Talk 'n Action Oliver and Mavis with Golden Bear sound boards

Some of you may remember DuckGWR surprised us with a working Talk 'n Action S.C. Ruffey and Toad she made using a microcontroller to read TOMY's track codes and tell the recordable sound board which phrases to play. Three years later, the logical follow up was created by someone else with the OG TnA tech and a clever source for the audio.



Tomynewacoliver from... guess where, whose previous projects include a front wheel drive Oliver, HiT/early FP style RC Oliver (complete with whistle), Power Rails RC Hurricane and an improved 3 Speed RC Gordon, made an outstanding TnA Oliver using components from four different items: a TnA Thomas (track sensor), an early FP Talking Thomas (3x AAA+speaker truck), a Japanese Talking Edward (sound equipped Mail Coach) and a My First Thomas Talking Oliver (sound board and motion sensor). Here are the photos and info he provided on how it was done.



The small red bit is the mechanical track sensor from the TnA Thomas. It was hard for him to mount the sensor beneath Oliver, so it had to be located in the first battery truck. He only holds the actual circuit board for it, along with weights for increased torque; the permanent electronic trucks are too heavy when fully loaded.



The sound truck from Edward had its sound board replaced with the one from the MFT Oliver. Two corners had to be cut down for it to fit. Unlike official TnA engines, which don't say anything unless the track sensor is triggered (depending on how many presses), both it and the buttons on the sound truck are wired in parallel to the pads where Oliver's button was. That allows the phrases to be heard without having to rely on TnA track pieces. The MFT board is set up to detect one press, meaning regular track will also trigger the sensor if loosely connected. That range uses a wiper on the rear axle to detect motion and play the chuffing/other engine sound, so he made sure to wire that to the wheels that triggered the phrases and sounds for Edward. Demonstration videos: running, sound only

Due to use of the sensor's original circuit board, he correctly responds to the codes that tell the motor to stop, accelerate or slow down. I incorrectly thought it made him stop for a few seconds no matter what code he was on, which isn't the case. However, I could see him being difficult to store compared to anything else with a wired battery holder (that I know of). Regardless, it's a really well made and ambitious mod I thought would never be possible and I admire how he was able to work it out. Wonder if Take 'n Play or Wooden Railway items with sound might be a tad easier to use for such conversions due to how small they are.

Following his success with Oliver (and an English speaking Diesel 10 with a FP Talking [Devious] Diesel battery truck), he revisited the idea and made a TnA Mavis earlier this month. She too uses her MFT sound board and was made with a TnA Gordon track sensor, another Japanese Edward sound truck and a Works Unit coach top from a Japanese Percy; the latter was originally motorised (same as Harvey's) and had its roof modded to fit the sound switch and buttons:



Due to Mavis having a quieter drive unit and being designed for a C battery, she's even more suitable for the mod compared to flat drive engines like Oliver. Demonstration video

With the resources, knowledge and effort needed for such a complex mod, I didn't think he would ever do this again. Then again, it is the same person who made a bilingual talking Gauge 1 Thomas with sound boards from three different toys. According to this tweet, he has plans to build even more TnA versions of minor characters that have talking merch.