The Helldesk finally sorted out my remote access today, so I have mostly been a productive work-unit. Nevertheless I did find time to do a little work on the expression shoes. Here is the base plate, with all the drilling done. Note that this is upside down – the bottoms of the shoes themselves are attached from underneath the base plate, and the countersunk holes ensure that it will still sit flush when attached to the console.

And now for something squishy. The front edge of the base plate will be sort-of visible when the expression shoes are attached. The front of the original plate had a strip of veneer to make itself presentable, but this replacement is just ordinary coarse ply. Clearly something must be done. I have thought briefly about this and decided that since I will be painting the top of the base plate with blackboard matt to make it neutral, it will not be a big job to simply paint the exposed edge of the plate as well. Here is the edge, with polyfilla liberally worked into it. I will sand it down on Saturday, prior to giving it a couple of coats of paint, and all will be well.

Tune in soon for part three of this exciting two-part series!