I am need of more assistance from my Forum friends again.
1a) What is/are the best set(s) for decaling a GB series 56050-56074 car, which are the 65' drop end gondolas? 1b) Is the Athearn car or the Life-Like P2K car more accurate for representing them in HO? As usual, any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed. Thank you for your attention to my request.
I've not really looked at these cars for myself, but here's my best guess using my trusty NP color guide:
Decals: Microscale 87-1399. The description doesn't say its for the mill gons, but it has the correct block lettering, and should work fine. The set Microscale has for regular gons has the old smaller lettering, so that one isn't appropriate for the series you're talking about.
Gondola: The Athearn car has longer chamfer on the bottom, resulting in a shorter flat center section of the fishbelly. The Proto 2000 car is too new. If youre starting with these, I would recommend the Athearn.
Alternatively, you could kitbash one using 2 of the regular 50' Athearn fishbelly cars. These have a more correct fishbelly angle, and it would be easy to add the drop ends.
Modeling whatever I can make out of that stash of kits that takes up half my apartment's spare bedroom.