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Released back in 2020, the RTR Dapol Turbot wagon was another game changer for the 7mm RTR market. A short train could be acquired at a relatively low cost, alongside their 08, as an initial ‘dipping of the toe’ into 7mm. Cue numerous shelf layouts.

We had already borrowed the painted samples from Dapol to write a review for the MIOG website and my mate Cam had done some basic airbrushed weathering on these samples. We had decided a train of the Dutch version would be good for our layout but hadn’t decided who would buy what. Eventually I plumped for six wagons which were duly ordered. A re-jig of stock between us meant that the pre-production wagon also came into my fleet, giving a rake of seven wagons.

I had been following Ian Godfrey’s 7mm Hither Green layout progress. I watched his YouTube videos of how he had weathered his Turbot and figured I would have a go. What could possibly go wrong! Initially I started with stripping the wagon sides down into component parts and hand painting the floors and chassis. Out came my old Humbrol paints from Airfix kits. Some of these hadn’t been opened for over 20 years. I went through all the browns and found three or four that were still OK, so used these as the basis to start weathering. The floor was given a complete coat of one brown with individual planks picked out in the other shades.

Now for the scary bit. Almost every prototype picture of Turbots you see, they have had a hard life, battered by rocks and stone and the rough attention of mechanical grabs for loading and discharge. Using Ian’s videos as a guide, I cut a plywood U-shape the same size as the sides and bottom of each of the drop-down doors, then drilled a couple of holes through them for a bolt. This gave me a jig to keep the important bits square, while I attacked the rest of the bodywork. I think Ian used a gas soldering iron to heat up the sides. I don’t have one, so I used a hair dryer to gently heat the plastic to make it pliable. A pair of pliers, a screwdriver and anything else metal was then used to bend/scrape/damage the sides. Once bent, I took a knife in a bit of a crisscross pattern to add scrapes along the sides.