Installing sound in an Kato GP35??


Scordicus

Scordicus

Member
I'd like to hear from anyone that has fitted a sound decoder in to a Kato GP35. I've bought this loco second hand and it seems to me to have a very odd way of lighting the front & rear lights with the LED's in the center..

The loco is DCC ready and just has the jumpers installed at the moment. The manual says to simply remove those and plug in an 8 pin decoder, but I can't honestly see where the decoder would sit without coming in to contact with the top weight and lighting bars, let alone a speaker..

Should these bars be cut down & the top weight in the body shell be removed for the speaker & decoder or is there another way of doing it?

Advice would be good, pictures would be even better!..
 
Well, you're finally in luck that Soundtraxx makes the correct decoder for the GP35 (EMD 567D Turbo). I used the Kato board (828067, I think) and one of Railflyer Prototypes flat 2 Watt speakers in mine. I can't post pictures until later, but did all this just recently in a BN2522 GP35. I found I had to add more details to the loco than I thought I would (beacon, snowplow, horn, lift rings, all weather cab window on the engineer's side). I didn't fix the painting issues, and added some MU cables.

You do have to remove the weight out of the top of the center of the shell to fit the speaker, which sits above the decoder. I did it this way so I wouldn't have to mill the frame any, nor relocate the reverse light pipe, as I usually put speakers above the rear truck.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I did think about cutting down the light pipes & attaching smLED's to the ends, but I didn't know if it was necessary..

I've already bought the sound decoder & it's a regular type not a drop in board lol..

Some pics would be great if it's not too much trouble...
 
I'd let you know, but it'll be several months before I get to sound install on my Kato GP35 rebuild. Articles start soon on the Cannon & Co cab install.
 
I have fitted a QSI Atlas format Tsunami in a couple of Kato GP35s, completely replacing the lighting board. I fitted two LEDs on a satelite board made from veroboard and stuck it on top of the sound chip with two-sided sticky tape, lining up the new LEDs with the former position of the old LEDs. Speaker is a small oval at the rear of the long hood. So far this has worked fine. I may re-visit this as I plan to install working ditch lights. I may even get round to posting a photo, if this would be of interest.
 
Alien said:
I have fitted a QSI Atlas format Tsunami in a couple of Kato GP35s, completely replacing the lighting board. I fitted two LEDs on a satelite board made from veroboard and stuck it on top of the sound chip with two-sided sticky tape, lining up the new LEDs with the former position of the old LEDs. Speaker is a small oval at the rear of the long hood. So far this has worked fine. I may re-visit this as I plan to install working ditch lights. I may even get round to posting a photo, if this would be of interest.
Click to expand...

Absolutely of interest. Anytime I can learn something new I'm all for it as long as it doesn't cost the "teacher" to much.

Seann
 
Here are some photos of my installation of a QSI Tsunami (Atlas format) in a GP35.
View attachment 28307
First a general view of the installation. The veroboard was made by direct comparison with the original lighting board, adjusting the LED positions until they corresponded. The veroboard was stuck on top of the sound chip with a double sided sticky pad. The external capacitor can also be seen stuck on with a double sided sticky pad - this sits in the short hood / nose. The speaker, a small oval in enclosure is tacked temporarily at the back of the long hood. I intend to fix permanently it in this position.
View attachment 28308
A plan view of the installation. This shows how the LEDs are positioned and how they use different strips of the veroboard. The legs of the LEDs are covered with heat-shrink insulation to prevent shorts. Note also I have used Kaydee insulating washers under the fixing screws as a precautionary measure.
View attachment 28309
A front three-quarter view. These are just hand-held photos with the lens fairly wide open, hence the shallow depth of field. Hopefully it can be seen what is going on.
View attachment 28310
Finally a photo with the body on, the loco powered up and the LED shining through the headlights. Work will continue with detailing, ditch lights and a repaint into MRL livery. Hopefully this will give some idea of what I did, unfortunately not the most elegant solution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top