Heljan Class 35 Hymek

[SRman]

On 11/12/2022 at 20:58, JST said:

Interesting. I am about to collect mine when I come over to Blighty for Xmas and I want to fit sound to it. The Hattons website blurb says there is a space to accept a round speaker but from what you say this is not the case. Any ideas what may fit?

 

Way back when the Heljan Hymeks first came out I bought a green one and fitted sound into it. That was when we had ESU LokSound v3.5 decoders requiring 100 ohm speakers, so speaker choices were very limited. I fitted two standard round 23mm speakers into it, one in the hollow fuel tanks, the other in parallel behind one of the cab bulkheads. That second speaker had the sound chamber cut down until the speaker could fit over the bogie tower area. This model has Howes' sound, and even though there have been improvements since then, I am still happy with the sound from this locomotive.

ESU LokSound 5s do come in various sizes now, and take 4 or 8 ohm speakers, which means that there are many more sizes and shapes of speaker available. Recently, I have fitted sound into a Heljan 'Sarah Siddons' (Metropolitan Bo-Bo electric), a Heljan Co-Bo, and into a Bachmann LT pannier tank, all using types of speaker from Apple i-Phones (bought from Roads & Rails).

Heljan are kind to us in having hollow fuel tanks on many of the diesel models, including the Hymeks, class 47, and class 33s I have fitted with sound, fuel tanks made up of two or three mouldings, allowing easy modification to accommodate speakers. There's also plenty of room to thread the speaker wires through the bogie open spaces in the chassis. without interfering with the bogie swing.