HGLW loco tweak

[-steves-]

You have done a great job of that paint after the initial reaction. Looks super, loving the printed name plates.

[SimonWood]

Lovely consistent finish across both new and refurbished elements, great looking loco.

[philipy]

Does look good Rik, and the sound is interesting. I've got one of the Ali soundcards on the way, hoping to put in the Gmeinder loco, if and when!

[drewzero1]

Here I thought it was ready to run out of the box and you've gone and created something completely PLR out of it!

Is that named after the same James from your India trip? For a special occasion you could paint the loco to match his fetching Tibetan jacket!

Good choice on the Gladiolus for the background music... I had that as my morning alarm for a while and while it didn't exactly jolt me awake it was pleasant to (eventually) wake up to.

[ge_rik]

Here I thought it was ready to run out of the box and you've gone and created something completely PLR out of it!

Is that named after the same James from your India trip? For a special occasion you could paint the loco to match his fetching Tibetan jacket!

Good choice on the Gladiolus for the background music... I had that as my morning alarm for a while and while it didn't exactly jolt me awake it was pleasant to (eventually) wake up to.

That's amazing! You must have a phenomenal memory to remember that James was the mate I went with to India. I'm working my way through my walking mates for diesel names now I've run out of family members to name them after.

Rik

[drewzero1]

That's amazing! You must have a phenomenal memory to remember that James was the mate I went with to India. I'm working my way through my walking mates for diesel names now I've run out of family members to name them after.

Rik

My memory isn't all that, I just happened to read the thread a few months ago. It was excellent information/inspiration for a back-burner project I've been working on... Sloooowly...

[Old Man Aaron]

Looks right at home on the PLR.

[ge_rik]

I think this will be the final instalment. A few more tweaks - the most significant being that I've swapped the Deltang RX65c for a Micron MR603. The servo output from the MR603 gives a slightly wider range than the Rx65, but the engine note doesn't vary a great deal because the motor speed doesn't increase by very much.

In addition there are a few more cosmetic additions



Rik

[Peter Butler]

She (?) ... (James) is a real beauty and the surface finish is superb, another print masterpiece, well done Rik. I'm still not convinced about the use of sound, but if you like it, why not?

[-steves-]

Very nice all round Rik, it's so far removed from the original loco you purchased. Personally I like the diesel sound you have, it certainly sounds better then my on desk version, not bad for such a cheap sound card

[philipy]

As Steve said, very nice all round, Rik.

What speaker are you using, the small one that comes with the sound unit or a larger one? Does anyone know the techs of their speaker, ie impedance and watts?

[-steves-]

As Steve said, very nice all round, Rik.

What speaker are you using, the small one that comes with the sound unit or a larger one? Does anyone know the techs of their speaker, ie impedance and watts?

The small speaker isn't marked so can't answer that one, but I can say, it is very tinny compared to a larger speaker and I wouldn't get the smaller one unless I was exceptionally tight on space, though you can make it somewhat better with some better acoustics around it. (A bit of plastic pipe for example).

[-steves-]

As Steve said, very nice all round, Rik.

What speaker are you using, the small one that comes with the sound unit or a larger one? Does anyone know the techs of their speaker, ie impedance and watts?

I found the exact same looking speaker as the large one on AliExpress. That is a 4 Ohm 3W speaker. It could be different, but unlikely.

[ge_rik]

I used the little oval speaker which came with it - glued under the cab roof as is my normal practice. Maybe the cab itself acts as some sort of resonance chamber? It sounds ok to me, though I'd like to find a way of reducing the volume.

Rik

[-steves-]

I used the little oval speaker which came with it - glued under the cab roof as is my normal practice. Maybe the cab itself acts as some sort of resonance chamber? It sounds ok to me, though I'd like to find a way of reducing the volume.

Rik

Wow that sounded good for the little speaker, mine definitely doesn't sound like that, as you say, maybe the cab acting as a speaker box?

[philipy]

As Steve said, very nice all round, Rik.

What speaker are you using, the small one that comes with the sound unit or a larger one? Does anyone know the techs of their speaker, ie impedance and watts?

I found the exact same looking speaker as the large one on AliExpress. That is a 4 Ohm 3W speaker. It could be different, but unlikely.

I don't want to derail Rik's thread, but I'm not sure that 4 Ohm rating is correct. My system with the standard small speaker turned up from Ali yesterday and the speaker is unmarked as expected. I'm aware that resistance and impedance are not the same thing, but as a quick and cheerful indication, it is reckoned that a simple resistance check should be about 15% LESS than the true impedance. So I checked the speaker and it shows a resistance of 8.2R. Odd I thought, that means the actual impedance is something like 11 or12R?? So I checked various cheap and cheerful 'greeting card type' Chinky speakers from the bits box. I have nominal 4R, 8R and 16R speakers and they ALL show resistances slightly ABOVE the nominal impedance rating... Duuuhhhh!
No, it isn't my meter on the blink, because I get exactly the same results with two different meters.

[-steves-]

As Steve said, very nice all round, Rik.

What speaker are you using, the small one that comes with the sound unit or a larger one? Does anyone know the techs of their speaker, ie impedance and watts?

I found the exact same looking speaker as the large one on AliExpress. That is a 4 Ohm 3W speaker. It could be different, but unlikely.

I don't want to derail Rik's thread, but I'm not sure that 4 Ohm rating is correct. My system with the standard small speaker turned up from Ali yesterday and the speaker is unmarked as expected. I'm aware that resistance and impedance are not the same thing, but as a quick and cheerful indication, it is reckoned that a simple resistance check should be about 15% LESS than the true impedance. So I checked the speaker and it shows a resistance of 8.2R. Odd I thought, that means the actual impedance is something like 11 or12R?? So I checked various cheap and cheerful 'greeting card type' Chinky speakers from the bits box. I have nominal 4R, 8R and 16R speakers and they ALL show resistances slightly ABOVE the nominal impedance rating... Duuuhhhh!
No, it isn't my meter on the blink, because I get exactly the same results with two different meters.

I just checked the small one that came with the system and it's an 8.1R resistance. Will have to check the large ones when they arrive.

[ge_rik]

I was asked on Youtube about the hauling capabilities of the loco. At the time, I had no idea. But I added couplings yesterday and so today did a highly sophisticated load test - basically adding wagons until the wheels just started slipping. It took 13 LGB skips plus a brake van. Far more than I will actually need in practice as James performs shunting duties at the sand quarry sidings.



Rik