Hello,I got a new to me Athearn Genesis Modern Reefer, (G63269 ARMN 992989 57' FGE Mech. Reefer), & the perceived sound (to me) sounded like it came from the B end of the car & not the Carrier Reefer unit.In addition it was Loud.I also noticed that there were not any sound ports, or openings to direct the sound.I read the sheet that came with it & they have an adjustable volume control, if you remove the slip fit roof.Did that & tried a few experiments until I had the volume I was pleased with.I also saw no apparent sound openings when inside the unit.However, the perceived sound did not seem to come from the Carrier Refrigeration unit to my ear.So I had some thoughts & decided to alter the Wall & the Carrier Unit themselves to acoustically port the sound to that area.Now I am really happy with this, as the sound seems to be more biased towards the Carrier unit than the rest of the car.It is not perfect but I think, & my Ear thinks, it is much better.Here is a picture showing what I had done.I carved out the bottom of the Carrier unit & porthole drilled the rear wall after some easy disassembly, to create an acoustic path.
Thanks,
PS: Does anyone know if these sound modules will be made available to the public?I'd like a few for other Reefers & Passenger trains, & also for stand alone Power Generators, etc.
Chad,
That's brilliant! No one has mentioned the sound seemed to come out of the wrong end, but it's something that would bother me. Having worked around (truck/trailer) reefer units, I definitely know which end has the sound
Have you tried a baffle and/or foam in the end of the car opposite the reefer unit? In fact, what I would do is cut a piece of foam to fit nicely in the car shell, then take a .010" sheet of styrene and cut it, then glue to the end of the foam so it acts as a bulkhead. It should not go all the way to the walls, roof and floor, but sort of be "floating" to break up and reflect the sound toward the reefer unit end.
I've wanted one these, but not badly enough to bite so far. Something to experiment with, however, gets me more interested. I gotta find one of the old school paint jobs, though.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mike,Thank you Sir!
I think we are somewhat parrellel, but I ordered one.Honestly, I did not consider any internal baffling or supression, I think they generate the Bass tones from the internal cubic inch space itself.I only did the Chadley/RedGreen unscientific punching of where I thought the sound sould escape from.To me it still has the bass resonance it did before, but I am not measuring it with any tools.My Ear is my opinion only, & not so good, but I do know what I like to hear.
I think it is a neat novelty, & other members suggested using the Soundbugs, (which I have been too slow to configure & employ), so I ended up with this.
I think I made it a little better, others may think I'm a Quack, but I like it more now... It's just an opinion...Thanks again!
Very cool idea there! I didn't even know Athearn Genesis had these WPE ARMN cars.
Can you make a video of it?
Now I need to get me some of these!. Always wanted one of these trains.
I would think they would travel through Colorado on their way out East.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Michael,Yes, I think I can make a vid for you, it will be up in a few hrs, or tomorrow, I'll post a link here.
Actually, I did not know exactly how many variants they actually are modelling, the included doc, shows detailing options for 10 variations split into; Early (diesel engine), & Late (OTR Truck Reefer Unit), models.Until I saw that, I was not motivated to look any further, but a couple of the other options would be neat..But that depends on winning the Lottery, or striking Gold in the back 40...
Ha hah...
Michael,
Although poorly directed & shot, here is a video, although I did not make it on time, it is now tomorrow...It was close though...I also apologize for sounding near death, I ran upstairs to shoot this, & the room is not conditioned, & we had a warm day.. Sooo..The camera I use really over does the volume, the car & myself are not this loud in real life.Hope you enjoy & get an idea on how this model sounds, & does what it does.I also made a note on the YouTube description, that when I said Manual, I meant the Volume Control, but did not actually explain it on the vid.
Thanks,watch?v=J g6cIF1JV4
Thanks Chad for shooting a quick video. Sounds pretty cool. I'll maybe mix 2 or 3 of the sound units, and like 10 of the non sound units.
I also see you have the 64' Trinity reefer.
Yup, I stumbled on that "64' Trinity" nomenclature in the video, Ha hah!!!!!I dig those, & want to sound them too, now.The only other thing, (other than the sound porting), was when I was testing the car, I always test new Loci's etc. with a 9V alcaline battery on a hand held test track made up of 2 Micro Engeneering (70'-80') bridge tracks connected togeter, from a girder kit, they are mounted on a strip of 1/4" plywood. This car would do the 'Rice Crispy thing' making popping noises, etc. whe I tried to energixe the track.I thought I had all the following; Dirty track, dirty wheels, & a low battery.I cleaned the wheels before taking it up to shoot the video, I used a Q-Tip & 91 ISO Alch. & I was amazed at the darkness that came off those wheels from a NIB unit. So, as said many times before, always do that, always clean those wheels.However, another miss on this unit, is that is does not have a 'Keep Alive' cap circuit, if both trucks lose power, it is done. Yeah, it can be a great track detector, but that is not a selling point.There is plenty of room in there to add a 'Keep Alive Booster Citrcuit' or even a battery.That's up to the creative people.I did finger run it (from the Rapido Caboose), on my test track, where the video was shot, & it never cut out, I was impressed.
Thanks for the video. Can almost smell the fumes from here.
LOL!!!Hey, I showered, man!Actually, a couple of drops of Diesel would take it over the top!!!Thanks for cracking me up!
Gidday Chad, I saw one of those reefers at a local show recently and personally was a bit ho hum about the sound, I think your modifications are well worth it, To bad they're too modern for my layout. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Bear,Thank you for commenting!I too think there are a lot of gimmicks, but I am losing touch to where to draw that line, ha hah!!!On this one I thought I could make it a little better, once I had it in my paws.I think I did.Honestly, sound is fun to play with, but 70% of my Lokies are non sound, & actually I got 2 Lokies, & a MoW vehicle in this shipment, yesterday morning, & the only thing with sound was this Boxcar!!!!The sound of a fine 5 pole motor, & a smooth drivetrain is the music I like most of all.But, I experiment once & a while.
Thanks again Bear, I appreciate your thoughts!
Thanks for posting the video with sound.
Great idea by Athearn do add sound to mechanical reefers.
I added custom sound units to my older Athearn mechanical reefers by using Digitrax Sound Bugs and Ring Engineering power trucks:
watch?v=kSu85WSQk5E
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Matt,You are welcome!It was actually your video a while back that 'put the bug in my mind.'I thought what you did was really cool!Sort of full circle now.Thanks,
Appreciate that Chad
I wonder if Athearn will offer the sound system separately so you could add sound to other reefers, trucks, or anything else that needs a generator sound.
For the modern reefers, now that there is sound, all that's needed now are super tiny LEDs (red and green) for lights. Not sure what they indicate on the real things but I've seen them lit at night passing freights while on board Amtrak.
A fellow modeler at the museum experimented with several similar modifications on the museum cars. He was disappointed in all instances. It was not because of the location orientation of the sound, that works fine, but rather the pitch and timber of the sound. He is very familiar with the real cars. Every different change he has attempted increases the amount of bass which makes it sound less like the real ones instead of more.
I found it interesting that this is totally opposite of what is normally the problem for modeling diesel sound in locomotives, as we try to get more of the bass.
Texas Zepher Every different change he has attempted increases the amount of bass which makes it sound less like the real ones instead of more. I found it interesting that this is totally opposite of what is normally the problem for modeling diesel sound in locomotives, as we try to get more of the bass.
Every different change he has attempted increases the amount of bass which makes it sound less like the real ones instead of more.
TZ,
That's sorta why I made my suggestion to Chad about a baffled interior with a sound reflection panel on the end of the foam. Just a hunch that might help the timbre of the sound some at the same time it would concentrate the sound at the ported end.
Did anything he try resemble what I suggested? I may still be barking up the wrong tree...wait a second, it's the moon I'm barking at now.
Hello,Thanks everyone for the comments & thoughts.
Update;This week I got one of the BNSF WFE Cars, the ones with the Diesel Genset, instead of the Semi Reefer unit. Out of the box this one 'seemed' to sound like it was coming out the correct end.I still disassembled the inner wall, & then drilled 5 approx 1/8" strong holes in the angled section of the wall. Believe it or not on this car (Green one) the paint on the PE screen/Grilles hides that angled panel very well. It also made another acoustic improvement to my ear.On this one, I also turned down the Volume after the modification.It also sounded like the BNSF Genset version had a different whine to the sound than the ARMN Semi Reefer Unit.Thanks,