Topics

Hey Bach Man, any idea when the sound value GE 44 tonner will be available?

I was at one of the LHS a couple of weeks ago. They had a 25% off sale going on. I looked around a saw a Bachmann HO FTA DC on board for $25.00 plus 25% off. I bought thinking that if it didn't run I had the makings of a dummy unit. I got it home and took out the decoder and replaced it with a spare Sountraxx decoder I had. It runs great! I bought an F7B body for it and will letter it for my RR.    Joe

Hey MR Bach Man, any idea of when the Santa Fe GP9 shells will be in?  •Model: 00A01-62809   Thanks.       Joe

I have an RS3 sound value loco on order. I have 2 Bachmann GP9's and S4's. I've added grab irons to these models. I would like to do the same to the RS3. Has anyone done this already? If so what grab irons did you use? Did you use a drilling guide  of some sort? I have a BLMI grab iron drilling guide but am not sure it will work on the RS3 as the ends are curved. Can't wait for it to get here.  Joe 

Hey MR. B'Mann, any word on when the RS3 soundvalue for Santa Fe will be here? Has anyone bought a soundvalue RS3? If so what is your opinion on the sound levels?   Joe

I bought a Bachmann HO S4 Soundvalue loco. I added a working rotary beacon to it. Here's what I did. I removed the plastic clips off the decoder, soldered all the wires to the decoder except the rear head light. I un-soldered the wires from the rear light on the PC board and removed them from the decoder. I soldered 2 new wires to the PC board and ran them up to the out put for the head light and soldered them to the board along with the wires for the head light. I soldered an LED to the rear light output on the decoder, making sure the top of the LED was below the top of the rear light LED.I measured the distance from the back of the rear light to the LED and added the thickness of the cab wall.   I drilled a hole with a #61 bit through the roof and U shaped inner shell. I enlarged the hole so the LED would fit in it . I put the shell on the frame. I installed a short length of finer optic in hole in the roof and installed the rotary light on the fiber optic. I used a Details West part # BR-106. I re-mapped the out puts on the decoder as follows: CV33 and CV34=1, CV35=2,CV38=1,CV50=7. This allows the strobe to be on F1. F2 and F3 work the horn. F4 is now the bell.  Joe

Here's a shot of my latest loco project: A pair of GP9's detailed and weathered.  Joe

I bought 2 Gp9's lettered for the Santa Fe. I made decals for my Montana and Pacific and lettered both units as well as renumbering one. Things done: sound decoder, grab irons, bell, antenna, working beacon light, mu stands, mu hoses.
I'm waiting for my weathering powders to get here and do some weathering. One photo of # 2937. Other unit is 2934.  Joe

 I bought an S4 lettered for the Northern Pacific and added a sound decoder and some details to. I used the speaker enclosure that came with the DCC ready loco, but was not happy with the sound. I bought from Bachmann the speaker and enclosure used on the sound value S4. I had to modify it by cutting a rectangle hole in the top front of it to clear the resister for the headlight. Even with this the sound was improved greatly. The volume for the prime mover is set to around 70. I still have some touch up paint and weathering to do. The bell is close to what was on the prototype. I added an antenna to the cab roof, grab irons on the left side in front of the cab and on the right side of the front.   Joe

 Yeah Bachmann !!!!! I see you have an Alco S4 for the Northern Pacific. Now how about a GP7 or GP9 to go with it?  Ask the powers that be to consider doing what the other guys do and offer you locos for all road name and numbers with or without sound. I'm buying the NP S4 but will have to get a sound decoder for it. And thanks for making the newer locos sound ready with a space for a speaker.   Joe

I see Bachmann is coming out with a Great Northern RS3 sound value!!!!!  Hey Bachmann how about some GP7's and GP9's in GN paint as well? Thanks for great products!!!!   Joe

Hey Mr. Bach Man, any word on when the soundvalue GP7's will be here?   Joe

Does anyone know if the sound value GP7's coming out will have the tabs on the decoder for F5 and F6 light functions ? Do any of the current diesel locos with sound value have these as well? Any word Mr. Bach Man when they'll be here? Thanks.  Joe

I ordered a GP30 shell from Bachmann on Monday the 7th. I got home yesterday from work and there it was! I live in the Seattle, WA area. Talk about fast service!!!  Joe

Has anyone installed a sound decoder in the new DCC on Board S4? If so details about the decoder, speaker and any problems.  Thanks.  Joe

I screwed things up trying to post a bigger photo. How's this one?  Joe

This started out as a UP ungine # 114. I repainted it in GN orange and Empire green. I added grab irons and a bell. The grab irons are from BLMA. I used their drilling guide to drill the holes. The bell is from Custom Finishing. The decals are from Model Railroader,s project layout from a while back. They were included in one of the magazines that had the Turtle Creek Central installments in it. There's still some touch up work to do and more details to install. What do you think?  Joe

The Santa FE sound value F7A has dual head lights. Does any one know if has an LED for each head light or 1 LED for both? Thanks. Joe

I have photo's of my sound install in a Bachmann GP7 but can't get them to post here. I did get them posted on the Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine site(mrhmag.com). They are in their posts index section. Joe

I got one of the new GP7's from my LHS last week and put in a Soundtraxx sound decoder in it( part # 828020). This is the board style with built in keep a live caps. I took off the top part of the frame and milled out a slot for the caps to fit into since the board had to be mounted upside down. I replaced the LED's with golden white ones since the ones that came with the engine were orange. I put a 1" speaker in the fuel tank opening(thanks Bachmann for this feature). The engine runs and sounds great.  Joe