Has anybody put a sound decoder in the "medium" Vanderbilt? If so, what did you use?
Gene
Gene
Does a standard Bachmann decoder fit? If so, then a micro-Tsunami will fit.
You can also fit for less money About $68 a TCS motor decoder and
a sound bug from Digitraxx. Both the Tsunami and the Sound bug are better
quality than the MRC decoders.
Tim Anders
Souderton, PA
I put the decoder on top of the stock board, and put an 18mm round speaker/enclosure in the hopper under the coal sitting on an angle.
drilled a dozen or so sound ports in the coal load.
Hello SteamGene,
Not sure what size "medium" is but, I put a sound chip in a the vandy tender behind my SP Heavy Mountain ...the Spectrum version. I used a soundtraxx SDX chip and a 1" speaker with a home-made baffle. For the baffle I used flexible plastic appropriated from an old tupperware "type" container ...the bowl was thin and very flexible. I cut a strip 1" wide and long enough to wrap around the circumference of the speaker with a bit of overlap for fastening/gluing. I then cut a circle out of the plastic lid (same container) and glued it on the back of the cylinder/tube I fabricated. The speaker is mounted about half way down the tube/cylinder and glued in place. It all fit inside the tender without modifying it. The power pick-up is in the tender so the install was easy with a bit of soldering. Other than the fact that I used the wrong speaker (soon to be remedied) it works very well. Oh, by the way ... you'll have to drill about 25 or 30 small holes iin the front of the tender to get the sound out but, if you're careful it will go well.
Good Luck,
RJ
RJ,
The Hickens tender behind the SP USRA heavy Mountain is much larger than the "medium" Vandy. I believe the tender is actually a "small." - say 6-8 thousand gallons. I've had no problem with the 16K Vanderbilt or the USRA large tenders. The SP style small Vandys are cramped, however.
Gene