When I got my Aero Train I had a sound decoder waiting for it. After all, ConCor said they had a sound decoder for it coming out! After opening the loco and seeing the tiny area for a speaker, I changed my plans. I even contemplated mounting the speaker and decoder in the first car, but didn't want to remove that much seating. I thought to e-mail them and ask them how they intended to put sound in the unit but put it off.
I ran it straight DCC for a while but had a conversation with another modeler who told me he put in a sound decoder no problem and I was not to be out done! Well, when I opened it up again I knew the other guy was crazy and must have been thinking of the Zephyr. However, I got stubborn and did manage to fit the decoder and speaker into the engine (with some grinding, filing and trimming and not enough baffle for my liking). It works, runs well and most sounds are good but the horn is a bit flakey.
So today I get the ConCor newsletter and lo and behold, they say there isn't any room in the loco for a sound decoder and speaker but they are coming out with a special coach ($85) with seating removed and an extension harness for DCC sound decoder and speaker.
As I said, I had to laugh.....
lol but you just saved 85$!
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
Hi Tilden,
Since your the first I know of to fit sound to it this makes you the expert ! Spill the beans, detailed explanation with pics please if possible. What sound decoder did you use ?
I can't understand why you wouldn't want to spend another 85 bucks on a coach on top of the 85 bucks for the MRC decoder to go with it !!!
Cheers,
Warren
Big Ugly Waz wrote: Hi Tilden,Since your the first I know of to fit sound to it this makes you the expert ! Spill the beans, detailed explanation with pics please if possible. What sound decoder did you use ? I can't understand why you wouldn't want to spend another 85 bucks on a coach on top of the 85 bucks for the MRC decoder to go with it !!! Cheers,Warren
Waz tell me their sound decoders are NOT MRC!!! Please NOOOOOO!!!!
Lets see, there was the Erie Triplex for the steam fans, the Aero train for diesel guys, now all we need is a model of the EMD 3 truck electric for the juice jacks and we will have a tri-fecta of failed one hit wonders produced by the model companies. And yet none of the major model companies produces a single accurate, good running model of an engine or car for anything prior to WW1.
Geez.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Sorry to be the one to break it to you Driline, but yes they are MRC.
That's why I was wondering what Tilden used for his, because I've been there and done that (MRC) and it's not happening again.
A question Tilden.....is your Aero HO or N? I'm considering going for the N-Scale set myself.
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
Dayliner wrote:Never tell a model railroader it can't be done!
It's impossible to tell a model railroader it can't be done. It can't be done.
Dave Nelson
dehusman wrote: Lets see, there was the Erie Triplex for the steam fans, the Aero train for diesel guys, now all we need is a model of the EMD 3 truck electric for the juice jacks and we will have a tri-fecta of failed one hit wonders produced by the model companies. And yet none of the major model companies produces a single accurate, good running model of an engine or car for anything prior to WW1.Geez.Dave H.
The triplex was a failure, but you have to admit...they did last 10 years in service.
Good story. I still don't like the sound coming out of the cars instead of the engine.
Phil
Bob, My Aero Train is HO scale. If I get a chance I'll post some pictures of the install. Warren, yes, I did use an MRC decoder. Why? Well, I haven't had the problems with MRC decoders a few others seem to have (and that is sound and non-sound and I run them hours at a time). These are not Athearn version decoders. The OEM decoders that come with Athearn products are not standard MRC products. They are specially made to Athearns specs/requirements. (These decoders go from the MRC Chinese factory straight to the Athearn Chinese factory. So...what type of quality control do they get?)
Anyway, I was going to use a MRC mini-brillance but was told the 1657(former 1631) had the 567 engine sound so I got that one. The problem is the 1657 is a "full size" decoder so it requires some shell modification (a little grinding and fileing). If you are content with modern diesel engine sounds, use a mini decoder which should fit without modification.
The speaker is another problem. The frame is drilled for a speaker, but the area in the frame is very small and narrow, a 1/2 inch round speaker is too big for the area. In addition, the drive shaft pases through the area, so there is almost no depth for a baffle, which would be even worse for a small speaker. I used a 28 mm speaker, with the cone toward the roof, sealed to the inside roof of the loco over the rear drive mechanism. The roof is concave in that location, so there is some, very small baffling affect, like I said not enough for my liking. Still, I think I prefer it to placing the speaker in the first car.
Tilden
Tilden wrote: was told the 1657(former 1631) had the 567 engine
ndbprr wrote:I saw one at my local closing hobby shop yesterday and I have to say that I am baffled by something. There is a four wire plug system that runs thorugh the cars so the tail lights can light appropriately. There is a light to light up the cab but there are no lights in the cars. why would they light the cab and not the cars? In my opinion the light in the cab would be the first thing I would remove.
ndbprr,
All cars are lighted and all wheels pick up power, so no flickering lights !
The diaphragms are magnetic as well, so they don't seperate around curves, a really nice touch IMO, also helps keep the cars together.
Tilden,
I was hoping you used another brand of decoder because I have had "issues" with MRCs retrofit decoders as well as the factory installs in the Athearns. Oh well, not to worry, I'm glad someone has had a trouble free experience with them. Perhaps over time they'll get their act together !
Still like to see some pics of the install, though !
TZ,
I think the 567C was a Winton, just the name EMD gave it when they took over and were still basically producing Wintons.
I've gotta admit, I'm a sucker for anything from the streamline era, especially if it's a bit on the unusual side and I have always wanted an Aero train, so when ConCor announced this, I just had to have one. I'm spoiled to having sound and DCC now, so I don't buy anything unless I can put sound in it.
I was skeptical about the announced sound as well, and as others have stated I've had mixed results with MRC. The first thing I did when I got my HO Aerotrain was disassemble it to assess sound installation. I took a look at what's out on the market, and I decided to try installing Loksound in mine. ESU has an extensive sound library, so I bought the Loksound 3.5-72438, which is the 567, non-turbo 12 Cylinder. May not be perfect, but should be close. After measuring the opening for the speaker in the chassis, I bought the Loksound 50440 speaker (16X25MM). I have to say, it worked out very well (at least I'm happy with it!). To fit the speaker I had to use a dremel to open up the width of the opening just a bit, but ultimately the speaker dropped right in. It even sits right over the speaker holes (which BTW, I opened up just a bit). I used plastic sheet to enclose the speaker, which just clears the forward drive shaft, and sealed it to the chassis. I wired the speaker to the speaker outputs on the DCC board and put a two pin connector on the Decoder speaker outputs and plugged right into the headers on the Factory board. With the decoder sitting on the factory board, the shell will just go back on.
Anyway, with all installed and on the track, it ran perfectly and sounded great. I was very satisfied with the Volume out of that little speaker, and all the functions worked great, without a whole lot of CV tweaking. Mine was debuted at a modular show a few weeks back and lots of folks asked how I had sound and commented on how good it sounded.
Steve
-Morgan
Flash, Actually no. The set comes with a loco and three cars. The add on car sets are three cars. Can't get a ten car train BUT appearantly EMD generally kept the tenth car for testing. So, the trains usually ran with nine cars, thus ConCor isn't wrong on train length. Except, sometimes they did have the tenth car. So now, if you buy the sound car, you can run with ten, your choice. BTW, a train with six cars and the loco looks nice and is about as long as the Pioneer Zephyr with the fourth car.
Sounds like the locsound with the 16x25 speaker is the way to go, less "modifying".
And the Aero train was actually the mid 50's. Disneyland actually ran a semi-scale one for a short time.