The second major component set for Kit 11 are the various boiler fittings, comprising a number of valves and pipes, the whistle, fire hole door etc.

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The fittings are relatively straightforward especially as, for the moment, I am not using any loctite to fix them in position.

The first element to go on was the hand brake which comprises the pillar that is fixed through the running board and the handle which threads into the brake mechanism. All of this went on very easily.

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The fittings all went on without a hitch. It is important to follow the order in the instructions as the fire hole door fitting has to go on at a certain point.

The pipe bend for the blower valve is quite tricky to achieve but I got there in the end.

The whistle pipe was a bit of a pain. It seems too long and there is quite a bend of pipe below the running boards. I might raise this with Polly and see if they could make me a slightly shorter one.

I haven’t fitted the gauge glass yet and will only do that during final assembly after painting.

With these fittings that is it for Kit 11. I am planning on collecting Kit 12 after the Doncaster Model Engineering show in mid May. In the meantime I am going to calibrate the lubricator which will be the subject of another blog.

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