I gritted my teeth, swallowed my pride such as it is when it comes to model train customization, grabbed my tube of Tamiya Putty and 3M Wet/Dry sandpaper, and continued to work on creating smooth-sided passenger cars for a Great Northern Empire Builder train set using LIONEL 15" TCA aluminum passenger cars as donors.
Most recently, this morning I sanded (again, after an yet another application of the putty yesterday) the five cars remaining and am screwing up the determination to return to this dreaded process.
Photos will follow once the cars are ready for paint. In the meantime, Happy New Year to all.