of the v-shaped side sections at the front end turned out to be plastic rod so that would also have to be replaced. One surprise was that the metal seemed to be rusting which seemed odd as it was all supposed to be made from brass. This turned out to be small steel pins that had been inserted inside the pipes to help anchor the parts together when they were originally assembled. The brass spine is stripped. cleaned and repaired. Also, as the spine holds this heavy model together it has obviously broken from time to time and had to be repaired by the model makers at the studio. Photographs from the series show pieces missing or twisted, usually where the supporting wires were attached, and several joints have been drilled and now have metal rods inserted to try and prevent this from happening again. The front cage section was now pulled apart, the only difficulty here being caused by the two detailed side shelves catching between the brasswork. The central corridor is fabricated from 3mm perspex in two halves, with internal edging to ensure they slot together inline, and they were coated on the inside with 'moondust' which is probably a mixture of Fullers Earth and concrete dust. The picture above shows the vertical support tube that, together with a twin in the rear section, was used to mount the model on a stand. Also visible running across the cage is the channelling for the shoulder pod wooden supports.