The Hudson Bay Railway in HO Scale

I recently completed a 6 car set of the newly released Kaslo Shops Distributing Marine Industries 51'6" IL bulkhead flatcars in several variations.  They are nice kits and go together well.  You can do as much or as little underframe detailing as you want.  I did the full underframe detailing on a few and just installed basic underframe details on the others.    The etched ladders and other bits are very nice and are close to scale size.  The cars go together quickly and the parts have good fit.  The center post cars are a bit tricky to get the posts vertical in all directions, I would recommend using a glue that has a longer working time than CA so you can get everything lined up.   The cars are quite light and finding space to add weight will be challenging.  There is space in the centersill for adding weight, and you could also add some weight behind the side sills.  These cars may need to  have permanent loads to get them ...

One of my pet peeves is otherwise nicely done models riding on shiny metal wheels - it ruins the effect of all the other work done on the model.  And you should NOT use plastic wheelsets - they seem to attract dirt and grime and gum up your track.  Swap out the plastic wheels for aftermarket metal wheelsets.   Most of my replacement wheelsets are Intermountain, available in boxes of 100 axles.  The wheel profile is not the best but they are readily available and are generally in proper gauge or easily adjusted.  I have tried other brands but they are hit and miss as far as being readily available locally.  I have found that Rapido wheelsets are always too narrow compared to the NMRA, and they are a bugger to regauge.   My process for the wheels is fairly simple and gives good results.  Below are my go to paints: Vallejo Air Black and Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust If you want to you can first clean the wheels with 99% (or whatever % you h...