Ulrich-- Gondola Build

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Welcome!
With the decals on and a day to dry, I gave them four coats of Micro Sol, with a full day of dry time in between. After that was complete, it was three light coats of Dull Coat to cut the shine from the Micro Gloss. I had mixed results with the Dull Coat, some spots dulled over completely, other spots not so much. Huumm! An item for further research, right now, we're moving on.....
It's coupler install....I'm using the Kadee #158 scale head, medium center shank couplers, trip pins removed. Never did care for those ugly things, and I don't do any uncoupling using them any way. But, before cutting them off, I used them as a way to hold the coupler to burnish the shank.
This little pocket screw driver pictured below works really good for burnishing. Just a few strokes of the screw driver down the shank of the coupler is all it takes to smooth out any rough spots.

I did the same for the coupler box, especially since it is metal and not plastic. I used the same screw driver to go around the inside of the coupler box, don't forget the center post, and the lid, metal also. A quick swipe with an alcohol tipped q-tip to get out what ever residue might be in there.....
A #2 pencil will do the same thing, but I already have some of the Kadee Grease-Em to lubricate the coupler pockets. Since I'm doing the initial assembly, I just tapped the grease-em tube in the coupler pocket, and just enough came out to spread around with a micro brush & done! Cut those trip pins off & install.
With couplers installed, I'm going to add the air hose detail using the Kadee # 438. I like them because they give you options on mounting them. The key to air hoses, they are mounted even with the center of the coupler, so all I'll need is two pieces.

I need a good mounting surface so I scraped a bare
spot on the end of the car for mounting, just to the right of the coupler.

A small dab of CA and air hoses installed!

I don't care for that angle of the hose, so I tweeked it so it's a little more vertical. a slight twist with the needle nose is all it takes.
Now there's some shiny spots on the end of the coupler box were the tape was and around the air hose mounting. We'll take care of that shortly.

 

[TrucTrain55]

Jerry. Looking good what we do sometimes with these old Craftman kits amazes me.

 

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Thank you Lee, that's what I like about these kits, the ability to modify them to make them one's own.

 

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Couplers and air hoses installed, I'll take care of the paint touch up. I bought a special brush just for that purpose.

The size is 18/0. There is a Michael's here in town, they have a very nice selection of paints & supplies.

With the touch up paint dry, it's time to install the trucks. I don't know what kind of finish Kadee puts on their wheel sets, but I don't need/want that gunk on my track.

I've cleaned the wheel sets on the right. Alcohol won't touch that coating, neither will paint thinner (turpentine,) nor acetone. I cleaned them mechanically with a tool from my soldering supplies. A scratch brush.

This is a fiberglass scratch brush used to clean soldering connections. I'm very careful how I use it, the tip is adjustable, so I keep it as short as possible and use a down stroke on the wheel set. As soon as this wheel set is clean, I'll vacuum them and the work bench, then do the other set. There is also a brush with metal bristles, but it doesn't conform to the wheel tread as well as the fiberglass brush does.

 

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With the car mounted on the jig, the paint touch up is taken care of......

With the paint touch up done, nothing left but mount the trucks & install the cinder load. This view is mainly for the paint touch up and air hose.

Completed car.....

Don't forget to make notations on the instruction sheet as to trucks , couplers and paint used and any other info that might be pertinent later on if you go to make modifications or changes.