When assembling Athearn blue box reefer kits, I always had a problem with the hatch levers. They didn’t snap into the openings, they just fit through them. Never failed, they would fall back into the car… I solved that problem by cementing a thin strip of styrene after pushing the levers into place. A small drop of CA on either side of the opening, and cement the strip into place. Problem solved.
A simple and effective fix, Marlon. [tup]
For mine, I eliminated the supplied latches and modified the hinges to be less-obvious, but they, of course, no longer open:
On some Athearn doublesheathed reefers, I replaced the roof/end assembly to create wood ends and a simulation of a built-up roof. For these cars, I used Tichy platforms and hatches - they don’t work, either, but can be modelled open, partially-open, or closed:
This one kept its steel ends, but got a scratchbuilt roof to represent that of its prototype. The hatches are Athearn, but are still non-working:
Here’s another Athearn rebuilt with wooden ends. It also got express-type trucks, also from Athearn, and a scratchbuilt roof. The roof has no hatches at all, as it represents an insulated car, usually carrying fresh fish, which is top-iced:
This one is from Accurail. I used their hatches, spruced-up a bit, but non-working, along with hatch platforms from Tichy:
Wayne
Nice work guys.