My final post on this build. The decals were bad (this was an old kit) so I ordered some dry transfers from Cloverhouse.
I goofed a little on putting them on. I killed the car data on one set, so one side of the car has no data, and I botched a couple letters on the side, more lessons learned for next time. After I was done, I hit it with Dullcote, and then gave it a light weathering with Bragdons weathering powder (soot).
so that's pretty much it. My next build is going to be a labelle 50 foot boxcar. I hope to take everything I learned from this build and apply it to my next one.
adam