Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Some of you may recall my threads a few months back on the Korean-made brass and steel Wurttemburg T3 0-6-0 made for the German firm of Dingler (which caused great if somewhat juvenile amusement over the name... 
).
Well, today I grasped my courage in one hand and my Dingler in the other (fnarr.....) - don't ask me what I was holding the screwdriver with - and decided to open this gorgeous little loco up to see what was inside, with a view to sound-chipping it.
After removing some of the smallest crosshead machine screws I've ever seen, the removal of the body was actually a lot simpler than I feared - and this is what I found inside....
All the wiring is incredibly fine, even by LGB standards, and to someone used to looking inside LGB locos the drivetrain is very different.... the motor (a Buhler, same as LGB) mounted on a flexible sprung-loaded bracket, with a universal joint to an enclosed gearbox that seems to drive the centre axle only, the outer axles being driven purely by the motion cranks.
I'm assuming that the shrink-wrapped electronics package to the left of the motor is simply a voltage stabiliser, it appears to only be connected to the lighting circuits (which are not directional - the lights at both ends come on under analogue power).
It looks as though the actual decoder install will be reasonably straightforward, the only problem being where to physically put it; almost all the space inside the loco is taken up with the mechanism and a selection of lead weights (so that's why the thing is so bl**dy heavy!). I think I will probably have to resort to putting it in the cab, either on the floor or against the back wall, and disguise it as best I can with a couple of crew figures. Some amperage draw tests on analogue confirmed what I'd hoped, that it draws very little current - as would be expected from a Buhler motor - so a Massoth LS should be ample rather than needing the bigger XLS.
That just leaves the speaker - apart from in the cab with the decoder (which I really don't want to do) the only place for that is inside one of the side tanks. There isn't a lot of room, but a Massoth 40mm square-mount type will just fit. I won't know what sort of sound I'll get till it's done, I guess - any suggestions about how I should mount it, speaker pointing inwards toward the boiler or out against the flat metal of the tank? Or do you think it should be in the cab after all, and disguised as best I can?
Jon.
).
Well, today I grasped my courage in one hand and my Dingler in the other (fnarr.....) - don't ask me what I was holding the screwdriver with - and decided to open this gorgeous little loco up to see what was inside, with a view to sound-chipping it.
After removing some of the smallest crosshead machine screws I've ever seen, the removal of the body was actually a lot simpler than I feared - and this is what I found inside....
All the wiring is incredibly fine, even by LGB standards, and to someone used to looking inside LGB locos the drivetrain is very different.... the motor (a Buhler, same as LGB) mounted on a flexible sprung-loaded bracket, with a universal joint to an enclosed gearbox that seems to drive the centre axle only, the outer axles being driven purely by the motion cranks.
I'm assuming that the shrink-wrapped electronics package to the left of the motor is simply a voltage stabiliser, it appears to only be connected to the lighting circuits (which are not directional - the lights at both ends come on under analogue power).
It looks as though the actual decoder install will be reasonably straightforward, the only problem being where to physically put it; almost all the space inside the loco is taken up with the mechanism and a selection of lead weights (so that's why the thing is so bl**dy heavy!). I think I will probably have to resort to putting it in the cab, either on the floor or against the back wall, and disguise it as best I can with a couple of crew figures. Some amperage draw tests on analogue confirmed what I'd hoped, that it draws very little current - as would be expected from a Buhler motor - so a Massoth LS should be ample rather than needing the bigger XLS.
That just leaves the speaker - apart from in the cab with the decoder (which I really don't want to do) the only place for that is inside one of the side tanks. There isn't a lot of room, but a Massoth 40mm square-mount type will just fit. I won't know what sort of sound I'll get till it's done, I guess - any suggestions about how I should mount it, speaker pointing inwards toward the boiler or out against the flat metal of the tank? Or do you think it should be in the cab after all, and disguised as best I can?
Jon.
God only knows what little bulbs them Koreans put in it, in hindsight I suspect they must be something more like 1-2 volts and even the 5 volts was too much for 'em! Still, it's a bright and sunny day so far, doubt we'll need the lights 
