October 7, 2022

Improving The KR Models 'Fell'

My 'Fell' loco arrived this week, it's a nice model of a very unusual loco, but a few simple upgrades can really improve it. The first problem was that most of the contacts don't touch the wheels properly, these can be bent towards the backs of the wheels with a small screwdriver. The next job is to get rid of the awful factory fitted speaker,

My first thought was to use 1 or 2 megabass speakers, these are a perfect fit if the lugs are cut off at one side to fit around the screw towers in the model. In the end though I found a speaker in my spares box which I felt would be even better, its too big for most models but just fits this one, its a bass driver made by the same people that make the EM2. It has no enclosure so it does limit its sound, but I blocked off all the holes around it with black tack which did help. I may get more of these in to sell if demand is high enough, but they would be over £20 each.

Even with the pickups adjusted to touch the wheels at all times, I still wasn't completely happy with the running, so I added a stay alive. I used the Train-o-matic SPP-N which I stuck to the back of the cab, and bent the capacitor 90 degrees into the space in front of it.