Well. I've done it, at least partially, and it does works. I've stood and watched someone doing at an exhibition, too.
The problem is that the type of sored solder we are talking about has a higher melting point and it was a lot harder to get the heat into the solder and the workpiece to effect a good joint.
I much prefer lower melting point solder and the only reason I use liquid flux is that I don't have low melt solder in flux-cored form.
MBQ