Class 42 Maroon Warship DCC sound - running and in service!

Over the last year or so I have been detailing a Maroon Warship - this is a Bachmann model that I treated myself to in January 2018.  The locomotive was a total wreck when I got hold of it second hand, but it was the newer 21 pin version with lights.  I think that sometimes a beat up locomotive is more fun to work on - you can be a bit bolder with your approach and it does not matter too much! Anyhow, rather than stripping this locomotive right back to its shell and repainting, I gave the locomotive a good clean and added some splashes of white.  Over this I added some various shades of faded maroon before an overall coat of grime, before spraying some individual weathering elements, such as black around the grills, etc.

The finished warship - a speedy project taking only 18 months or so!!!

Running an engineering train into Charlton.

The underframe was missing any buffers and a detailing pack.  I fitted some A1 brass buffers and luckily Bachmann had a spare detailing pack that they sent to me for a modest sum (excellent service from Bachmann here).  The underframe and body were weathered separately, before being finished together.  

Shunting some milk wagons by the provender store.

First strip down of the locomotive.

All I needed to do was pop in the Loksound decoder and speaker - blown by Howes.  Or so I thought!  I had not really considered the space inside the body shell - but there was really no room.  I soldered a single Iphone speaker to the decoder, minus any casing.  The speaker was from Road and Rails and they were super helpful over facebook in helping out (they had come across the same issue when they did their class 42).   So it all fitted together - just, after much cursing.  I have a second BR blue warship to do, but given the total headache with this, I am not so sure I want to tackle this one.  I might mill out a portion of the chassis block to fit a downward speaking speaker, although this means completely dismantling the locomotive.  However, otherwise I do not see much of an option.  There is no point spending £100 on a sound chip for it to sound a little naff!!

A magpie spotted at Charlton.

Iphone speaker soldered into the warship.

The finished set up - there really isn't room for the decoder either!

So the verdict?  I think this warship looks excellent!  However, it sounds just ok.  The speaker is good for its size, although the sound is a bit small over compared with what I was aiming for.  The PCB board from Bachmann is massive in this locomotive, hence the lack of room.  However, with this, a class 22 and a Western running over Charlton, I certainly have the 1970s covered (and I have just sound chipped another class 25!). This is how I intend to run the layout for the majority of time, glorious 1970s BR blue, I must however resist that Hymek.....).   

Shunting at Charlton.  Getting ready for the run back to Exeter.

Coupling up to its train.

Heading to Barnstaple junction, then homewards to Exeter!