I’ve had a cold all week and haven’t been able to work outside on the layout. So I decided to fix up some of my cheap plastic rolling stock, beginning with the flat car (easiest). It came from a first generation Big Hauler set. Garish, shiny yellow plastic with black accessories – very toylike.
To start, I stripped off the stakes, removed the trucks and some of the accessories, cut off the clunky, oversized stake pockets, and painted the body with reddish brown primer. Then I cut up some strip wood, stained it with thinned latex exterior paint, and then glued the strips onto the body to form a new deck.
Painted and weathered the trucks, replaced the plastic wheels with metal, and reinstalled the trucks.
The transformation is amazing! Although it wouldn’t win any finescale contests, it looks so much more like a real piece of railroad equipment now.
I still need to replace the brake wheel and uncoupling bar. I’m just trying to decide whether to use the original, repainted, or buy something more accurate.
Sorry, no pics yet. I’ll post some as soon as I can.
