so in a twist of fate, I ended up selling this machine on. Main reason was I didn't have the knowledge to fix the cutting deck to a safe standard, and didn't want to throw money at it for someone else to repair it when so many other machines come up for minimal cash.
One of the blades was home made, welded straight to the spindle. I wasn't comfortable getting a proper blade welded straight on, and couldn't find a replacement spindle/mount.
I found myself a T1100 with 36" deck instead, which is near identical to the W11, but had larger tyres, a 36" deck which is easy to source parts for, and was in generally slightly better condition. It cost me a fair chunk more than the gazelle, but I feel it will save me in the long run. My dad has a T1100 too with 36" deck, so means we can trade parts.
Guess thats the end of this thread, will start a new one for the T1100 once i have made a load of progress and can post it one go