Best place for speaker in Heljan 33

[ChrisB]

I know this has been done before (and I assume the 26 and 27 are the same), but where's the best place for mounting the speaker? I've taken the body off and the fuel tank/battery box and there doesn't seem to be much room in either. I can find room for the standard 23mm round speaker if I take it out of it's enclosure but the change in sound quality means that it's not a satisfactory option. From what I can see, the best route would seem to be removing the back of the cab interior at one end to mount it under the fan grill. Has anybody tried this? I would like to get this right as I have five to do and don't want to start carving them up if there's a simpler option that I can't see.<br /><br />Thanks

[Bruce Depot]

Hi Chris

On the old RMweb forum I did a thread on fitting sound to a Heljan 33/2.

Will see if I can find the link and post it for you.

 

cheers

 

Keith

[SRman]

Both of my sound-fitted Heljan 33s have two 23mm speakers fitted. Each needs the chamber filed down somewhat to fit in.

 

The most drastic modification was needed to fit one speaker inside the body - I actually chose the non-radiato end, with the speaker and enclosure Blu-Tacked into a roughly 30 degree angle over the bogie "tower", pointing downwards towards the track. This speaker enclosure was filed down to approximately 6mm depth, with the internal plastic supports filed or ground down (with the trusty Dremel) to allow the speaker to sit neatly inside.

 

The second speaker was mounted in the fuel tanks. This only needed the sound chamber filed down a little, plus a couple of flats on the sides to sit neatly in the tanks. The tanks themselves needed the interior pips and mouldings filed or ground down, and a series of holes drilled in the underside to allow the sound out. There was a bit of trial and error involved but it was all eventually fitted in properly.

 

All gaps and edges on the sound chambers were sealed up with Blu-Tac or equivalent.While it sounds like a lot of work, its not all that hard as we are only filing plastic bits. Wires for the lower speakers were fed through small slots filed in the tank ends and fed up through the bogie wells in the chassis - heaps of room for this without interfering with the bogie movements.

 

The twin speakers give a very loud sound with lots of depth - I have the volume turned down to around 25 (out of 64) and they are still loud, just like the real ones!

[big jim]

the way bryan at howes does it is like this.....

 

standard speaker fitted onto the top of the chassis with a "blacktak" (Homelux sealant) speaker donut

 

 

[cassey jones]

I put a bass enhanced speaker in the tanks on mine.

It makes the best of that nice 33 rumble.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f23drlsd03M

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7FmbhBZWCo

[ChrisB]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I fitted a standard speaker into the tanks tonight. It must have taken all of 20 minutes from start to finish! It has its enclosure but I guess, particularly for a rectangular speaker, the tanks almost make a sealed enclosure themselves.

[griffgriff]

As an aside I notice that South West Digital have at long last got round to producing a 'crompton'

 

According to their website it's expected in the last quarter of this year... might be interesting to compare?