[TC29] Snowmobile

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

As a motorcycle rider and enthusiast, I like building bikes. I figured the closest thing to a motorcycle that has tracks is a snowmobile, so that's I went for.
I want it large enough to use good old PF, for added RC fun.

First iteration for the front:

Compact enough, but the skis lack a degree of liberty.

Second iteration:

Now I'm looking into the tracks. Snowmobile track suspension system is a lot less trivial than it looks:

I'm not sure I'll replicate all the subtleties, because it involves a compact torsion spring which simply does not exist in the Technic world.
My third iteration on the tracks suspension is a basic parallelogram, so I'm still unhappy:


And that's the status for now.

Edited June 3 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

Some progress here. I struggled a bit to get working geometry, adequate suspension stiffness and global proportions, but things are coming together...

The body is still WIP, so see you soon! :)

Edited June 5 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[Paul B Technic]

That is looking good, the red colour works well.

[2GodBDGlory]

Nice work on the body! I think that was my big struggle when I made a large-scale snowmobile years ago

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

On 6/2/2025 at 2:07 PM, Paul B Technic said:

That is looking good, the red colour works well.

Thanks!

On 6/3/2025 at 2:08 AM, 2GodBDGlory said:

Nice work on the body! I think that was my big struggle when I made a large-scale snowmobile years ago

Thanks, I'm still not fully happy with it so I keep iterating...

Edited June 6 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

Update on the body!

I still need bigger gauges... 

Edited June 7 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[Jundis]

This looks great!

Really nice panel work and choice of colour.

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

On 6/5/2025 at 5:42 PM, Jundis said:

This looks great!

Really nice panel work and choice of colour.

Thanks a lot!

I figured it looked a bit old school with the headlights on the handlebars, so after a facelift, it shows a more contemporary style:

Also, it has gained a name; the Snow Horse.

Edited June 7 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[MangaNOID]

Looks great! 

I was wielded out by those grey liftarms for footrests with all the holes showing until I realised why and then it makes sense  (live in hot country with no snow)

1/6 scale ish? Good for an action figure?

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

1 hour ago, MangaNOID said:

Looks great! 

I was wielded out by those grey liftarms for footrests with all the holes showing until I realised why and then it makes sense  (live in hot country with no snow)

1/6 scale ish? Good for an action figure?

Thanks a lot!

Yeah, those are basically giant cheese graters to rub all ice and snow sticking to your shoes and to offer a decent grip in all conditions.
For once, showing holes made sense.. 

Yes, roughly 1/6; an action figure would fit on; I tried with Darth Vader but his lack of faith in the light side of the force legs flexibility prevents a decent posture for a shot.

Edited June 6 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

Now that I'm happy with the face, I realized the proportions were not that good.
The front legs were too long, the tail too short and narrow. I tried to fix that:

This allowed me to bury the battery box one stud lower into the tail, which also corrects the seat height.

Edited Wednesday at 03:42 PM by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[Paul B Technic]

That is looking even better now.

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

On 6/7/2025 at 12:34 PM, Paul B Technic said:

That is looking even better now.

Thank you!

Since there's always room for improvement and I received a couple parts from Bricklink, a small update:

• DBG main gears
• New dashboard
• Improved skis, side body, handlebars, seat and tail design

Bad news is, with the additional weight of the body, it no longer slides on the thick white carpet I meant to use it.
Since skis don't work on wood flooring (my only alternative at home), I was forced to integrate small round rubber thingies to the skis. Basically, they only allow the model to be played with indoors. I would have loved to try the Snow Horse on actual snow, but it'll be hard to find in this season. So I hope I'll be forgiven this little bend to the rules...

As always, thanks for watching!

Edited Wednesday at 04:02 PM by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy

[Paul B Technic]

That is really coming along well, it is giving me some ideas for a MOC of my own.

[icekusbe]

Wow! The scale, the front suspension, the track suspension, it is all very impressive design.

Brings me back to when 8272 snowmobile was published and I marvelled it for weeks.