Was it that long ago? Hard to believe.
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Great start! Looking forward to seeing the completed car.
It is a scale 40’ car in 1:20.3
thank you.
so that makes it exactly as long, as my Newqida passenger cars - but looks much longer.
Roofectomy complete on the boxcar.
The metal rings on the tanks are heavy chart tape so I just peeled them off. I will use wire for the new ones.
The tanks should be about 7 feet high but they scale out to almost 8. That will give plenty of room to cut the tops off.
There is no wood grain on the staves. I will have to fix that with some 60 grit sand paper before painting.
My company that will own the car has a reefer already. To match that paint scheme the pickle car will be white with a burgundy roof. Need to decide if the tanks will be raw wood or white to match the rest of the car. There are plenty of examples of both.
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The first thing to build is the tanks. I was wrong on the measurements. They scale to only 5 1/2 feet. No cutting the ends off. Still need to open the top of one of them for the visible pickles.
First I drilled all the way around one end. Say what you will about Aristo, but their stuff is hell for stout. Look how thick those walls are. Next I cut the connecting material between each set of holes with a pair of dikes and then hack-sawed around the interior to remove the last of the material. Finish up was done with sandpaper. A quick wipe-down with a little rubbing alcohol was all that was needed to remove the last of the glue residue.
Ready for primer. There are few equipment items in model railroading, especially steam era, that do not benefit from a good coat of flat black.
I have decided to go with natural wood colored barrels. It will really standout against the other colors even though I will have to do a sign board instead of lettering on the tanks themselves. I just don’t feel that black or white lettering will show up on the brown wood. It will also require the rings be painted separately. I hate when reality interferes with my plans, kind of nullifies the whole value of being mentally unstable.
This will be a lot of extra work but you know what they say: if a project is worth doing then it is worth doing in the most difficult time consuming way possible. 
Boomer;
I remember a model train magazine article once where the modeler used caraway seeds for his pickles. I think the scale was smaller than what we use, but cucumbers come in all sizes - so maybe worth a try.
Best, David Meashey
P.S. We keep donated old model rr magazines at the store as giveaways. Just saw an article in a 2012 edition of Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette today on painting long grain dry rice for cucumbers. Another possibility.
For optimal pickling, cucumbers should be harvested when they are 2-3 inches long for gherkin-style pickles, or up to 4-5 inches long for larger spears.
Sounds like some seeds may fit the bill. Even cucumber seeds 
during four or five years i planted picle-cucumbers.
factory paid most for the smallest pickles (1 to 1½" ) and nearly nothing for those longer than 2".
but they went broke. south americans don’t like too much greenery on their BBQ plates.
about the scale size of pickles…
in 1:32 the smallest would be just 1.5mm long.
in 1:20.3 the largest would be about 3mm long.
caraway seeds are (depending on variety) from 3 to 7mm long.
tobacco seed would be too small.
i would look for different grass (lawn) seeds.
All this talk of scale pickles. Like many things I build I say, go big or go home. If I was modelling pickles I’d use green tic tacs ! 
Boomer said : nullifies and has been reported to the moderator
Why is it that anytime you get a bunch of guys together the first thing they do is argue over the size of their pickle.
Just need to buy a bunch of these…