I’ve actually had this model for a while, way back in 2013 (More hoppers and a switcher) and after initial build they’ve just been sitting in a box.
The short back story is I picked up what I thought was two cement hoppers but ended up being a paired set which was two hoppers connect with a drawbar. I built it right away but it needed better couplers, metal wheels, and the drawbar made putting things on the rails a real pain so it went back in the box to be improved “later”.
I had the fortune Tuesday to have the my lovely wife and kids run some errands just before I got home from work so I was home alone for a while so I ran down to the train room to find something to do. I started by touching up some of the hoppers I was painting/weathering the trucks on. Basically there were some fiddly parts that were loose. While glue was drying I started digging through the my parts/projects boxes and decided to take a stab at it.
I stole some metal wheels and couplers from some worse off projects (not getting finished anytime soon type projects). Then I took some dummy couplers I had laying around and replaced the drawbar.
This brought them a little closer which I think looks a little bit better and most importantly it means they can be put on the rail independently. Next steps will be weathering and painting the trucks, wheels, and dummy couplers but that will have to wait for a new airbrush.
Check for more posts on this project here
Matt's Railroad Blog 