Sound in freight and passenger cars

For sometime, sound decoders have been available for locomotives. The quality and variety of these is increasing gradually, and it was only a matter of time that these became available for cars.

While sound in cars is nothing new (Lionel amongst others, has been offering them for their models for a while now), the first commercially available sound (that I know of) for an HO scale model was the mechanical reefer released by Athearn last year.  This decoder is now released as a separate available decoder by Soundtraxx, it is called the Tsunami Soundcar. While I have not found a dealer in the UK that stocks this one yet, I have ordered one from the US to try out, and have received it. I'm in the process of doing an installation of it in a HO scale  53' Atlas boxcar.

The decoder also has lighting outputs, bell and horn sounds , so it is also suitable to be used for a passenger cab car, mechanical reefer sounds etc.  While this means that there's a lot in there that the majority of freight cars don't need, I doubt it would make a huge impact on price if the extra's weren't included.
With a bit of creativity, it might fit in some N scale cars too.

Here are a few video's of what it can do.
In a freight car.



In use in a variety of cars:

SP GP9

One of my latest modeling projects I finished a few months ago, I had not yet posted here.
It is my SP GP9 commuter locomotive.
Added details are light packages, steamgenerator exhausts, airvents, new roof vents, and several other small items. Of course it was equipped with a Loksound decoder with the new EMD 567 sound file and sounds great.

Here's a few pictures to enjoy.

Updates

It's been a while that I've updated this blog.
I simply had nothing to report. I also had my family holiday and work commitments that took away valuable work commitments.

Anyway, this coming August bank holiday weekend, I am part organising a modular railroading meet in my home town.
Fellow NMRA-BR members from the area, aswell as others will join forces and set up a modest modular layout and 'play trains' together.

I've been working on my module ' Wolter Springs' the past weekend, making some repairs, and enhancements.
I've had an electrical issue and also needed to improve the leg height adjustment range. That's now all done.

Further I've been weathering a few of the structures. See included photo. I know on the picture the warehouse looks rather 'stripey', but in real life it is actually not that bad. I will still tone it done with some dust coloured powders to remove some of the starkness (is that a word? ) .

New Peco turnout control system

Here's a youtube introduction video to the new Peco turnout motors and control systems called Smartswitch.
A huge improvement over the old snap type motors.
Smartswitch is a complete set of a control board, screws, mounting brackets and 4 servos.
MFRP is £65,- , but I've seen it advertised at £55,- already, which makes this a very attractive set. Additional servos retail for about £13,95 each at this moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4nT3aO1jmU

New Look

I decided to update the look of this blog with one of the new templates provided by Blogger.
I'm sure I could make it look a bit better, but that is something I'll do another day.

The main reason for this update is so that the actual blog column is a bit wider, and is better capable of displaying the newer wide screen and HD Youtube video's, that didn't quite fit in the old design anymore.

I do need to look at the header picture, as it's not wide enough for my liking....

Greely Freight station museum layout

Enjoy!

Adding Posters to a structure wall and more

Here's a nice tutorial of how to add posters to a building wall using just plain printed paper signs.
The usual way of doing this is using decals. This tutorial shows it can be achieved in a simple way.



The product called Mod Podge is available in the UK in Hobbycraft stores, you'd want the matte version which can be purchased in 236ml containers for 4 pounds.

To get you started, here is  a link to some signs, mostly aimed at 50's 60's modelers: Signs

If you let the video play on, there's also a tutorial on building vineyards and scratch building a shed.