I did mine entirely with sticks. I don't really know why I went down that route. Oh hang on, I remember, it's cos I got a welder for 20 quid
That welder turned out to be crap though so I bought one of the Chinese inverter welders off ebay for about 150 quid. Best money I ever spent. I also bought a decent auto darkening helmet and good quality rods that I keep indoors in the airing cupboard until I need them, they work best when totally dry. My welder is very easily controllable and with practice it gives fantastic results with very deep penetration. I used 2.5mm rods for just about everything except the 1mm thick curved side panels. My welder goes up to about 200 amps from memory, which was plenty big enough to do the rear uprights with ease. Hope that helps.
Enoch.