I put together a pair of Life-Like gondola cars over the weekend. These are part of the “Timesaver” series of P2K cars. Since they’d been marked down to less than $10 each, and were in P&LE/PC, I couldn’t resist [8D]
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Before you do anything, gently drill out all the grab iron and brake stand mounting holes. I didn’t think they were deep enough to hold the parts.
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When applying the grabs, start at the top of the car side and work your way down. I tried to do it the other way, and the lower grabs kept getting in the way.
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I did things a little differently. First, I installed the brake platform. This fit into a ledge on the car end. It’s easier to do this first, and then the brake stand parts. It can be done either way, but the brake stand gets in the way of mounting the platform securely.
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With all the detail parts installed, I then painted the underbody and trucks. A coat or two of Grimy Black does wonders. After that’s dry, add the couplers and trucks…and it’s done. Well, at least before you add weathering.