This was a purchase from a big online auction site by one of my friends. It was said to be Very Good and Boxed – in truth it was less than that – in fact a lot less. There was missing bits – there was broken bits – and after a couple of initial good running session – the motor stopped and would not work.

When I took the body off to check the wiring – five bits dropped out of the chassis – this included two bits that were originally missing. How did a sand box get inside the body!

After I attached two wires that had come adrift – it ran again. I would say it took at least four hours to get most things re-attached, or duplicates made. Sadly, even now there are still a couple of things missing.

I then had to strip off the original transfers as none were level and then I removed the makers plates that had been added in the wrong position with overzealous amounts of super glue.

I resprayed the mended areas, added new transfers and varnished the rehashed areas. I then gave the loco a medium to heavy weathering.

And the moral of the story – buyer beware.