Hornby Class 37 in Network Rail with TTS sound

Hi,

i have a Hornby Class 37 with TTS sound. I bought it as I thought it was a bargain for about £80.00 or there abouts.

problem is...... its in network Rail livery which does not suit me and also I feel that the overall quality of the finish isnt that great anyway. The shell is a bit see through.

I'll post a picture up at the end of the week as I try to determine what to do with it. At first I thought about raiding the chip and installing into another doner body or buying another replacement shell ( lima tooling ). then I thought about using it for medical experiments with my air brush.

I'll have a ponder.

I do know a guy from MRL forum who does fantastic respray jobs and is a big fan of 37's. I saw a respray he done in Colas Livery which was fantastic. If I can, I'll maybe try and get a link to the photo's he posted on how he done it. It was really first class.

anyway ...... more on that nearer the weekend.

toto

 

Hi SRMan,

I don't have the Lima shell yet but had been keeping an eye open at a couple of shows that I'd been at.

The Vi trains is always an option right enough. I'll see what happens.

Cheers

Toto

 

I am revisiting the Hornby 37 above with TTS.
I have decided for the moment to keep the sound in the loco but to change out the speaker to what I believe is a slightly better one.
The substitute speaker is from a ESU chip that I have recently acquired for a class 26 from Legomanbiffo. I intend cutting a hole in the fuel tank to accommodate it and retain the existing round " open back " speaker for another project.
Once the speaker is trial fitted and tested, I am going to respray the loco. livery to be determined but as its likely to be a bit of a rough job ( being my first ) the loco will be very much a medical experiment and will just be a tester for novelty value.
I thought about the white police livery Running number ( 97999 ) named " Plod "
Might even attempt fitting blues and twos.
I thought I'd play around with this before potentially destroying my Class 26 ( which I await from hattons )
cheers
toto

 

Hi Ed,
it will be interesting. I'd be surprised it if goes for anything like the purchase price of £84.95 ( in my case ). I think I will get more back from it using it as a medical experiments job myself.
Don't talk me out of it as its the nearest I've got to getting the spray booth out yet.
cheers
toto

 

Well,
The conversion begins later today. ( a couple of domestics left by SWMBO to do first ) . I shall be starting by cutting out the aperture in the fuel tank to take the Doner speaker. I'll provide the usual progress photo's as I go.
this may be a good thread for anybody new to this malarky to watch. If you are a bit unsure of your ability ......... watch this because I am in the same boat. I made a committment to posting my efforts " warts and all " If nothing else, proving that mistakes are common place.
wait until I do my first paint job Not a petty sight I can assure you but anything is acceptable on here, its all part of the learning curve.
As this is a " medical experiment job " I am thinking of doing the " police " livery as per the Class 47. the idea being that this will act as a spring board for the following exercises.
Speaker / DCC renovation, Full livery change including application of decals, Installation of lighting, Installation of additional weight.
stay tuned
Toto

 

OK,
Where to start.
Lets start with a deek at the doner vehicle. never to look ( or probably perform ) the same again.
and here we are.


On Class " 97 " renumbered to an engineering class I believe.


The yellow livery actually looks quite solid in the above shot but believe me ........ when viewing in the flesh its a different story.
and again,


Above, you begin to see the transleucent nature of the shell. A very plasticky, look about it.


The underside and the tanks that the speaker will be cut into as we progress.


The shell off which is just a clipped affair. easy to come apart.


A shot of the motorised bogie compartment and you can just see the existing round speaker in place to the left hand side.


And one of the DCC chip in place.
More as I go
Toto

 

And now ........ let the hack commence.
first up .........


The chip is unplugged and the speaker taken out of its housing to reveal a big dod of metal weight.


The various cables from the bogie pick ups are slackened off to let me get at the weight.


and its out. Two screws and its apart.


The box of bits.


To reveal the new speaker chamber. Now unfortunately these pillars are going to get in the way so they will be part of the plastic that needs to come away.


and the doner speaker ........


its intended position ........


and again from further away.
Now ......... need to get me tools looked out to start surgery.

I'll be back later with the next stage ........... cutting in the speaker.
cheers
toto

 

OK,
not letting the grass grow on this one,
Out with the cutter,
first of all ....... mark up the loco for surgery,


and on we go ......... no turning back now.


The first half of the tank out.


it actually looks a bit rougher than it is and will be able to be tidied up a bit with a run over with a sanding stick.


the speaker sitting in place. the hole ended up a little over size but this can be resolved with a bit of filler or a strip of plastic glued to the inside to pack it up a bit. the main thing is the speaker is sitting level on its fixing lugs.


and one from the inside showing the back of the sealed speaker. the weight should be able to fit back in without fouling anything.
any comments / questions etc .......... fire away.
cheers
toto

 

Just a little more on the two plastic stanchions.
You will see that this particular speaker fits in between the two stanchions which originally held the weight in place.


I have chosen to keep these in place as it may be possible to refix the weight back in position with a couple of longer screws.
A picture from the outside.


cheers
toto

 

Next step,
I fixed the speaker in place. ............ with plastic weld.
I did try Cyna ...... wotsit first but wrong choice as you will see.


You can see the plastic turn white where I used it. the plastic weld is not as aggressive.


and from the inside. I will fill the gaps with a mastic before reinstalling the weight.
The next step is to wire the speaker back up and test it prior to reinstalling the weight and mastic etc. that is for after din dins.
Stay tuned ....... I shall return.
cheers
toto

 

Whilst I'm finishing me dinner. A wee job .........


Transfers ......
and more transfers ........


and some more .........


going ......


going .......

Gone....... Thanks to the use of a fibre glass pen and without any effort at all.
The glazing will come out once I am ready to mask off. Its safer installed in the loco for the moment.
I should be out in the shed shortly. I'll tether the speaker wires up temporarily to see it works first and if it all goes without a hitch, solder them in place, replace the weight and give it another test run. If I can find my video camera, I'll post a short video.
next will be filling in the gaps caused when cutting out the tanks.
The masking and painting will probably be Saturday as the car is in to have a software update to bring it back in line with emissions standards with VW. ( free of charge of course ).
Cheers for now.
Toto

 

Now ......... to the test track. the speaker wires are soldered in place and we are ready for power.


I gave the rails a quick going over with a track rubber as they have not seen action for a while.
Switched on, selected loco, pressed no 1 on the controller and ............. it fired up nicely. tried the horns etc and even a bit of brake squeal and all was ok.
went to move the loco and it moved slightly then cut out. Now ....... if i remember correctly, I had this problem before so its nothing to do with the speaker change over.
i tried again a few more times and exactly the same. cuts out every time.
never mind i shall try re-programming the loco again and see if that makes and difference meanwhile, the paint job awaits.
I packed the speaker chamber with blu tack just to add a bit more packing deadning and replaced the weight which fitted in nicely.
here we are,


and .......


the weight back in and you can just see the blu tack ( which is actually white ) at the top side of the speaker chamber.
thats all for now.
toto

 

Suspected issue is with the pickups so I'll try attaching a direct feed to the drive wheels.
Going by the rest of the model, I don't expect the pick ups to be great either. I'll investigate it and resolve. I may even add extra pick ups if required.
cheers
Toto