Hi Rusty,
It looks like you filed away the Lionel ladder and applied a more S scale one. How about the ladders on the ends? I am in the middle of filing off the Lionel one so I can add some aftermarket S ones. Same goes for the hand grabs… However, I am viewing it as too much work and a thankless job. When I look at the roof walk, the whole thought of making is a creditable S scale boxcar goes south pretty quickly. Maybe replacing the roof with a Flyer one might work.
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
Well Tom, I did this car about 28 years ago last Tuesday.
The ends are a little bit of a cheat. I filed down the end ladders, but didn't want to chisel out the between the ribs, so the "ghosts" of the old ladders are still there:
I used staples for the rungs, a PRS brakewheel set, along with AM ladders and stirrups on the sides and notching out the side sill. The underframe is an Ace plastic one.
The trick was not to go super-duper detail on the car, but to have everything sort of visually compatible with the bulky cast in details.
It's no prize-winner for sure, but it blends in surprisingly well with my sea of boxcar red. And it provided a little variety from AM bocxars back in my early days.
The other shell is waiting for the same treatment, but it's way on the bottom of the priority list. Maybe it'll get Archer or Micro-Mark rivet decals instead of just strips of styrene on the sides.
Rusty