New Haven I-5 wrote: Wow! That must be hard. I have never hand wired a decoder, I like plug 'n' play better.
Once you do one, it isn't hard. Just be sure to have a chart handy (usually included with the decoder) saying which color wire is which. BTW, if you've ever done a "drop in" lightboard replacement decoder installation, you've basically done a hardwire installation...it's just that instead of having wires coming out of the decoder, there are tabs to solder the connections to.
shouldn't be too hard to add a speaker baffle . take a flexible piece of plastic , bend it around the edge of your speaker , glue it to the edge of the speaker , and glue it to the roof .
or , you could remove the speaker , put it in an enclosure and glue the enclosure to the roof of the engine . use a black enclosure and you won't be able to see it any more than you can see the speaker (i can't tell from your photos if you can see it or not)
all that's required of a baffle is that there be no way for the sound from the front of the speaker and the sound from the back of the speaker to mix together .
nice photo/tutorial , thanks for sharing it with us
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
This is my latest DCC/sound install using a fine tuned HO MDC Climax. The chuff is not too loud as there is no speaker enclosure. But I suspect it was not a very loud loco.
The decoder is the SoundTraxx Micro-Tsunami light logging with a 3/4 inch speaker.
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/climax_a.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/ChassisC.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/ModifiedClimaxshell.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/Speaker3.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/img_0908.jpg
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.