A quick and simple method to get rid of the plastic new freight car look is to spray a light coat of Dullcoat.  This will take away the 'toy' train look of your layout.  If you don't have any Testor's Dullcoat you can use any Matte Finish spray to get the same results.  Just a simple spray to each side and let dry.  This can be done to any plastic kits also.

Hi all! My name's Ben, from Australia, and after years of dreaming I'm finally getting into Z. I'm going to use this blog to track my experiences starting [ ... ]

     Since NOBODY will be reading this I guess I can vent here. 

     Same thing other people have griped about in [ ... ]

I've read lots of advice, howto, intro, and helpful things on the internet about modeling railroads.

But nowhere is there any information for the beginner, [ ... ]