Accucraft UK have recently released a neat little SM-32/45 Baguley Drewry loco. One excellent feature of this loco is that it can be easily regauged to suit 32 mm or 45 mm gauge track. There is a fair amount of room to fit battery R/C and sound under the hood. I am in the process of installing battery R/C, sound and directional lighting. The following is one of a number of articles on how I did this. First up I will show you how to do a basic battery install without any sound or lights. I explain how you can use either RCS radio motor drivers or the EVO esc’s. To remove the body shell from the chassis turn the loco over and locate the two screws just in front of the rear axle.
Then use a phillips head driver to remove them.
Once the screws are removed simply slide the body back and it comes away cleanly from the chassis. Then remove the gearbox bottom plate to expose the mechanism.
Remove all the pick-ups from the gearbox and replace the bottom plate.
I had three 4.8 volt AA Nimh battery packs made and glued them together to form a saddle that sits over the motor. You could also use three x 4 battery plastic holders if you wished. The holders would need to be glued together to form the same U shape.
The top of the battery pack was reinforced with a 1 mm thick styrene sheet 60 mm x 100 mm. This also provides a platform on which to mount the motor driver/esc.
I didn’t want to glue the battery pack to the motor so I cut two 1.5 mm thick 7 mm wide styrene strips to act as a support for the battery pack and glued them either side of the motor as shown.
The charge jack and ON-OFF switch were mounted on the front skirt under the two steps. Once the loco sits upright they are barely visible. I will eventually paint them red too.
The battery pack was glued in position with silicone roof and gutter sealant. This pick shows the EVO-B2 esc that does not need any RF chokes for “motor noise” suppression. The yellow/red/black leads go to the receiver mounted in the cab. see below.
The RCS BASIC-2 does require an RF-CHK pcb which is mounted behind the motor driver pcb.
I try and keep all wiring neat by using small cable ties. The RCS or 2 channel receiver will fit low down in the cab on one wall. I used an AZARR antenna mounted upwards in one corner support and mounted the wire part around the roof perimeter with dabs of silicone.
Here 'tis all put back together and ready to roll.
It runs quite smoothly although somewhat noisily. I feel certain the little critter could easily be “Amercanised” with headlights and a bell. The next part of this project will show how to install a sound system. The low profile RCS and EVO equipment allows plenty of room above the mountings for a sound system under the hood top. A 2" speaker will fit behind the grille which conveniently has already been perforated. Just a small update. Eventually the Loco will be equipped with sound. Assuming Dallee is able to make the Walker Diesel railcar recording into a sound system. If that doesn’t happen I could live with the Phoenix “Goose” sound. In the meantime I have located a 50 mm x 50 mm speaker that seems to have been made for the grille space. I painted the mylar cone of the speaker with flat black to better hide it behind the grill.
The speaker was mounted with a light application of silicone roof and gutter sealant and let set overnight. The mounting is quite solid and the seal very good.
The other end of the body has a smallish opening into the cab. The battery pack will help seal off the underneath. I will report back when I have a sound system to try with it.