I went to half.com and bought 2 books; Robots, Androids & Animations and Robot Building for Beginners. Both excelent. I would suggest that before soldering add anti-seize to the soldering iron. Take the soldering iron apart, brush clean the inside barrel, dry and wipe anti-seize inside the barrel. clean the iron heating element with a a green scouring pad to get the oxidation off and wipe that with anti-seize. Turn on the iron and let all the smoke fumes go away, evaporate. the left over aluminum will prolong your soldering for many years.
thanks