting all the bits,,, there was this sudden avalanche of plastikard bits flying everywhere,,, which will need refitting and GLUING in place,,,, drat,,, no I think this deserves a double drat.
Am still waiting for exhibition confirmations but I'm sure they are on the way now we appear to be getting back to some form of normality.
Keep calm and solder on.
SAD😞
