Now for something completely different from me. I’ve had a Hornby 08 since it came out new (the more recent super detail, not the one with the inside frame that could outrun a flying Scotsman!) and a few years back acquired second hand a sound decoder and speaker. It was never very loud despite drilling some discrete holes in the radiator vents on the sides. so, after a service I decided it was time to review this and see what could be done. One thing I’ve found whilst viewing the inter web was that the front radiator grill comes away and there is a nice large square section of body that can be cut away. With this in mind, I’ve made a start and ordered a YouChoos speaker to replace the round one I had that didn’t have any sound box due to size. so here I intend to write up my work on the conversion. this has just arrived in the post this morning. Let’s make a start!
The first step was to trim away the front of the loco once the radiator slats had been gently lifted away. There is a nice lip on the radiator grill, so I started to trim to the inside of this.
However I soon found that this was hard going due to how thick the plastic was. So I found a 1mm drill bit and dig out the big drill (sadly my dremil is at my dads for track cutting along with my mini chuck for drilling the holes for track pins.) I then drilled all the way around the inside of the grill and then gently cut away. I bought some of those disposable craft knifes and found once you were in to the first hole, it actually almost pulled through like butter giving a fairly neat finish to the edge. Just a little filing required.
The joy of finding that Hornby went to town on the radiator slats is great, as you can see, it’s perfectly transparent which means sound can also escape. Now to refit over the cut out. It’s simply a press fit.
And now it comes to fitting the speaker.. it can sit inside the cut out up against the grill. I’ve blackened the back so the green doesn’t stand out. I’m almost wishing I’d measured up the front as I could have had a slightly larger speaker in here and filled the whole hole.. never mind...
Thanks. Just finished it... it doesn’t sound great at all... mom wondering if I have the wrong impedance or something as once the engine starts it sounds distorted. The start up and horns sound great. And much louder... back to the supplier to speak to them.
messaged John at YouChoos and appears it’s the wrong speaker. Apparently the V3.5 decoder I’m using needs a 100ohm speaker. this one is only 8ohm and designed for the later decoders. Oh well..
So have you got to order the correct one now and presumably hang on to the older one for a rainy day?
Yup - probably better to get a new v4 decoder for the 08 and get the 3.5 re-blown for another loco that can take a larger speaker, that's why my gronk still has the original speaker and sound chip Paul
In a way Andy, you are lucky you have the Hornby 08, the Bachmann model hasn't a lot of room on the inside. I had to cut away a chunk of the cab bulk head to get the speaker into the cab, and there is limited room at the front of the loco for the decoder and wiring. Then to be careful I didn't pinch wires when putting the body shell back on... This isn't the best pic, but this is the area at the front of the Bachmann 08, where you have the speaker sitting on your Hornby model. Once the decoder is plugged into the socket and you run the wires up across the top of the model to site the sound decoder above the weight in front of the cab bulk head, then drill/cut out some of the bulk head to fit the sugar speaker, you have both removed some of the weight and 50% of the cab bulk head and spent a fair amount of time just hoping that all goes well... Cheers, Gary.
If the decoder is an ESU or Zimo, you can use two sugar cubes in parallel, Gary. When I did my Zimo sound-fitting in a Hornby class 09, I used a double-width base with a hole drilled to clear the end bearing on the front of the motor block (sealed up with black-tack, of course), then mounted the two sugar cubes side by side. There is sufficient room to do this in the 08/09. The sound level is quite good from this arrangement.
I haven't tried the Bachmann model for sound, but if you remove the DCC socket and hard-wire the decoder, there would appear to be the same amount of room across the front as for the Hornby model.
This 2012 video from John Mellor shows what limited room there is inside a Bachmann 08 : Cheers, Gary.