When was your last Athearn kit?

[doctorwayne]

Here are some roof-top views, Russ:






This is also an Athearn reefer, although I've back-dated it by adding a scratchbuilt roof, trying to replicate a steel-sheathed wooden roof. The hatches and platforms are from Tichy:


Utilising the stock Athearn roof, you could probably remove all of the hatch detail, including the hatches themselves, then, after shaving-down some of the roof ribs, add the Tichy platforms. With a minimal amount of work, you should be able to reverse the hatches so that they open outward, like those on the Intermountain car shown below - you'll note that it's a steel car but still uses the hatch platforms:




For a fish-belly underframe, the one from the Athearn 40' flatcar would work (with modifications to the outboard ends of the intermediate crossbearers) or you could order the fishbelly centre-sill from Accurail - it's two pieces, one for each side, but with no crossbearers or bolsters. Notched at appropriate points where it meets the underfloor, it would work with the existing Athearn frame.

I thought that Intermountain also offered a Santa Fe wood reefer, but I just checked, and am mistaken. They do have the Caswell gondolas, though.
Tichy has a very accurate model of the wooden R-40-2 PFE cars:


Wayne