So after spending an afternoon with the soldering iron I managed to get it built easily and quickly. Spacers were a bit of a problem due to oversized tabs and being shorter than the comet spacer jigs that I had but was still able to get it built with any major problems.
In the instructions it does say that it was compatible with mainline, hornby, ks etc so after having a look on Ebay I managed to source a bodyshell from an old R041 Hornby Pannier Tank. This is one that had the chassis fixed to it with tabs at the back and a screw through the side of it and it's in great condition compared to the others I've seen on there with missing chimney caps and safety valves.
I could quite easliy just get the chassis sorted out and fitted to the body shell but I would like to have something that doens't look like a toy train so I'm planning on getting this old fella updated.
So job list for this one:
1) Moulded Handrails, get these shaved off, sanded down neatly and replaced with scale handrail knobs and wire.
2) Lamp Brackets, fit to the footplate and smokebox, maybe replaced the moulded ones on the bunker.
3) Safety Valve, either repaint to look more brass or just replace with a more detailed one.
4) Slight damage to the bunker so get these dressed and repaier.
5) Whole bodysheel is green plastic from the mould. Will be priming the whole shell and respraying with the appropriate colours
6) Lettering and numbers, easily replaced and can get these from Fox Transfers.
7) Cab, nothing from the chassis is filling it so will be adding a floor and cab detaining to it.
Chassis still needs a motor, gearbox and motion set to complete it but will also have to figure out the best way of ixing it to the bodyshell. It is also a bit overlength at the moment so will need to cut this back to an appropriate length.
