THIS is the image that shows the screw I used.
This shows the image of the 4-6-2 Pacific that I have. Can you tell where the speaker is?
This image shows the underside of the tender which has the 13mm Digitrax speaker between the tender trucks. The trucks swivel easily and don't interfere with the speaker at all.
Another speaker shot:
Image showing the inside of the tender. I was able to stuff the Soundtraxx TSU-750 decoder in there, some weight, and the capacitor. I'm glad I switched to the Kato tender because if I had stuck with the Model Power tender, the pickups would not have been as electrically good without the decreased weight from the decoder.
Image showing the underside of the Kato tender, the Kato tender trucks, and the screw I put through the tender floor to hold the Model Power Pacific drawbar.
I can do that. I will take one when I get home...
How about sharing a picture with us?
I removed the weight that I had put in between the tender trucks on the tender. I cut a small hole in the tender floor and ran the speaker wires in that hole. I then put the speaker under the tender. This was the only way that I could maximize the weight inside the tender, and have the Tsunami decoder, capacitor, and speaker arrangement work together without the use of an add-on passenger car.
Yeah, I Dremeled off the plastic piece just below the coal load. I have some flat weight from a flatcar that I will install UNDER the tender and glue it in between the trucks. It's not much, but every little bit will help.
As I recall, the coal load on the Kato tender pops off, and it's hollow. You may be able to get some lead birdshot into there.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
Now I have to figure out how to add extra weight into the Kato tender that already has the Soundtraxx TSU-750 decoder in it and the capacitor. Unfortunately, now the speaker is under the overhang on the steam locomotive. I wish there existed a manufacturer that had a metal tender shell.
I thought that the Model Power 4-6-2 tender pickup wires on the tender were electrically sketchy at best. They had a brass pickup tab that bends around each of the tender's axles. If these axles were not bent just perfectly, electrical conductivity suffered.
The Kato and Bachmann Spectrum tenders have electrical pickup axles bearings on the outside of each tender truck. They are much more electrically reliable. Since I had a Kato tender from an N scale Mikado laying around, I decided to use that tender and adapt it to the Model POwer 4-6-2 Pacific.
I started by taking off the front truck of the tender with a small Phillips-head screwdriver. This allowed me to take off the Kato drawbar too, and this would not be reused on the Model Power Pacific. I then set aside the Kato tender for now.
On the Model Power Pacific, they have four wires going to the tender, orange and grey for the motor, and black and red for the pickup wires. You have to unsolder the orange and grey motor wires from the red and black pickup wires before adding a DCC decoder, otherwise you'll destroy the decoder. If you're still on DC, your job is even easier, and you just have to unsolder the pickup connections on the floor of the Model Power tender above each of the tender truck bolster pins. Once those are unsoldered, you should be able to take the tender floor off the electrical connections.
Looking at the Kato tender, remove the weight. Once the weight is removed, there is a plastic piece on the tender floor that protects and keeps in place the electrical connections to the tender. Gently, and I mean gently, spread apart the left and right sides of the tender wall and lift the plastic piece out of the tender. Do this over a table or a brightly lit workbench because the two brass pickup bars will fall out.
You can see how the brass pickup bars are connected to each side of the tender electrical trucks. There are small tabs that extend into the floor of the tender from the trucks on each side that get electrical power from the rails.
Place the fragile brass pickup bars on a piece of wood or something (that won't burn or melt). If you are still DC, solder the red wire to the right-side pickup bar and the black wire to the left-side pickup bar. You will have to cut a small notch in the removed plastic piece that holds those brass bars in place. You will also have to cut a small notch where the pickup wires are in the tender weight.
Now, in order to get the Model Power 4-6-2 Pacific drawbar to attach to the Kato tender, I drilled a very small hole and glued one of the Model Power's tender truck bolster screws inside the hole. Doing this will provide a solid pin in which to put the Model Power drawbar around so it can pull the Kato tender. Just make sure to put the screw in all the way so it doesn't catch the front tender truck. I put it in the same location as the Model Power tender when looking at both tenders side-by-side. Replace the tender shell, screw the truck bolster screws back in, and run your new-and-improved 4-6-2 Pacific!
If you're DCC, you have to unsolder the electrical connections between the grey, orange, red, and black wires. I then soldered the red wire from the Model Power Pacific to the right tender brass bar and the black wire to the left brass bar. Hook up the grey and orange motor wires from the locomotive to the grey and orange wires on your DCC decoder. Do the same with the red and black wires from the decoder and the tender.
Again, make sure all electrical connections are good and electrically isolated between each of the rails, replace the tender shell, and run your trains!