Minneapolis & St Louis 40' double-door boxcar (M&StL 55002).  This kitbash of an InterMountain car represents the series of M&StL 1937-built AAR automobile boxcars after the roof was raised in 1941 to allow for the shipment of larger automobiles.  The model is based on an article of an HO scale kitbash of the prototype in the premiere issue of the C&NW Modeler online magazine.  I removed the door hardware and lower sill tabs from an InterMountain single-door boxcar body.  New styrene sills and door tracks were added, along with Eastern Seaboard Models' etched brass Creco doors and door stops.  A Viking roof from Des Plaines Hobbies was extended six scale inches and mounted to the body, along with an extra grab iron, and the small triangular bracing was formed from strip styrene.  Canadian-style eight-rung ladders and a Gold Medal Models brass brakewheel replaced the stock ladders and brakewheel.  Styrene chain tubes were added underneath the floor.  BLMA stirrups were mounted to the underside of the floor.  Micro-Trains black couplers in brown coupler boxes were body-mounted.  Atlas friction bearing trucks with Fox Valley wheelsets were attached after the bolsters were filed to allow the model to sit at the proper height over the rails.  The doors and underbody were painted black, then masked as the remainder of the car was painted a light boxcar red.  Custom decals were applied before the car was sprayed with clearcoat and lightly weathered with pastels.  I decorated the car as it appeared in 1956, after it was removed from automobile transport service.  This model took 2nd place in the Rolling Stock Freight category of the model contest at the N-Scale Enthusiast 21st Annual National N Scale Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in June 2013.