ColinB Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 I have just bought a new rebuilt Battle of Britain class. I was really pleased that the DCC socket is in the tender, so no risk of breaking the valve gear when replacing the body. First issue is getting the tender top off, the fit is so tight that I eventually had to prise it of very gently with a thin blade knife. They also forget to tell you about the control lever at the front of the tender that needs moving upwards. Now with the tender top off, I find that Hornby have conveniently made a fitting for the speaker in the tender weight, so that the speaker that comes with the TTS kit fits snugly. The trouble is with the speaker in its fitting, there is no easy way to get the wires past the weight to the DCC socket, the only way is to desolver the leads to the DCC connector, pass them through a hole in the weight and then resolder them. If they had made a slot, it would be so much easier. I won't mind if it was an after market kit I was fitting, but it is Hornby's own part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 I don't have one of these models, but I think you will find, if you remove the screws holding the weight in, there is a groove for the wires, and the speaker will easily slot in.-Someone is bound to jump in now, and say I'm wrong! 😛 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir john Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 @ERICNo you are bang on I've fitted to a new one you do remove the weight and and slip it through the slotJohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 The are usually two ways of doing things, the right way and the hard way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 I wonder if they changed the design. On my 603 squadron, yes the speaker fits perfectly as you say, but the wires to the DCC socket come through the same hole where the speaker is now going to fit. In my case I could have left it, but it means the DCC wires would have got squeezed when I screwed the weight back down, as there is not a gap between the speaker rim and the weight, when fitted. This means the speaker rim is not flush with the weight, and there might be a risk of it moving about. Anyway, there is a hole to feed the wires through, I suspect that this was the original idea, but Hornby probably did a cost save, as it would have taken longer to fit it. I have the very latest one on order, so I will see if they changed the design. I just desoldered the wires fed them through the hole and resoldered them. I did think of cutting a slot, but I was worried it would compromise the fitting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Some of the weights have a keyhole shaped slot that is obviously designed to take a round or cube speaker.In any case it would be no hardship to enlarge the wire slot a tad or even slot it right through or dress the weight to make the speaker and wires fit better.. The weight is a just a weight not a load bearing structural member. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 I thought I would add some photos to show the issue./media/tinymce_upload/8ce4c2b286d57588086383c72eddc1c0.jpgWiring as delivered /media/tinymce_upload/8986107392e8bcded53cac5a63ea88e0.jpg As you can see from this photo, speaker fits snugly in fitting, no room to now pass the wires through. /media/tinymce_upload/874612042966aacd91c868502182799b.jpg Picture from the top, definitely no room to pass wires through.Ok, I know I can fix it, but I shouldn't have to. It is not as if it would have cost them more money to do it properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 Just received the latest version of this model, the Royal Observer Corps, and no they haven't changed the design. They have ammended the instructions to include removing the lever, so I suppose that is an improvement. It still took about a hour to get the tender apart, it tells you to pull the tender top back, but unfortunately there are two locating lugs, and the weight is about 1mm too long to achieve this easily. I know they are only little things, but we pay enough for these models, so why can they not get it right. The trouble is, you have to be so careful, and now Hornby seems to have a policy of not providing spare parts, the job is doubly difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 Fixed it by cutting a slot to the hole, saves the risk of desoldering and resoldering the connector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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