Hi
I must say that getting that engine at £20 or $30 is an incredible price even in this state. The engine obviously was painted and had sticker work done to it. The cracks and discoloring is annoying but if it was sold "as is" than there is not much you can say about it. If the seller did not know and sold it it was not misrepresented . If he did and tried to hide it, proving this is hard.
I say make the best of it and try to restore the engine by re-painting the main body. Sand the outriggers a lot and put thin paint on it. Find new reflective yellow stickers and custom make new features like Bill has done in the past. Many old space items work for this.
The feed back thing is not so odd. I have a lot of sellers who ask me to remember to leave feed back. I have never been called but I never give out my #'s so I get lots of email reminders.
I did once get a broken train and felt the lady was trying to hide it but after dealing with the post master, ebay, everyone was pointing the fingers i finally just wrote it off ( it was an electric engine for like $30 so not much room to complain ). The post master was going to give me a refund but the train had to be fully destroyed and thrown in the trash, and I just could not do that to the engine.
You buy a lot of stuff so this is bound to happen, it just sucks when it is a rare item .
Rasputin "The Mad Monk"