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.

My friend Graham is coming over from Australia at the end of the month and this is his Loco. It has been weathered to a light-medium level. I am trying to find a way of securely fitting the snowploughs that it carried for a time, problem is, it only carried outside ploughs both ends. As the supplied Snowploughs have a centre section and are all joined by a bar, experiments are taking place – but I may well need a good etch to do it properly.

All my usual methods were used, wash and wipe followed by airbrushing and dry brushing. HMRS transfers used with Railmatch and Humbrol paints.

I always think the Class 31’s weather up very well, especially the green ones. My usual methods were used – starting with a ‘wash and wipe’ with dilute matt Black – followed by airbrushing five different colours – and finally dry brushing with three other colours.

This is the first time I have ever weathered one of these little Railbuses. I did quite a search for info on these little fellows – quite a few pictures, only a few in good quality colour though. However, the research did help, and a start was made. This is a light weathering using my usual methods.