Farish Class 57 Diesel with Zimo Sound

Kit: MX660; SugarCurve6; LifeLink with 2x Flat 470uF Tantalums; Mini Cab LEDs; Drivers

The Farish 57 provides similar opportunities for DCC Sound as most 6pin Farish diesels. We prefer to use the flat MX660 so-called 'drop in' sound decoder. Though this decoder requires especially careful soldering, it does allow simplified wiring for lighting, as the outputs are low voltage, so there is no need to add protective resistors for the model's LEDs.

The chassis is totally disassembled so that we can grind a small section for our SugarCurve6 speaker. We add grey and orange wires to the motor terminals before reassembling.

The chassis top is covered in electrical tape, then thin double-sided tape to hold the MX660 in position. Same for the speaker area - electrical tape, then double-sided sticky tape. We connect the motor wires to the appropriate pads on the decoder.

Check the speaker for height, and connect wires for this.

Red and black wires are added for the pickups. To do this, we've cut out the screw eyes from the original factory PCB and solder these wires to those rings, then screwed them into the orignal screw holes.

Our stay-alive is a LifeLink PCB with a pair of 470uF Flat Tantalums - transforms slow running abilities.

Here we see decoder, speaker and stay-alive all in position, with Kapton tape used to protect the various parts. The model can be tested for motion and sound here, before we begin on the lighting.

The lighting boards are rewired with longer wires, and DCC colours - blue for positive, white for headlights and yellow for tail lights. These are connected to the MX660 at the appropriate end, so we have independent control of headlights vs red tail lights.

The lighting PCBs on this particular 57 have separate yellow and white lights, so we put those on their own decoder outputs. This means that there are no spare lighting outputs left on the decoder (all 6 are used), so cab lights are not possible. However, we pop out the cab interiors and pop in a driver at each end.

Please note that these guides are provided as useful resources for you, as-is. YouChoos cannot be held responsible for errors in the information, or for any damage caused to your models or equipment if you choose to follow any of the steps detailed here.