Hornby OO 2-BIL SR EMU with Zimo Sound and Stay-Alive

Kit: MX648R; IceCube18X13X07-1W; SACC16 + 3x 330uF Tall Tantalums; Internal Coach Lighting Strips

The body detailing on Hornby's 2-BIL is excellent. Internally though it is a pretty basic model, but let's make the best of it! A single 8pin DCC socket it provided in the motor coach (nothing in the dummy, and no pickups there either). The intended kit is also shown here, though the 8mm IceCube is too hopefully and we end up using a 7mm version instead.

Therefore we need to bridge to the dummy to provide control and power to the internal lighting strips that we want to add in both coaches. A YouChoos 2-pin mini-connector is good for this - just need to work out a good route with entry/exit points between the coaches - requires lots of flexibility so that the connection doesn't foul on corners.

Rather than taking the easy approach of putting the MX648 sound decoder in the seating area, we remove the DCC socket and hard-wire it at the rear so it won't be so visible. The speaker sits vertically behind that - just enough room for the body to go back on.

The SACC16 stay-alive connection kit is wired to some 330uF Tall Tantalum capacitors and located carefully on top of the decoder.

The lighting strips are straight-forward to put in - sticky-backed, they just stick into the roof. They are warm white colour LEDs by default, but a covering with Kapton tape creates a fabulous yellowed effect - just as if all the passengers had been smoking!

All done with passengers and drivers added too...

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