Mk 1 Estate roof rail removal, definitive advice

The ali bits on my roof rails are a bit tatty, what with flaky paint and a white furry finish, so I wanted to refurb them

After much searching on here and the internet in general, It seemed everyone had only half the story, some would say bolts were on inside, others said they were on the outside, but only on the Mk 2 onwards, so I had to find out for sure.  I apologise if someone has in fact said all this already, but I couldn't blooming find it.

Are the rails fastened externally?  YES, BUT, the fasteners appear to go into some kind of top hat nut that isn't captive.  If you push on the fastener, you push out the top hat arrangement on the underside of the roof meaning headlining removal to re seat.  IF you are lucky though, you can pull on fastener while doing back up and nut thing on the back will grip to something, enabling you to nip up and forget about the whole thing.

How do I reach the bolts on the rail?  If you must, The curved ends are plastic covers, as well as the one in the middle, they lever off from the inner side with a small flat bladed screwdriver, just be careful, if you have the touch of Rose West you'll dent them.

So can I refurbish my rails?  Yes, just mask off  large areas around the rail mounts and choose a windless day.

So there, that's that.  I hope it is of some use to someone somewhere.