Although I didn’t get back to it on Friday night further progress was made yesterday.

To get a feel for things I decided to make a start on the tender. There are a few options for frame spacers supplied and I am using those recommended for O finescale and for anyone else who might be building one they don’t leave much in the way of side play should you desire it.

Gladiator B16-1 Tender Chassis

Gladiator B16-1 Tender Chassis

Next up I did the water scoop – so far all the holes have been etched on the small side which is so much better than them being over etched.

Gladiator B16-1 Water Scoop

I also soldered up the brakes and found them to be a little odd in that the shoe overlays are slightly smaller than the main etch on the side nearest the wheel. It took a few moments of trial to work out which way round they fitted.

Gladiator B16-1 Tender Brakes

Chris and I popped along to York Show this morning, our first ever visit. It was an enjoyable show and I came away with a couple of books – The Tourette Rail Tank book and the Yeadons volume on among others the B16’s – Booklaw had them on at £10 each so it was rude not to partake.

The kit was designed by Steve Barnfield and Steve was one of the demonstrators at York upon seeing him, I planned to have a chat to him about the B16. But despite standing in front of him for a good 5 minutes, he never once looked up from what he was doing to engage me in conversation.