I see what you're talking about. There is a black or dark blue line between the cab and shell. A little bit of paint can take care of this. The cab is secure to the shell.
Although some have commented that the street price ($130) is low for a sound-equipped unit, keep in mind that the previous run is available for only $50. The motor appears to have been upgraded - Bachmann sells the old style motor for $12 compared to $18 for the new style one as used in the K4. Also, the couplers are now knuckle type. However, the bodyshell appears unchanged. So, we have a new $130 loco, which looks about the same as the old $50 loco along with, maybe, $10 worth of motor and coupler updates, thus leaving $70 to account for the DCC+sound parts. Does that really seem like a great deal?
If one wishes a DCC loco with sound, they would have to make that call. A halfway decent sound decoder is around $50-60 online at most places. The better ones upwards of $100. So the deciding factor is most likely going to be that it is already installed in the locomotive.
So my assumption that the shell rests on the chassis frame above the fuel tank was wrong. I grinded down maybe 2mm of metal, and the shell would not go down farther. It just would not seat. I tried to do a comparison and height eye test with the shell off the chassis but next to it to see what could be getting in the way, and it looks like the decoder is sticking up too high. So anyone trying to grind down the frame halves, don't do it. You'll darn near ruin it like I almost did.
Well hold the phone. I discovered upon closer inspection that when I grinded down the sides of the metal frame halves where the lip is at the bottom, I forgot two important parts: the two ends of the frame where the couplers touch on the shell (but still on the frame). There is a little 1mm lip on the frame halves where the front and back porches sit. I think if I grind those off, the shell will site closer to the ties. Stay tuned.
Success! I was able to lower the shell on the frame lower than the original height. It took a lot of grinding, cutting, and trying to get it to fit right. I will upload pictures when I can later tonight.
Nice! Once I get the instructions back from Soundtraxx, I'll show everyone how to add capacitors to cut out on the sound dropping out. I've found a way to add five 227uF capacitors under the circuit board.
I get so dammed tired of playing Mr. Fix It. I'll leave this one alone. A leaverite. Leave her right there.
I don't mind paying less for things if I can tinker around with them for a little to get what I want. I can certainly understand not wanting to do that.
So I soldered two 227uF capacitors in parallel to the capacitor (107J) that's on top of the circuit board. That didn't help with the motor and sound cutting out. I have yet to hear from Soundtraxx if that is the capacitor that will help cut out the momentary light, sound, and motor functions. This thing is TERRIBLE in cutting out on clean track. I'm starting to echo Rick's sentiment that tinkering should not happen on these models. Unfortunately, I put in a lot of work on this already, so I'm not sure I want to continue to tinker with this. Maybe I'll get rid of the stock Soundtraxx decoder and get an ESU LokSound Select Micro DCC sound decoder. Who knows. Unfortunately I can't return this because I already messed with the frames. Question: does anyone know what the two large silver barrels are under the circuit board are for? I e-mailed Soundtraxx to find out where to solder additional capacitors to mitigate motor and sound cutout on these models, but I have yet to hear back from them.
So the two large silver cylinders underneath the circuit board are capacitors. They say 100 on them, so the first two values of the capacitance are 10 with a mulitplier for the third digit. When I connected the two 227uF capacitors to the large yellow capacitor on top of the circuit board, and placed the locomotive on the track and increased the throttle, the sound still cut out. I'm wondering if I can do what other Soundtraxx tsunami users have done and connect the positive of the capacitor (marked with a bar) to the blue wire (since there is no blue wire on the circuit board, it would be the + from one of the pads going to each LED) and connect the negative of the capacitor to the -motor terminal. Or I could just wait until I hear back from Soundtraxx.
So I made a picture of the underside of the Soundtraxx Circuit Board. I think I might have identified the bridge rectifier. On the underside of the circuit board is a group of four small black rectangles arranged in two groups of two (or is it two groups of two?). If I put a multimeter from the left side track input to one of the eight solder points on those black rectangles, I get a very low resistance, something like 0.2 ohms. Is that where I'm supposed to connect the negative (DC negative) of the capacitor bank (according to the website below)? And the positive would normally go to the blue wire, but since we don't have a blue wire, the blue connections are to functions, which in this case are the front and rear lights. I'm guessing the positive of the capacitor would connect to the + positive pads on the front or rear LEDs (where it says V+ on the top front and top rear of the circuit board). http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm I'll upload a picture when I get home, but I'm talking about point 2 once the picture is uploaded.
Well, it allowed the shell to sit closer to the frame and to the wheels. Unfortunately, I cannot go lower since now the circuit board is in the way. And Carl, I think you might be right. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to get an ESU LokSound Select Micro and install that. I would have plenty of space for that.
