While I'd also love to see a full side etching where I didn't have to glue any ribs, I'm surprisingly happier having a car with three strips of styrene on it than having no car at all. I don't know why I put it off so long, other than perfection getting in the way of progress.
I hadn't really thought about doing a full etching. The plan was to just etch the rib either as single strips or three already spaced together that could be glued at one time. I've not done any full car sides and I worry about adding thickness to the car side and also the window fittings. One sure advantage would be that I could add the narrow extension along the bottom of the side.
The overall plan was to etch the ribs and because I've never seen a picture of one of the CGW cars with the doors closed (in service), I was going to etch four vestibule doors w/platforms to put in the up position and two end interior doors. I could do the end gate as well but if this is going to be out of .2mm brass, I don't think I could do as good as the ones you can get from Rapido.
Maybe I can draw this up this weekend.
Jason
