I have seen shots of footboard-free TOADs elsewhere - always the diagram (AA21) with cylinders; any other diagram with VB was piped only and therefore useless as fitted head. First wagon I converted (with footboards), before finding out that they were all officially out of use by 1969. I read somewhere that some were used over short distances for a short time after general withdrawal, so I'm working on the assumption that this is true... But yes, BR they were.
This MoD brake: 4mm kit available? Where? Or is that the basic SR 25 ton brake? (In which case, back to the cutting board...)
My memories of the Maesteg system are (sadly) fading even as we speak, but I'm sure I would have noticed a Brake van on the end of those boring COAL 16s, nor do I recall seeing one at the Forge sidings - so the TOAD must have been stored at one of the three collieries in the Llynfi Valley: St John's in Maesteg (known locally as Cwmdu, after an older, long closed colliery nearby), Coegnant in Nantyffyllon, and Caerau (in... Caerau!).
The MSC van at Gloucester has been repainted since its last use, with (IIRC) the electricians at Ellesmere Port; it was, again IIRC, brown before that.