Thanks Dave!
I was a member of the RPI model railroad club while at college (the New England, Berkshire, & Western Railroad), which was heavily based off the Rutland. One of the cars that I liked a lot that was a Rutland prototype were short wood sided gondolas - they looked like they might have been flatcar conversions. We used them primarily for moving locomotive ash from the terminals on the layout. While I was buying detail parts for this build I got some gondola stakes & stake pocket castings, and I'm considering having that prototype be my next project.
As for the sanding sealer, it all depends on how much of the wood grain you want shown on the model. Each coat of sanding sealer is also followed by brushing the surface smooth with 00 steel wool. For the wood sheathed sides, I only applied one very light coat, as I wanted most of the grain and irregularities in the wood to show but needed to remove some "fuzz" from the surface. For parts that are supposed to be metal (such as the end bracing and side sills) I applied 2 or 3 coats to completely remove the grain. On the roof walks, where I wanted a lot of grain to be visible, I didn't use any sealer and just applied Scalecoat I on the bare wood. If you go to the top-down picture on my post from 12/28, you can see the difference between the roof walks (full grain) and the roof of the car (minimal grain).
~Chris
