Hi Andy,
You've reached the stage above where it appears there are no problems, they only really appear when you start to assemble all the sub components and also when you compare the kit to prototype photos.
I think there's quite along list of things I've found on my RMweb thread but here's a few pointers for things you may want to check / amend in a future production.
Body.
- Overall I found the pannier tanks too narrow. I should have noticed as the half etch bend lines on the inside of the wrapper didn't align well with the corners. When you come to fit the curved boiler underside you may find you have to trim the pannier tank wrapper and relocate the balance pipe holes.
- Have a look at prototype photos of the pannier tanks, they are not riveted. The kit however includes half etch points for rivets and instructs you to punch them all.
- The cab width is also IMO too narrow in the front and rear cab sheets but the bunker rear is right and iirc I had to cut a strip out to suit the sheet width. Iirc the slots in the footplate didn't align with the tabs on the cab sides.
- If you look at photos the cab sides should be closer to the edge of the running plate than the kit. I realised too late what was wrong (my first kit) and should have added material or remade the pannier tank and cab spacers.
- The cab rear sheet does not include the curved build out for the hand brake.
- The raised areas of the cab floor don't match the prototype.
- I have some memory of remaking either the smokebox or firebox vertical sides for some reason.
- The etched holes for the cab hand rails needed relocating to match the prototype.
- I also had to relocate the handrail holes in the pannier tank as they were too low. I think they would be correct if the tank wrapper was curved around the correct width formers.
- The half etch slot for the running plate sides are to close to the edge IMO. This becomes apparent when you add the vac pipe as it sticks out from the running plate rather than tucking under.
- The castings generally were not worth including in the kit because in my kit they were either so badly cast or bore no resemblance to the item they were supposed to represent. A friend turned a chimney for me. The majority of the rest were replaced from other sources at some considerable cost. The cab blackhead castings seemed to be for a completely different loco.
- I remade the running plate mounted sand boxes from scratch and all the linkages and modified alternative axle spring castings to raise them to the right level.
Frames.
- I would have a good look at the Premier milled frame sides and compare them with those in the kit. You'll note a difference in the profile. IMO the axle holes are also too high up the frame sides. I had to add a spacer above the frames to get the buffer height correct and then noticed there was too much frame dropping down towards the rail.
- Cylinders. They are loo long, far too small in diameter and give the kit a completely different appearance to the prototype.
- I seem to remember I also had to adjust the slide bar bracket to angle and position the slide bars correctly.
- The spacer at the front of the frames has a third cylinder etched into it. The 1366 were 2 cylinder locos. The prototype spacer has two large holes in it.
- Again I've sourced alternative castings got items such as the draincocks, sand boxes etc.
- I'm in the process of binning the kit chassis and starting from scratch using Premier side frames and making new cylinders. I'll be using Finney7 hornblocks this time.
Being my first kit I started the build assuming that all the parts were correct but didn't start finding issues until it was too late. I thought it was down to my skills at first but then slowly realised that there were issues with the kit when I belatedly started looking at photos and taking measurements from drawings. A soul destroying experience which nearly put me off 7mm completely.
Thankfully I had support in RMweb from many seasoned builders. Confidence was also restored by stopping the 1366 and building a Connoisseur LSWR O2. All the parts fitted, were the correct size and pooled like the prototype.
Having built some skills I then restarted the 1366 and correcting some of the issues. Currently putting off putting together the frames and making some new cylinders but have loads of prototype photos if you need any.
Hopefully you'll find the above useful. I will be interested to see if your build highlights the same issues. With a few corrections to the etches and a review of the castings this could be a superb kit.