Dang biL, you are full of surprises! It was very gratifying for you to have commented on this thread.
Thank you for the kind words!
Now, my "first time to do this" quip was true though, but it applied only to the the brake rigging. Most of my rollingstock is somewhat modified one way or another, so I have had practice on most of this stuff before.
The typical mods on my boxcars are as follows:
body-mounted kadee draft boxes attached with 2-56 screws
plastic wheels repalced with metal
all trucks are screw mounted
steel weights removed and replaced with lead
oversized door guides shaved off and replaced with thinner plastic strip
Athearn doors replaced with scale height doors
Some modeled with a door open so the interiors are detailed somewhat
plastic stirrups replaced with metal ones bent from wire
full height ladders shaved down to half ladders (representing the mods in the late 1970s)
brake wheels removed and lowered (again, it is a 70s thng)
roofwalks removed (those good ol' 1970s again!) and holes patched
ACI, lube plates, and wheel dot decals added
weathering
But I had never done brake rigging before!
Again, thank you biL for reminding me of this thread. I was truly honored by being a top contender in the voting... very cool!