zr2498

Higher or lower? 😀

D6700 from Locomotion arrived this morning. No notification, so a complete and welcome surprise 🙂 All parts intact, and it looks stunning. On to the track this afternoon.

I know it's 5 years hence! But did you add a sugar cube in series with the EM2 on the 04/1. Did it improve the sound. I was also wondering if the total impedence (in series), would be too high?

Yes they are. I glued mine back on one end as detached on arrival. Easy fix, but it is best to have the body off to glue on the inside. Having said that, the body removal is relatively simple.

Having read a number of threads on sound for 10000 & 10001, it would seem that there are quite differing opinions. The 50 has the same diesel engine EE16CSVT, but has greater power than the twins at 2,700 bhp including turbochargers. Having heard the Digitrains class 50 sound it seems great, and does not have the 'whistle' of the class 40 (which I read was not present?) So 50 might be the route. I guess, that I cannot read a Zimo decoder on a Lokprogrammer, so not so easy to remove the high horn with mapping. Easy to remove from function list, but is there a CV change to do the same? Found this sound recording: Seems very close to the Class 50, rather than the 10000 in this Digitrains video.

FIA trains 10000 - some details on curve handling: FIA advised curves no less than 31 inch radius. An artlicle on theses trains was included in Model Railway Journal No.182.

Not my region, so have not fitted sound to one of these, but perhaps this will help. You might need access to Key Model World though. https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/video-Hornby-merchant-navy-sound-upgrade

Sound added to the STD 2MT.

The new Hornby STD 2MT has quite a small tender, however I have managed to fit an ESU decoder, a descent size speaker, and stay alive inside. I considered the firebox flicker, but the cab interior and firebox is so well detailed , I did not have the heart to get a drill to it. Here is the kit: Inside the tender. Board and weight removed. Lead shot added, fixed with cyano glue. Part of the coal bunker removed, and most of the raised parts on the tender chassis clipped off to give the headroom. A Zen 3-wire medium storage harness was soldered to the pads on the decoder. Speaker and stay alive fixed with black tack, and speaker connections made. Tender body back on. Readty to go. As usual the ESU decoder CV setting to enable the stay alive. CV 113 set to 150. Excellent project from Locoman sounds, and the Rail Exclusive speaker pumps out a big sound from a small tender.

'Outraged' is a bit strong. The removal is straightforward, but for some reason the headcodes can either easily come off or the pins snap off during transportation. The design intent by Accurascale was 'spot on'. No need to take the body off, which I seem to remember was needed on some Heljan locos with no codes fitted.

Had the same with a headcode box, and the pins were broken. I tested the removal / replacement on another which is easy to do. A suggestion for future models: that the headcode boxes are supplied separately, and even without the codes on the frame. The preferred codes can then be added avoiding the need to change them.

That would have been useful in the instructions. I had taken the body off for access, as per the design for the Deltic. That is of no use, and the boxes are a push fit as you point out. Gave me a chance to fit the crew so not so bad after all.

Another Hornby Raven Q6. This time it was sound fitting to a locomotive that had been finely weathered, plus crew and real coal by TMC. A particularly nice job of the coal load, which partly shows the relief of the coal bunker. So, I wanted to do the sound without the cut and carve job on the bunker, and at this time, leave the locomotive as is. A different combination of kit was used to enable a sound decoder fitting, a reasonable speaker, and a stay alive into a very restricted space. This is the kit used: Parts dismantled from the tender chassis. The speaker is similar to the Rail Exclusive 'Boom Box', but has 1mm less height making it possible to fit, providing chassis parts were trimmed off as below. The weight was glued in, and a little corner post left in place to locate the rear of the tender body. The Zen 3-wire stay alive harness wires were soldered to the ESU V5 decoder. Now to fit the components into the tender body. The ESU decoder is wide than the D & H previously used, but it will 'just' fit with the parts trimmed from the chassis. The 'small' Zen capacitor was the most that could be fitted. Speaker wires soldered, and both the speaker and PC board / 8 pin pug were fixed to the chassis with black tack. Tender body on ..... just! Stay alive enabled with CV113 set to 250. Good sound again from Locoman. I will have to do a direct comparison of speakers. First impressions of the whistles are rather piercing, so those volume levels for those sound slots might be reduced as the overall volume is fine.

The second WD decoder and stay alive installed. Now there are two 🙂 Crew man behind shouts ...... 'my weathering is heavier than yours!'

Totally agree, much easier and common place for a magnetic switch. For those that wish to weather their Turbo, finger and thumb prints on the tender sides will be a pain!

Both of the WD Austerities that I will fit sound to, have superb weathering by TMC. Also coal and crew fitted, so on this occasion I wanted to limit the amount of handling, and just fitted sound. A stay alive (3 wire) was also fitted, especially as the tender wheels are without pick-ups. The locos had DCC on board, so the function decoders were replaced by Loksound V5s. This is the kit: This is the tender opened up. The thin weight was removed revealing the moulding for a standard speaker. To get the required height for speaker clearance, the speaker moulding was completely removed. And the rear lug for tender body fixing cut off. I tested the tightness of the body with just the two front screws beforehand, and found the rear screw wasn't needed. The only option for this sound decoder was 8 pin, but the loco has a 21 pin socket, hence the 21 to 8 pin adaptor. Speaker fitted using black tack, and the decoder fixed to the side of the speaker, with the harness routed around it. Next the stay alive capacitors and control chip installed, again using black tack. First, wiring connections for the stay alive. The decoder came with the 3 stay alive wires already attached (red, white, black), connected to corresponding Zen wires (blue, white, black) Speaker wires connected. Tidy up wiring. Commissioned. The stay alive had to be switched on via CV settings. CV 31=16,CV32=0, CV339=31. Timer set CV113 to 150. Great sound project, and good range from the Rail Exclusive speaker. I was surprised at the slow running speed, but then the WD did not go above 40mph I believe, so protypical.

This project includes a Locoman Sounds D & H sound decoder, stay alive and firebox flicker to be installed to Hornby's 8F. Mike Wild did an installation, Hornby Magazine March 2021, and I have used most of the technique he described. I have managed to fit a larger speaker, and an alternative stay alive by an different layout in the tender. The moulded coal load forms the 'ceiling' of the tender, so on this occasion no cutting out of a coal bunker is not required. It was noticable just how dated this model is! The 8F could do with some retooling, and brought up to date. This is the kit: Stripping down the tender. The screws holding the weight were removed, and they glued in place instead. Unused lugs were cut off. The PC board could easily come into contact with the front tender wheels, so a platform was installed. The speaker and stay alive fitted with black tack. Decoder wiring for stay alive. Connections to the decoder pads 5 (GND) -ve, and 6 (VS) +ve. The existing hole in the tender, for the original 4 X black wires was big enough to pass through extra wires for the firebox flicker. The dark blue +ve LED wire was linked to the pale blue wire, which was cut from the 8 pin plug (constant voltage). The black -ve LED wire was connected to another black wire soldered to the AUX 3 pad on the decoder. The wire harness, decoder end was wrapped in 'hot' tape, black tack added to the hot tape, and fixed to the roof of the tender. Now to the loco. There is plenty of room available behind the back plate, and the Bachmann model already has a large hole at the firebox; so no drilling needed. It was possible to set the LED adjacent to the hole, rather than protruding through (more realist). This is the kit used: All assembled, and tested: Fantastic sound. Needs to be weathered, and real coal added, albeit not much scope for the latter.

Sound and lights project completed:

Thanks for the warning. Only used in tenders, so perhaps no problem? Anyway, will use cyano from now on.

Now to the locomotive. Firebox flicker LED / resistor preparation. Fitted to the hole in the smokebox, which had been drilled out to 3mm diameter. Fixed with black tack. Note the routing of the wires, which have been glued into a routing channel. Loco lamp painting and installation. I had tried to get a DCC Concepts white LNER lamp, but nothing available. I spoke with DCC Concepts, and hadn't realised that they were trying to source a new supplier for loco lamps. Perhaps towards the end of the year? Lamp wire preparation. Wires fixed with insulation tape, and the 2 pin plug / wires fixed with glue in the routing channel. Back to the tender. Tender body fitted. A black styrene piece fitted into the coal space, sealed around the edges with neat PVA. Real coal added. Commissioned. Excellent sound from Locoman coupled with the Rail Exclusive speaker. Firebox flicker and loco lamp both working via DCC functions. The lamp needs some yellow tint, which unfortunately was not supplied in the early packs from DCC Concepts.

This is the first of two sound installations to Hornby's Q6. Mike Wild did an installation, Hornby Magazine September 2020, and I have used most of the technique he described. This would be my first working loco lamp install. I have taken the scope just a little further, by adding a stay alive in the tender. A tender which offers little space, so this was something of a challenge. The first job I had to do was replace the motor (X7148), as the original was getting well over heated under DC. Hornby technical team obliged with a replacement FOC 🙂 This is the kit: First, the cutting out of the coal bunker to give enough space. To fit the stay alive, extra clearance was needed in the vertical, on one side of the tender. It takes a while, and this is the kit I now use to get to a more speedy result. This is the speaker and stay alive in place. To minimise the height of the installed stay alive, parts of the tender moulding have been removed on one side. 2 X 2mm diameter holes are drilled either side of the draw bar. Wires for the firebox flicker and front loco lamp. Stay alive connections to the decoder pads 5 (GND) -ve, and 6 (VS) +ve. Blue wires, +ve to firebox flicker LED, and to +ve loco lamp. Both connected to U+ on the PC board. Black wire -ve loco lamp to FL (front light) on PC board. Black wire to AUX 3 firebox flicker on the decoder. The decoder end of the harness was wrapped in 'hot' tape, and attached to the end of the stay alive with black tack. Another small piece of black tack secured the other end to the speaker. PC board, plug and wires tidied. Next will be installation on the loco.

Very well done Hornby. Arrived this morning, and FOC! Fitted, and ran for 1/2 hr at 50% = hardly warm, with smooth constant speed running 🙂 Now for the sound, stay alive, firebox flicker and working loco lamps. Old motor must have been really hot, as needed to renew wiring to it. Under the motor, some insulation had melted through to bare wire.

Even though Hornby have a new model of the Black 5 on the way, the 'old' model is still very good. I have some detailing kits somewhere? I had a pair of these (end of steam issue), needing an upgrade to sound. Mike Wild had done a sound installation into one of these models, where the DCC Ready decoder 8 pin socket is in the loco, rather than modern day located in the tender. That installation is described in 'Hornby Magazine, Beginners Guide - Digital Sound'. I have used the same D & H sound decoder and Rails Exclusive speaker. This project was an attempt to take the installation a little further' with a stay alive and firebox flicker. This is the kit used: First, the tender. This has a heavy weight which will need to be compensated for, as it had to be removed. To make room for the speaker, the spigot for the weight for cut down, and the lug in the tender body clipped off. To wire the speaker and a stay alive to the decoder (in the loco), a 4 pin micro connector was used. A 2mm diameter hole was drilled in the tender floor for the 4 wires. To start adding some weight, lead shot was fixed with neat PVA The speaker was glued in place, and the Zen stay alive fitted to the tender body with black tack. Extra weight were also added to the sides of the speaker (giving clearance to the wheels), and in the tender body. Connections were made for the speaker and stay alive, plus heat shrink. 4 pin micro wires (red stay alive +ve, orange stay alive -ve, black and grey to speaker). Wiring tidied, keeping clear of the stay alive and the front tender wheel . The second spigot for the weight was also clipped off to give clearance for the stay alive. Tender body fitted. The rear of the tender was held fast by some black tack as the original lug had been removed. Now to the locomotive. A D & H decoder AS16A-2 was used. This will fit into the smoke box. Note that a ESU loksound V5 will not fit into the smoke box (too wide). The stay alive connections to the decoder. Red positive to pad 6 (VS), and Orange negative to pad 5 (GND). This will eventually connect to Blue +ve and Black -ve on the Zen stay alive. Decoder diagram. For the firebox flicker LED, the wire from pad 6 (VS) was connected to the same feed to the resistor and LED, +ve side (yellow wire), and the return wire from the LED -ve side was returned to AUX 3 pad on the decoder (dark blue wire). There is virtually no room behind the firebox backplate to place the LED in a reasonable position. So a compromise, with a 4mm hole instead of the usually 3mm to get the legs of the resistor sitting flush to the back plate (as shown below). Insulated - keeping the holes in the backplate clear, where the lugs on the chassis fit when pushing the chassis backwards on refit of the body. That is a lot of wires, and it takes some effort to get the body back on without trapping wires. I split the 4 new wires from the tender into 2 X 2 to route around the side of the motor, and stuffed as much as possible into the smoke box. The decoder was covered with hot tape to prevent possible shorts. It all worked 🙂 Fantastic sound, with Locoman's sound files and the large speaker. But, I'm not really happy with the how far the LED sticks out of the firebox. I might make it less obvious with a couple of crew blocking the view from the side. I might also look for another way to do the flicker. Paul Chetter showed the use of an LED cut from a lighting strip. Perhaps that would be shallow enough?

I've been watching some paint dry, and green seems to take the longest 🙂

Thanks very much for your help with this. I have clicked on the link, and it takes me to a list. Then I went to motor listing. Is this the one you are referring to + cut shaft off one end? Must be my lucky day!!!!! I contacted Hornby technical this morning about a spare motor / flywheel (speculative). They are sending a spare, that was found in the workshop, FOC today. This is an excellent service, which has always been good in the past. Well done Hornby tech services. 🙂