Espeefan's Blizzard SR project

[Espeefan]

Well, looks like I get to be the first to break in this section of the forum. A little while back, I picked up a brand new Blizzard SR. I had one in the past, and I always had a blast running it, so I had to get a new one.





The first thing I did to it was swap out the stock ESC set-up for something better. It's now running a Novak M2, but I'm still not happy with the way it drives. Ultimately, I'm going to get a Sabertooth 2x12, I think. I hear these run tracked machines very nicely. I also went ahead and added a bunch of work lights, to try and dress it up.









They improved the look quite a bit, but to be honest, I'm still not a big fan of the stock body. So I decided to try my hand at building something a little nicer.

I did some digging on the net, in search of some snow cat related photos. I found quite a few, and I have always liked Pistenbullys, but I felt that building a cab like that was a little beyond my skill level! To many curves.

Then I found something I thought I could work with.





Tucker Sno Cats. I'm actually quite fasinated by these machines. After finding more info on them, I started considering the idea of building one exactly like it, but just not right now. Anyway the cabs on these machines are really pretty simple. Boxy, but cool. I decided to give it a go.



Yeah, I know the Blizzard only has two tracks, and not four, but I sketched up a real quick drawing to see what it might look like on my Blizzard. Then I wrote down some rough dimensions, pretty much winging things as I went, and started building.





The basic structure of the cab, I built from rectangular styrene tube.









Just checking the fit, to get a rough idea of the size.





I thought it would be neat if I could build working cab doors, so I tried my hand at making one just to see how it would turn out. I wanted a more detailed look, so I also made window gaskets. The 'glass' will sit flush inside the gasket, when done. It took a lot of time to cut and file the opening and gasket, but I think it was worth the effort.

Since the doors will open and close, I also had build up the door jamb areas to keep the operator nice and toasty on the cold winter days. It also helps close up the gaps and prevent daylight from being seen through the gaps.





Since my first door turned out good, I needed to make three more! To stiffen them up, I reinforced the backsides with some lighter sq. tube.







Here, I was just checking the fit to see how things might look.