The boys in the Beds and Bucks group have been encouraging me to try building brass kits with solder. I had no idea where to start. Luckily David Gander lent me his soldering iron and taught me what to do.

As a simple starting point I brought an A1 Models O9 Hunslet loco. It seemed an easy place to start. A boxy loco with square joints, and plenty of room inside. First, I cut out the parts and bent them to shape.

In one of the Beds and Bucks modelling meetings David took me through how to clean, flux, tin and solder the joints. In about 30 minutes we had something that looked like a locomotive.

I finished the loco at home.

Soldering is easier than I expected. Also, it’s an instant joining technology. Melt the solder, remove the iron and the joint is set. There’s no waiting for glue to dry which is a nice change. Plus it’s reversible. If you get it wrong, melt the solder, separate the parts, clean things up and try again.

I’m putting too much solder on at the moment, but that can be cleaned off easily.

I will definitely try more brass kits. I’ve found it a refreshing change. Many thanks to David for opening up a new area of modelling to me.