Hornby TT:120 Class 08 with Zimo MS Sound and Stay-Alive

Kit: MS500N; SugarCube5; STACO3A stay-alive kit

A great choice for Hornby's first TT diesel, the Class 08 will undoubtably prove very popular.

The model provides a 6pin DCC socket, seated in a plastic tray on top of the motor.

To create space for a SugarCube5 speaker, we simply chop the plastic tray short.

The speaker sits on top of the worm frame, carefully superglued on. We check the body for fit before continuing - a 5mm SugarCube is as big as will go in without more major surgery.

The pins of our MS500N sound decoder are snipped slightly shorter - a single cut with some sharp snips across all pins together is the way to do it, which also gives a very slight kink in the end of the pins - this helps keep the decoder secure in the socket, so a little side benefit!

The MS500 is too wide to sit down into the plastic tray, so we have to cut off the side walls of the tray... safest to unscrew it temporarily to do it.

The MS500 can have up to 1000uF/16V capacitors added directly for stay-alive, so the simplest solution that will easily fit this model is to use a pair of flat 470uF Tantalums, connected in parallel.

Wrapped in Kapton tape, these sit very comfortably at the front. The effect is useful, but not huge.

A more substantial solution is to use a STACO3A kit, which comprises the small STACO PCB and a pair of mini GoldCaps in series. The voltage is only 5.4V, but the backup time provided is much great - as much as a few seconds once fully charged. GoldCaps take a while to charge up, but it real-terms on a model railway, this is absolutely fine, and the result is a fantastic-runner!

Here we see the finished model, body fits on neatly, and overall not a particularly complex install, with great results.

Here's a GBRf 08 with the same kit...

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.