The soldering went well Brian. I used multicore decent stuff from my past career. The secret is to warm to tube just up from the proposed join and apply the solder and watch it run in ok. The times I had my other hand opposite the flame is no odds to nobody. Scheesh, it's warm.
I will take some pictures for you Neil. The secret , as I'm sure you are aware, is to stop the drill from bending and to apply 'gentle pressure' in a vertical direction. I was getting away without snapping for quite a time until confidence and 'rush to finish' time took over.
I have finished the 'Tower of radio aerials' so all that remains is to sit in sunshine quietly fettling the excess solder and lumpy bits. It looks quite amateurish at the moment, but assured it will come out all right.
Thanks to all for the private emails on my subject. It's great to see such interest and have all this help. I don't think I could have done at all alone and am grateful for all the tips.
Pictures later.
ken