Percy the Small Engine with smoke and sound

kedwards

kedwards

Caving, Garden Railways & more caving. Fan of TTTE
Percy has been in the workshop over the Winter and has now been fitted with battery, radio control, sound and smoke. See Percy undergoing test runs on the Sandwell Valley Railway.
Please do not look too closely at the garden. I didn't have time between the showers to tidy it up.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrWqT0cTghY[/youtube]
 
Looks and sounds good, especially once Percy's under way. (I found watching on youtube gave was better than on the inset.)
 
Thanks Gordon. On YouTube it is in full HD. This was just a test to see how the smoke looked on video and if the mic would pick up the sound. From this test I think it has potential. I've now got to save up to convert the other engines.
 
It certainly has potential. I use the mylocosounds with my Playmobil track-powered locos and I recognised the sound on your video straightaway. Is it the steam card or the coasting version you're using?
 
Oooooer, very nice Keith :) :) :), will you be bringing it to run on the club layout on the 22nd???
 
kedwards said:
The instructions say it is a Coast Steam. Can you tell me what the difference is please?
Click to expand...

Coast steam is a later development of the Steam sound card and when the train is slowing down there is a coasting effect on the steam (not very well expressed but I think you'll know what I mean) that the original Steam sound card didn't have. I had a Steam sound card from Peter Spoerer and when the new Coast sound card came out I exchanged it for that with Peter. However, the whistle on the new card was a rather weedy one with a strange echo, rather as if the train was in a valley, so I swapped back to the Steam sound card version. Peter wasn't happy with the new whistle sound and was going to mention it to the manufacturer. He must have done this as the whistle on your video is back to how it was on the Steam card.
 
Hi Bram. I am hoping to come to the meeting on 22nd as Steve will be bringing Toby for me. Thanks Gordon for the info. on the sound card. I am very pleased with it.
 
Excellent video, a really tidy conversion and a great line. Well done that man!
 
Impressive!!

I am a total newbie and my large scale collection currently consists of James the Red Engine and two bits of second hand LGB track :)

I am hoping to do a similar upgrade and was wondering if it was even possible to fit a smoke unit. Thanks for answering this question and any guidance on how you did this greatly appreciated?

Cheers

Rob
 
Hi Robert. The smoke unit is a Seuthe number 6. I got it from Gaugemaster. It costs £23.75 and works off 10 to 14 volts. Percy now runs from a 12v battery so it is ideal. Fitting it was easy. Drill out the bottom of the funnel and it slips in. I have countersunk the top of the funnel too as otherwise it stands a little proud. This required touching up the paint on the funnel. The only wiring is to fit a suitable switch in one of the battery leads. I've mounted the switch on the cab floor. If your loco still works from track power it will be more complicated as the voltage it picks up will vary.
 
Nice conversion. Well done.

To answer the questions about the MyLocoSound soundcards, the original version chuffed hard all the time. The current version, which has been around for over a year, chuffs hard when accelerating, softens the chuff when coasting and goes into a soft "overrun" mode when slowing down. When this change first occurred we did indeed make the whistle too weak. However this has now been addressed and we now have both the coasting sounds and the strong whistle.

If any MyLocoSound owners would like to have their soundcard updated to have both the coasting modes and the strong whistle then we are happy to do so free as a service to customers. Just email us at sales@mylocosound.com. However, it does mean airmailing the soundcard to Australia. Also please check the number stamped on the large processor chip on the soundcard. If you see 886 then we can update it. If you see a lower number then we can't.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound

PS. I am now off to buy a Seuthe smoke generator for my grandchildren's Thomas. Does anyone know if the Seuthe fits in the Bachmann Lyn funnel?
 
Thanks Peter for all of the information. I will be adding smoke units to the rest of the Thomas range eventually. The no. 6 unit will not fit in Lyn as the funnel is only 8mm inside. The no. 6 is 10mm. I will need to fit a unit in my Lyn so hopefully there will be one in the range that will fit.
 
The video link, if there is one, doesn't show up on my screen. Then again, a lot of things don't show up on my screen.
 
Looks great! But because I'm a pedantic antipodean I'd actually like to see what makes this all happen, if you are prepared to share with us that is. It may be "Commercial in confidence"....
 
Hi Dan. The video is embedded and no one else has complained (yet!) that they can't see it, but here's a text link for you to try - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrWqT0cTghY
Trev, flushed with the success of converting Percy, I will be doing the same conversation on Thomas in the next few weeks. When I do I will take some photos under the bonnet and add a few words of explanatory text. After I've done this then there will be James and Toby should be arriving soon.
 
Thanks, very nicely done.
 
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