TOPIC:

I am mind blown by the amount of model work and technical work that's gone into this build. Thanks for sharing this Jonny. 

Thanks for the extensive explanation of the way you've decided to wire the model for steering and the thought process that went into it.  Any idea how the 1:1 steers?  I'd guess that skid steering is not necessary on snow so they probably just steer by driving the gimbal angle between cabs.  As long as there was a differential between the left and right side tracks, it should steer OK with this method.

AFAIK its' just 2 hydraulic rams that steer the real thing, see the clips at www.bv206.co.uk...to-operate :blink:

JR, you could mount two scale dampers and then fit outer/inner travel limiters so the two track can not touch.
And maybe then fit wires at each end to mimic hydraulic hoses?

Jonny, I really like what you have done, and would love to see this running on a video... For sure it will be amazing!

I have two long RC4WD Dual Spring Scale Shocks in blue I have no use for.
PM me if you want these 
Turned down and then painted would make them look more hydraulic cylinders.

Jonny wrote:

Once I was positive the switch was wired "correctly", it meant the cause had to be something else I'd done, not the way the PO had wired the switch. It's having a UBEC power the RX without a switch in the feed, so as soon as the drive battery is plugged in, the RX gets power, and so do both ESCs: on the +4.8v/6v servo lead, as well as the battery in.  

I'm not sure if all ESC behave like that - i.e. work as "on" even if the switch is "off" if you apply current through the servo plug +ve - or it's just this model. I may experiment at some point in the future, but not right now.
 

Without seeing a wiring diagram (trying to picture it in my head), but I'd imagine that supplying power to the servo connection would essentially power on the ESC as you've bypassed the switch....  You'd think the ESC would/should have some kind of protection in place though.

caprinut wrote:

I have two long RC4WD Dual Spring Scale Shocks in blue I have no use for.
PM me if you want these 

Turned down and then painted would make them look more hydraulic cylinders.

 Appreciate the offer  I had planned to make the link between the two pods a bit less obvious than it is, primarily with some sort of capping / boxing in of the front link – but TBH it’s difficult to see how it wouldn’t make it look more bogus & wrong than it does ATM. It would have to be in thin steel to cope with the stresses, styrene just wouldn’t cut it. At least at present it’s a honest bodge passive geometry link  

If you look at the 1:1 pic, the steering rams are pretty much hidden, and only the third one on top (controlling vertical angle changes between the cabs) is really visible. I will see what I can do about at least hiding the visible threads though  

 

It snowed today ... for about 10 seconds

I can give you some for free