The calamitous effect of a leaf-slurry slip

The 75-ton breakdown crane from Wimbledon recovers the leading coach of 508 031 after it ran through the stopblock at Shepperton having been unable to stop at the platform. CHRIS LEIGH COLLECTION

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I fitted three walls of .040in styrene sheet around the generator area. The seats within this were left as this area cannot be seen once the body is back on. A small cut-out was left in one of the rear floor infills to clear the flywheel.

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Attention then moved away from the model as I decided how best to make the Sandite hoppers. These are quite tiny so I decided to draw them out and fold them up from postcard.

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So far, the hopper unit is one piece of folded postcard. I drew it with tabs that could be folded back in order to attach it to a postcard backing piece. I used Velo-set quick-drying PVA for assembly.

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Small pieces of postcard completed the tapered sections of the hoppers, the middle piece folded to a ‘V’. Small slices of Evergreen styrene pack 224 ⅛in tube were fitted but nothing below these owing to Dapol’s raised ‘floor’ level.

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Trimmed to shape, the hopper unit was fitted to the bulkhead and glued in place. Feed pipes are bent from solder with valve operating levers from slivers of card. The hopper unit at the other end is identical.

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I then painted the hopper units. Flexible green plastic pipes are used on the real thing, with the valve levers painted orange. Most of the interior seems to have been unpainted aluminium sheet or, perhaps, pale grey paint.