Coulda, shoulda, woulda...

[doctorwayne]

Here are some more from my backlog of stuff that needed to be done. First up is the carbon black covered hopper from the Rail Shop. It still needs paint and lettering, but I'm waiting for some Kadee #178 couplers so that I can add cut levers:


...and a poorly-focused view of the "B" end:


This is a Stewart 55 ton fishbelly side-sill hopper that's been in service on the layout for some time. I never cared for the cast-on sill steps and thought the ladders were too heavy, too. I replaced the ladders with thinned ones from Tichy, then added A-Line steps and some wire grabirons.




Still to be done are the slope sheet braces, then some touch-up for the paint. I have a couple more of these that will get the same treatment and a couple of Varney hoppers, too.
Another car that was "done" and in service is this Intermountain reefer. MDT used this white paint scheme (only some cars got the sill stripes) in the '30s, then changed to a yellow/orange for a time, then back to the white in the late '40s. The earlier version had black hardware, while the later ones had hardware the same colour as the car.
Here's an earlier view:


...and after a bit of brush work. I still need to change that 1947 re-weigh date.


I have a few more odds 'n' ends to tie up, then it'll be time to catch up on painting.

Wayne