Finally I have broken the back of this beast. After fighting with different ideas for the smoke stack sockets I ended up adding plasticard trim, this was then attached with a mix of superglue and plastic glue. It is now rock solid.

I had been waiting on a supply drop for the barriers and ladders, when they arrived I was worryingly excited. I still have some left which is a plus so I shall have to consider the next project for them.

Again I made some real issues for myself by not planning this thing through from the beginning. The railings are at an odd length in places  and so on. I have learnt a lot of lessons about working with plasticard from this project and this will not be my last scratchbuild!

Look at the ladder and cage! I thought this was sooo coool! The fact the sizing was almost perfect was a great coincidence and I have learnt that I should probably check the sizes before ordering.. again I really need to plan these things.

Now I said I have broken this things back but there is still a lot of tidying up to be done. I need to do some gap filling around the smoke stacks etc. My plan is to do this with some putty and make it look like welding. Should add some extra strength as well as improving the realism of the piece.

I have been considering some extra details like running some power cables and adding some fans etc but I think as this is a functional playing piece I should just leave as is after tidying up and just start getting some paint down.