I cut all the parts needed for assembling the frame out of the plastic bags and gave them a close inspection.
I truly hate metal objects that have been cut out and have had sharp burs left on them and I'm pleased
to say that the frames had no burs capable of cutting me on them. There were one or two small burs on them
but a quick run over with the file removed them.
I gave all the components a quick wipe over with turps to remove the anti rust oil as per the instructions suggested and then bolted the mainframes to the brass spacers.
The book of words said now would be a good time to paint the mainframe and buffer beams.
I hadn't bought any paint at this stage so that was the end of my building for the first night.
On the way home from work the next day I stopped by an automotive shop and bought a good quality
enamel undercoat and glass black topcoat spray paint for the frames. Of course the winds were blowing
an absolute gale and I have no sheltered place to spray paint so I had to wait another day.
I then got several days of rain and eventually it fined up and the sun came out. I took my
opportunity and gave the mainframe and buffer beams 3 coats of undercoat and 2 of topcoats.
Above is the painted chassis, as you can see I've committed the greatest crime on model locos.... I've painted the buffer beams black. Every picture of any steam fired loco has them red but luckily I plan on buying the buffer beam enhancements when I buy the boiler and these will be red so that will solve that problem.
To stop the brass bushes from getting paint in them I simply put a bit of insulation tape over the outside and on the inside filled it up with Blu Tac, the stuff like plasticine that you use to stick posters to the wall and it worked a treat. I put small squares of insulation tape over all threaded holes in the brass to protect them as well.
I need to paint the buffers now but I can fit them any time so no rush on that.
Whilst waiting for the paint to dry on the frames I decided to paint the hubs on the wheels.
I searched through my tins of paint and found a small tin of glass black and painted the wheel rims with it
Here are the wheels drying. If you look closely you will see they have a plastic center fitted to the center of the wheels. I paid the extra 12 pounds for this option as the only 'G' scale club I know in my area also runs electric trains so with these wheels I can run at the same time as their electrics.