Well, my first foray into fitting a sound decoder and speaker. I bought this one today from Legomanbiffo at the St Andrews model railway exhibition. Here is what you get, First up the decoder with the supplied speaker, again, and again, But I am told that I should change out the supplied speaker with one of these, Its physically quite a bit bigger ( and technically better ) and sure sounded good to me on the demo. It comes with the replica fuel tank to fit it in which changes out with the one on the loco. It needs to be painted and the speaker " sealed in " to provide the deeper sound that is achievable with it. I was shown how to fit it as the loco needs to have a small hole drilled in the plastic chassis in order to feed the speaker wires through but apart from that, its quite straight forward. I'll post up some installation pictures and a picture of the doner loco as its being done. cheers toto
Legomanbiffo's sounds are really excellent, and you'll certainly get the best out of them with the decent speaker setup. I have done quite a few sound installations in Heljan class 33s (with almost identical chassis to the 26 and 27), and I have never bothered to drill holes through the chassis for the wires. I simply lead them tightly through the cutouts for the bogie towers, tacking the wires to the chassis to prevent them from straying and interfering with the bogie swing. Post a video of the class 26 in operation once you're done with the installation, Tom. I'd love to see and hear the 26 in action. http://www.click Edit: photo added - you can just make out one of the wires (purple) passing behind the bogie.
I had reduced the height of the speaker enclosure for my model of the Bachmann Class 25 to fit the recess provided by Bachmann. This area is located right under the fan in the roof. I'll be looking forward to seeing this fitted, not to mention hearing it Cheers, Gary.
Hi SR man / Gary It was the 27 that I originally wanted but he did not have any with him The 26 is every bit as good though. It has a longer more protracted effort to get it moving than the 27. I had considered the 33 as well but there was no demo of it so I thought I'd wait for that. I'll post up the install and a short video of the loco going through its paces. Cheers Toto
Here we go Toto, Legomanbiffo sound in a Heljan Class 33 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWYGVLsPUbk This may make interesting reading : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89054-new-4mm-heljan-class-330-where-to-fit-the-speaker/ Cheers, Gary.
Hi Gary, thanks for the link. it could be next on the list. I'll see how I get on Installing the 26 first but the 33 looks favorite for top of the list of next sound purchases. toto
If you are interested, I can post links to several videos of my sound class 33s, although some date back quite a few years now. I have two with Howes' sounds on ESU LokSound v3.5 decoders, each with two speakers fitted; one with a Zimo decoder with Paul Chetter's sounds; and one with Legomanbiffo sound on a LokSound v4, although I have swapped bodies on that one recently, so the video shows it with 'Dutch' livery while it now wears BR blue with TOPS numbering. There is also a video done as a cab ride with the Legomanbiffo sound, although one can't actually see the locomotive in this one. I am waiting for DC Kits to release their 'earth mover' speakers to get even more out of the Legomanbiffo one, and I have already fitted one of their resin replacement fuel tank mouldings with large speaker fitted to the green one with Paul Chetter's sound.
Had a listen to the link, but then found the next video on Utube was Legomanbiffo's 'Class 71' sounds. I was unaware that anyone other than Olivia's Trains had done sound for the 71, and since I have two of the Kernow and one Hattons "DJM" special editions of said loco's on order, I'll have to look into this further. I much prefer Zimo decoders rather than ESU (having had problems with 2 ESU's) so I'm hoping that someone will come up with suitable sounds on Zimo decoders. Keith.
Good to hear of all these sound projects so by all means, get them up if or when available. SRman, it would be great to be able to do a comparison on the 33's. Whats your take on it. Is there any clear advantage on one from the other ? Keith, what were the issues with the ESU chip as that is what I have. Is there anything that I need to watch for when trying to install or were the issues inherent with the chip itself ? all good stuff guys. cheers toto
OK, here goes! Theis one is quite an old clip and was taken on my old layout. It is of one of the Howes ones, which I still like, although I may reblow one soon. I wanted two with the same characteristics for occasional double-heading, although with some tweaks and minor adjustments, almost any pairing can be used. I have a clip of one of the Howes 33s double-heading a Bachmann class 24, also with Howes sounds. The Digitrains/Paul Chetter Zimo sound, which I have set on the "manual" throttle settings (there are two choices of sound sets on the one decoder, with different methods of control): And two takes on the legomanbiffo sounds. I like all of these, although if I had to nominate a favourite, I would say it is currently the legomanbiffo one.
Thank you kind Sir. They all sound a little different although the Howies and Legomanbiffo are closer related in terms of the cantering gurgle that you can hear on both. Its as if they are waiting to be unleashed. Its that definite gurgle that I like and make me take the plunge when I bought it on saturday. I managed to restrain myself from jumping into a class 37 as well. I was speaking with Paul just last night and I think I am going to have a closer look at my Hornby class 37 TTS offering with a view to either sealing the speaker or possibly changing it over for the spare I now have after buying a bass enhanced speaker as an add on to the class 26 chip. I was thinking of using the 37 for medical experiments on the weathering front. initially giving the inside a coat of matt black to get rid of the translucent effect that the factory fitted option has. then go to town on the outside. Nothing to lose really as I do not like it the way it is. Thanks for taking the time to post tye sound files up. The 33 is surely now firmly on my list. cheers toto
Hi Toto. Re. the ESU decoders, some 18 months ago, I bought a Bachmann E4 from Rails in Sheffield. As they also had the ESU Loksound decoder for the E4 in stock, I also bought that, whereas I'd previously only fitted Zimo. I took the body off the loco, and removed the 8 pin socket, as room in the loco is tight, so wired in the ESU directly with decoder 'blu-tacked' to the chassis for test (Loco was run in on DC first), set up and was running the loco with sound playing, no body fitted. After about 15 minutes or so, sound ceased although loco still operated. I contacted "Rails", who immediately emailed me a return label, and the decoder was sent back to them, and they forwarded it to SWD, the UK importers. Time passed, and in due course, I contacted "Rails" to find out what was happening, and was told that SWD had returned the decoder to Germany for checking. A month passed before a replacement was received (No reflection on "Rails" excellent service), and I duly fitted the decoder back onto the chassis, again running the loco without body fitted. After about half an hour, the decoder failed completely, no movement or sound, so having had quite enough of ESU, I returned the decoder to "Rails", and was immediately refunded in full. After that, I just fitted a non-sound decoder and the loco has run without problem ever since, but, as you may imagine, I have little faith in ESU decoders, and service was anything but speedy in my experience (I speak as I find!). I do still have one loco with an ESU sound decoder fitted, a Class 22 with Howes sounds, bought used, with sound already fitted, but for my own installations have preferred to stick with Zimo, and have had no problems with a dozen loco's now sound fitted by myself. A further reason I prefer Zimo is that speaker(s) are bought separately to suit each installation, whereas ESU price includes a speaker that often will not fit into the available space, so another has to be bought and you are then left with 'spare' speakers....not much help in my estimation! Very small installations are difficult with ESU's, Zimo's are available in several different sizes, so whilst most diesels easily accomodate the ESU's, try 'shoehorning' one into some of the smaller steam loco's (how about a "Terrier"???!). The MX649 Zimo's are about the smallest sound decoders I've yet come across, but I've successfully fitted 2 Hornby "King Arthurs" with sound, using this decoder in the boiler. It'd be a tight fit to get an ESU into the tender, never mind the boiler! Everyone has a free choice, but from my experience, I'll stick with Zimo, thanks. Keith.
Hi Keith, Nice to know these things. I'll bow to your experience ......... and have a look at Zimo as well. Howes msay get a visit. cheers toto PS, one thing I do like is the pre cut fuel tank that comes with the additional speaker, That does away with one awkward task. cheers toto
I have only had one ESU fail, and that was actually a second-hand one given to me. It will drive forwards only, with sound, while in reverse there is no movement and the steam chuffs run away with no load. I have it in my Hornby T9, which is normally only asked to go forwards anyway - I don't/can't use it for shunting.
Hi, went out into the shed to grab a doner vehicle and here we are ......... but ........ there's trouble afoot. first up a photo of my class 26 in Railfreight. nothing wrong with that I hear you say. or that ........ a nice racoon. same again .......... but wait ......... Drat ....... it has a single tank ...... for the fuel but the battery box is a cage. You can see the white bar around it. the replacement tank that comes with the speaker is a double box that incorporates both the fuel tank and battery box. I know that there are several versions available and I have a few of them in Railfreight, Dutch and BR blue livery so I will need to look though them to see which one has the double box fitted to it. Never mind ..... I shall return later after I have raked through the fleet. cheers toto
I quite like the idea of 3D printed fuel tanks to incorporate a bass reflex speaker. As with most things in life, size DOES matter, so the bigger the better! I'm not aware that ESU does any form of repair options, but Zimo most certainly does, most Zimo suppliers can do this, it seems it's £15+P+P for a direct replacement (don't know if this includes a reblow to the replacement decoder). On another note, just bought a 'pre-owned, like new' class 27 from Hattons this afternoon for £67. If it's anything like the 'like new' stuff I've had from Hattons before, I expect to be well pleased with it. Keith.
Great stuff keith ...... someones has to keep them in business whilst i'm exercising OO restraint. let us know how it is when it arrives. cheers toto
Was just thinking, if you have a stable of several loco's Toto, why not just swap your 'favourite' body onto the chassis with the combined fuel tank and battery box, then go ahead and fit your sound decoder? It might not be 100% accurate, but after all, it's YOUR railway, and Rule1 applies! Keith.
