This is the current status of 816.

Not the best phot, and the body is only resting on the chassis. Painting is now complete, and it needs the bodyside windows and headcode box flush glazing and various other minor tasks doing. And I've just noticed that the marker lights as still masked off.

The biggest challenge is going to be that A1 buffers, and these have a threaded tail which is retailed by a small nut. I'm trying to figure out a way of retaining the buffer heads in a way that stops them rotating - otherwise the loco will be condemned to having wonky buffers.

The other thing that's apparent from the photo is how OO gauge Warships never quite look right as the bogie frames are too far inboard. There is a comment section below this for smug remarks from P4 modellers.

And this is the EPB driving trailer, which needs a good brush to get rid of the white specks that are covering it.

I had endless problems glazing this to a reasonable standard. It now uses a mix of Replica Mk1 suburban glazing for the compartments, and Evergreen clear sheet cut to shape for the cab and brake van. A lot of the windows took two or three attempts to get right, but it's nearly there.

I'm now quite pleases with this - it captures the slightly grotty and down at heal look of a Southern Region suburban unit in a way that Bachmann's shiny perfect EPBs don't