Bachmann announce Class 117 and Class 121 at Collectors Club event

[dj_crisp]

On 30/12/2021 at 10:59, NickL2008 said:

Hi - has anyone attempted to renumber their 117? How well do they respond to thinners / T-cut? Thinking of renumbering my one

 

NL

 

Probably a bit late but t-cut worked fine for me

 

[dj_crisp]

Hi All

 

I'm trying to understand Bachmanns circuit board in a 117 with the aim to use a funtion decoder for my 121 DTS project.... and while at it label each tab to understand why so many wires are needed for the coupling connectors. Labelling of them kind of makes sense and I've made a start;

 

 

Above are the ones I'm confident in as I've managed to get the front and rear lights to illmuniate which felt like progress of sorts. I'm however struggling with the Interior/Destination/Cab lights and think things are complicated by the switches in the DMBS car not present in the DMS car.

 

Hopefully the photo explains what I'm trying to do.

 

 

It all does fit!

 

 

Just haven't been able to get the interior lights working!

 

Thanks for your help

Will

 

 

 

[dj_crisp]

I think I might have sorted my issue - please shout if I've done something daft!

 

I've hotwired the top circuit board so that the common goes to all lights. Not sure wht the VCC option is?

 

 

 

Then soldered up the bottom board as;

 

 

So I think S5 is the destination blind, Ln- is the interior lights and S4 the cab lights. As I only hae a 4 function decoder I've chosen the destination blinds to be on at the same time as the interior lights.

 

 

 

 

Seems to work! 

Please let me know if this wrong as if it works I'm tempted to get rid of the horrible coupling in the 117s

 

cheers

Will

 

[NickL2008]

7 hours ago, dj_crisp said:

 

Probably a bit late but t-cut worked fine for me

 

Hi will - haha never too late, Thinners got my ones off with careful removal.. next up for my one is chagning the destinations which im guessing may need the same treatment possibly?

 

NL

[dj_crisp]

13 hours ago, NickL2008 said:

Hi will - haha never too late, Thinners got my ones off with careful removal.. next up for my one is chagning the destinations which im guessing may need the same treatment possibly?

 

NL

 

I expect so or just file them off. I have plans for experimenting with destinations mounted in the front screen and just use the existing blind for illumination.

[Pteremy]

On 29/06/2022 at 19:21, dj_crisp said:

 

Please let me know if this wrong as if it works I'm tempted to get rid of the horrible coupling in the 117s

 

cheers

Will

 

Interested to know how you have got on. I was starting to plan the creation of a Class 149 DTS, but when I looked again at the prototypical formation I wanted to emulate I realised that it was in fact a Class 121 plus a Class 118 DMBS! (W55026 + W51314 for the record.) That simplifies things in one important sense, because the underframe & body required is simply that of the 117 DMBS, albeit the head code box needs some modification. But how to join them together? Two decoders or one? 'Chunky couplings'? 'Consist' programming? I looked at building a DMBS out of Bachmann spares but that isn't a cheap option. 

[dj_crisp]

On 23/09/2022 at 19:00, Pteremy said:

Interested to know how you have got on. I was starting to plan the creation of a Class 149 DTS, but when I looked again at the prototypical formation I wanted to emulate I realised that it was in fact a Class 121 plus a Class 118 DMBS! (W55026 + W51314 for the record.) That simplifies things in one important sense, because the underframe & body required is simply that of the 117 DMBS, albeit the head code box needs some modification. But how to join them together? Two decoders or one? 'Chunky couplings'? 'Consist' programming? I looked at building a DMBS out of Bachmann spares but that isn't a cheap option. 

 

Sounds a good project!

 

If it helps below is what I've settled on for my heritage DMUs. I've got a few photos on my threads but hopefully I'll be getting some transfers soon to finish them off.

 

As I want to run my 121 on its own I'm using a 3 link coupling between the 121 and 121 DTS.  

 

For all of my other DMUs I'm using a hunt magnetic coupling mounted into a kadee housing at bufferbeam height level. This'll allow me to mix and match. The downside to this is each coach needs to have a decoder.... but the upside is removal of the clunky coupling allowing me to easily coupler up the units which is way more practical for me as i change DMUs on the layout. I can easily do a mix n match combo etc. now :)

 

If it helps I've just done a 118 using a bit of a Dapol 122 roof for the top of the headcode box.

 

Hope that helps

 

Will

[Pteremy]

9 hours ago, dj_crisp said:

 

 

If it helps I've just done a 118 using a bit of a Dapol 122 roof for the top of the headcode box.

 

Hope that helps

 

Will

 

Thanks - very helpful - for the 118 I am just planning on building the head box curve up with filler - but need to practice on something cheaper than the Bachmann 117s first!