The Life Like twin hopper is very versatile.
Here is an 1900 era P&R class HTb hopper I made from a Life Like twin. I filled in the sides with styrene, then scribed the sides to look like wood, keeping the pressed steel side stakes. I added truss rods, other details and redid the end details.
This is an 1890's B&O 30 ft wood hopper. I sanded the sides of the Life Like Hopper smooth, cut 4 ft out of the middle of the car then covered the sides with scribed plastic and added wood side stakes.
Here is an overview of several variations on a theme using plastic twin hoppers a base. On the top row is a stock Life Like/Varney twin hopper. The red car is a class HTb under construction, you can see where the end holes were filled. On the right is a car made for and Industrial Models twin hopper floor. It became a P&R class HKa hopper bottom gondola.
On the bottom row is one of the B&O 30 ft hoppers, then a 1900 era Standard Steel steel twin made by sanding off the side stakes of a twin hopper and replacing them with alternating channels and angles, plus modifying the end bracing to the 1900 look. The car on the right is another attempt at an HTb type car, only with wood side stakes and I used scribed styrene for sides instead of filling in the ends and scribing the sides. I have about 10 1900 era hopper cars kitbashed from various Life Like and Industrial Models twin hoppers.
