Bachmann class 45 with DCC sound

In between bouts of working and socialising this week I managed to put the finishing touches to my class 45 project. This project has been ongoing for about 6 months (maybe longer), but I think finally it is ready for service on my forthcoming layout. In my last post I mentioned that fitting the DCC sound chip was simple - well that was until I tried to reassemble the body with the speaker in and realised it would not fit.

The completed locomotive

The finished locomotive running past the signal box at Georgeham

The chassis block had to be slightly filed to accept the speaker - note the cut away indent by the speaker

The roof fan mounts had to be cut way to make space for the speaker, so the roof fan was remounted on a plasticard strip

The DCC sound unit is the Howes one, with the round speaker as supplied. To get this to fit in I had to file a little bit away from the metal chassis block with my dremmel. I also had to cut the roof fan fixing off the inside of the body and reattach the fan via a thin piece of plasticard. With a notch taken out of the chassis side, the roof fan modification, and the various component wires taped down, the locomotive went back together with little bother.

Class 45 at Georgeham Halt

The weathering was done over about 10-15 coats of various railmatch enamel shades. It was a slow job, done over several months. Other simple modifications were picking out the desk controls in black and adding the buffer beam detail. Simple tasks but they make a big difference. Overall, the end result I am delighted with - it is another step in the right direction for me, and is definitely my best attempt at weathering so far.

The view from the now abandoned Georgeham signal box

Taking the locomotive onto the DCC test track it was a joy to start it up and run it around with the sound chip working. All the photographs were taken with the sound running - although I think I am right in saying that I can no longer upload videos onto this blog - a real shame as I think it sounds great and I took a few videos at the same time. Anyhow, quite a few photographs but as you might be able to tell I am pretty chuffed with how this one turned out!!

And then so on to the next project, and sometimes you need somehting to plant a little seed of inspiration. And a secondhand class 25 locomotive, which is a perfect runner complete with decoder was purchased for £30 from my local model shop. This has already entered the bath of superstrip....hopefully some updates of this project soon!!

Not another class 25, but I could not resist this bargain!!