Here is an early mock up of the frame. At this stage I had already settled on a 12” (30cm) rail (made from 15mm copper plumbing pipe) - and had cut some of the other pieces to size. However nothing is fixed together. The black/silver item on the right hand side of the photo is one of the MPP plate/sheet holders I bought to use with this camera.

Here the back standard has been assembled. You can see quite clearly how roughly the pieces have been cut. If I was doing it again I’d probably take a lot more care - and maybe use a router table like I did when I made the toy fire engine for Benjamin. However it does show that camera construction doesn’t have to be complicated.

The hole in the bottom piece is to take the back end of the rail. Fixing it like this did mean I couldn’t have any movements on the back standard - but it did keep the construction simple.

The frame is now begining to take shape a bit more. Here the back is basically done - whilst the base for the front standard and the front support for the rail are also present.

The front standard itself is very simple and built just like a picture frame. My cheap mitre saw didn’t cut very accurate 45 degree angles - but in the end it was good enough.

Here the front standard is being glued together. The picture frame clamp is very useful and I sometimes wish I had more than just the one.

You can also see 2 of the inset nuts which are used the hold the lens panel on. The nuts/screws are 2BA / M5 - though this was just what I had to hand.