Pollock Hot Metal Car

Have you ever bought a model that you really probably shouldn't have ?  I did that - once again - a few weeks back when I went to my local hobby shop (Broughdale Hobby in London), which is about 60 or so miles away.

This just caught my eye as something different and I thought that it might be interesting to put together.  I haven't started to do that just yet, but I soon will.

This is a Pollock Hot Metal Car.  The model is made by State Tool & Die in Ohio.  Since buying this model, I've looked for and seen quite a number of photos of such cars online. I'll have lots of reference material as I go about painting and assembly.

One photo of similar model had the finished car as a load atop a flat car, so maybe I can go that route with mine.  Or maybe I can find someone modelling a steel mill that might like to have it.  I thought I was going to model a steel mill at one time, but sold off all of the models I had that were related to that industry.

The model comes with this exploded diagram assembly sheet, as well as step-by-step instructions too.

Here's a look at the model parts laid out on the workbench.  Fingers crossed, but it doesn't look terribly complicated.  That said, it'll either be fun or frustrating.

Not crazy about the plastic wheels, but Kadee #58 couplers do come with it.  There are metal steps or grab irons, a length of chain, and a plastic sprue of 4 small hooks.  The orange piece in the car comes right out, so I could leave it in to look like the tank is full of molten metal, or very simply remove it to show the car as empty.

And below, as I went looking for a bit of modeling inspiration for another model one day last week, I googled "weathered boxcar photos" and found this example of my own weathering on the internet.  I always find it surprising to find my own work posted on some other random website.

This boxcar belongs to and was weathered for Brian Smith.  Pretty nice looking boxcar I think.

One more thing...Does anybody know what happened to the "Michigan Interstate" blog ?  I used to check that blog quite often, but there hasn't been a new post on there since October 2018.  Did the blogger just quit blogging, maybe quit the hobby, maybe suffer some personal health issue?  Anybody know ?