Athearn Gas Turbine

Scale:
HO Scale


WOWKit used in this installation

Kit Coming Soon

Which includes the following items:



This installation is for a HO-Scale Athearn Gas Turbine using a TCS WOW121-Diesel Decoder, AK-MB1 Motherboard with built in Keep Alive®, 
WOWSpeaker, open speaker enclosure and VR 1.5 Volt pwer supply by TCS.

HO-Scale Gas Turbine shown prior to installation. While gently pulling outwards at each end and along each side of the frame, lift the shell off of the frame.
HO-Scale Gas Turbine shown prior to installation. While gently pulling outwards at each end and along each side of the frame, lift the shell off of the frame.
The Gas Turbine shown with the shell off. Remove the wires from the original lighting board and remove it from the chassis.
The Gas Turbine shown with the shell off. Remove the wires from the original lighting board and remove it from the chassis.
With the original lighting board removed, trim, tin or lengthen the wires as necessary.
With the original lighting board removed, trim, tin or lengthen the wires as necessary.
Using a small piece of double sided foam tape, secure the motor mount to the frame and attach the AK-MB1 to the motor mount. Solder the motor and track pickup wires according to the included wiring diagram.
Using a small piece of double sided foam tape, secure the motor mount to the frame and attach the AK-MB1 to the motor mount. Solder the motor and track pickup wires according to the included wiring diagram.
In order to facilitate the use of the original 1.5 Volt bulbs, it will be necessary to bypass the resistors highlighted above in blue on the motherboard for the bulbs to function properly. To do so, first add a small dab of solder to each end of the two resistors highlighted above and then taking a small length of tinned wire, solder this wire as a 'bridge' onto the dabs of solder. Trim off the ends of the wire. The bottom of this board with the four resistors bypassed should look like the photo below.
In order to facilitate the use of the original 1.5 Volt bulbs, it will be necessary to bypass the resistors highlighted above in blue on the motherboard for the bulbs to function properly. To do so, first add a small dab of solder to each end of the two resistors highlighted above and then taking a small length of tinned wire, solder this wire as a 'bridge' onto the dabs of solder. Trim off the ends of the wire. The bottom of this board with the four resistors bypassed should look like the photo below.
These specific bridges will allow the 1.5 Volt correct voltage for the use of the forward and rear headlight pads as well as pads 1 and 3. We utilized pad #1 for the lower from light and pad #3 for a pull behind tank rear light.
These specific bridges will allow the 1.5 Volt correct voltage for the use of the forward and rear headlight pads as well as pads 1 and 3. We utilized pad #1 for the lower from light and pad #3 for a pull behind tank rear light.
Adding in the TCS VR 1.5 voltage supply allows proper voltage to the original bulbs. On this unit, the blue wire here is connected to the 12 Volt lead, the tan wire is the common lead to each light and the black/white striped wire as shown above is soldered to the 3rd pin from the top for the negative lead.
Adding in the TCS VR 1.5 voltage supply allows proper voltage to the original bulbs. On this unit, the blue wire here is connected to the 12 Volt lead, the tan wire is the common lead to each light and the black/white striped wire as shown above is soldered to the 3rd pin from the top for the negative lead.
Insert the 30mm WOWSound speaker into the open back enclosure and carefully secure it with a small amount of hot melt glue around the rim. NOTE: You must be very careful to avoid getting glue on the speaker cone. Glue on the speaker will ultimately cause it to produce no sound and fail. With this assembly complete, using the same glue, secure the assembly to the frame, being sure to center it to avoid conflicts with the shell later. If desired, an additional speaker can be mounted in a similar fashion to the rear of the frame. The leads for this would have to be wired in series with the front one. You can now plug in your WOW121 decoder. Be sure to be mindful of wire routing and reassembly of the shell as to not damage or foul the installation. Your Gas Turbine is now WOWSound equipped and ready to roll!
Insert the 30mm WOWSound speaker into the open back enclosure and carefully secure it with a small amount of hot melt glue around the rim. NOTE: You must be very careful to avoid getting glue on the speaker cone. Glue on the speaker will ultimately cause it to produce no sound and fail. With this assembly complete, using the same glue, secure the assembly to the frame, being sure to center it to avoid conflicts with the shell later. If desired, an additional speaker can be mounted in a similar fashion to the rear of the frame. The leads for this would have to be wired in series with the front one. You can now plug in your WOW121 decoder. Be sure to be mindful of wire routing and reassembly of the shell as to not damage or foul the installation. Your Gas Turbine is now WOWSound equipped and ready to roll!

Important Soldering Tip

Please do not use any flux either liquid or paste on the mother board. Over time, the acidic properties of liquid or paste flux will begin eating away at the fiberglass PCB and will damage it. Use only Rosin-core solder or no-clean flux approved for electronics use.

TCS recommends the use of Kester "44" Sn63 Pb37, .015" diameter Rosin-core solder. Kester part number 24-6337-0007.

You can order this solder from the following retailers:
Digikey - PN:KE1110-ND
Techni-Tool - PN:488SO6775

Other solder tips

When stripping wire, only strip a tiny little bit of the insulation. Strip no more than a 1/32 of an inch. When the wire gets tinned with solder, the insulation will shrink back more. Try to not expose any more wire than half the length of the solder pad at most. In no case should solder or exposed wire wire ever be outside the boundary of the the solder pad you are attaching a wire to.
Click here for important information on properly Stripping and Tinning wire

Lacing Cord

In order to keep the wires neat and prevent possible shorts, we recommend lacing the wires into a bundle using lacing cord. Lacing cord is a wax impregnated string used for wire bundling and making harnesses. There are many choices of lacing cord available from Digikey www.digikey.com. 
We use part number 802534B BK032-ND