-->

Monday, February 17, 2020

Digitization of a BB 27000 Mehano

Now that it is pretty clear that Os.Kar will very unfortunately never produce the BB 27000 and BB 37000 engines, I decided to get the Mehano models. They are not as nice and detailed as what Os.Kar would have done, but it is something anyway.

I focus in this post on the digitization of the engine. I will talk at this end about what I have found to further detailed the Mehano models with several kits.


Quick run in analog


In this video, I did a quick run in DC to make sure everything was going smoothly:



Disassembly


I followed the instructions to take the engine apart:
  1. Remove the 4 buffers - I'm missing one actually. Just have to pull carefully
  2. Remove the 2 couplers
  3. Remove the 2 "chasse-pierres"
  4. Remove 2 small parts in the center of the engine
  5. Spread the sides of the body to separate it from the chassis




One more quick run on the test bench:



Decoder installation


I purchased the sound decoder from Train Modelisme: https://www.train-modelisme.com/mag.php?goto=bout.php&id=14652&famille=Digital&cat=%20%20&pro=o&cat2=$cat

It is the ESU 58410 LokSound 5 already programmed by Train Modelisme with the sounds from Bastiani.



The decoder is very easy to install: just take out the little circuit board and insert the new one. The direction is very important and somewhat explained on the Mehano instructions: the wires have to come out opposite of the screw that is near the DCC plug - or just see above.

It works!


The functions of this decoder are provided here: https://www.train-modelisme.com/data/Loksound%2027000.JPG



Sound box


As mentioned on the Train Modelisme webpage, the machine can use a sound box to increase the quality and power of the speaker. I used the 23mm box from ESU 50341, but the 20mm might have actually been a better fit:


And it is indeed much better:




Putting everything back together


There is a specific place for the sound box and the decoder goes under the chassis. I used normal tape to stick everything together, but I don't think it is the best option. I have to do a little research on this.


And the final video:




Improving details


The next step and next post will be about improving the details. There are multiple options:


There are two articles in Loco Revue nº 710 from September 2006 that describes the kits from SMD Productions and from Haxo Modele. The second article talks about putting better pantographs; I've been told from a reliable source that I should use those from the Jouef BB 36000.


And finally some links:



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,