Tanks and snow.

[jackalope]

Yeah I'm finding out they really don't mix too well do they? Took my King Tiger out today in the freshly new fallen 2 inches of snow we got today and figured it was equal to about 3 feet of snow due to the 1/16th scale conversion, and because of the wind the 4 inch snow drifts would be about 6 feet or so! I took the advice from a member here to let the tank sit outside for a while to cool down so the snow wouldn't stick to it and that kinda worked but I guess an hour outside wasn't long enough cause snow did stick eventually and gummed up the tracks but I was able to rock it back and forth to clear them out. It made 2 trips around my house and down the block and back again but the snow didn't get along with the side skirts/fenders very well, I think without them it would have had no problems at all.

Then I took my Tiger out and let it sit for 2 hours to cool down the whole time thinking it should do GREAT because no side skirts/fenders covering the tracks like the King Tiger. I set it down in my yard, fired it up and took off across the frozen tundra! Yeah it made it about 10 to 15 feet and threw both of its tracks! There was SO much snow gummed up inside between the tracks and the hull it pushed them both right off.

My next King Tiger will have its side skirts/fenders all removed so no snow problems NEXT winter!

[tomhugill]

You need to leave your tank outside a while to cool. This helps stop snow sticking to your tracks and wheels.

[jackalope]

You need to leave your tank outside a while to cool. This helps stop snow sticking to your tracks and wheels.

Tom, I did! The KT got about an hour to cool down and the Tiger got 2 full hours! Both of them were sat on the front porch were the snow lightly dusted the concrete, I figured that should do it.

Any thing else I should do? Maybe spray the whole tank down with Balistol or cooking spray?

[Woz]

Give your tracks a spray of WD40 helps as well.

Also fresh snow is hard on the tanks. The best snow for our tanks is the stuff that's had time to freeze so it's less fluffy.

[jackalope]

Give your tracks a spray of WD40 helps as well.

Also fresh snow is hard on the tanks. The best snow for our tanks is the stuff that's had time to freeze so it's less fluffy.

Woz, check out Balistol its better then WD40, its what WD40 tried to copy but didn't quite hit the mark as well. At 20 degrees I thought that snow should have been perfect! Its a light fluffy snow not the wet heavy stuff.

[971wright]

Hi Powder snow is not good to run in ,let the snow freeze first to give it a crust, then let your tank cool it should run O.K.
You found out what the Germans did in the winter of 41 just outside Moscow they found that the tanks couldn't move because the snow had frozen between the wheels and jammed them solid.Also if they stopped the engine and allowed it to freeze they couldn't start it German engineering tight tolerance's the engines wouldn't turn over , Russian had very big tolerances so there engines didn't seize .

regards pete

[wibblywobbly]

In case anyone wondered what the reason was for snow sticking?

The tracks are warmer than the snow.
The tracks melt the snow, and this causes it to stick to them.
The snow builds up, and then the outer layers stay as snow as they don't touch the tracks.
Then the snow builds up on the wheels.

The theory is that if the tracks are colder than the snow then they won't melt it, so the tracks stay free of it.
Short of storing the tank in the deep freeze, there isn't a lot that anyone can do about it.
The way I see it, as soon as the tanks starts moving the wheels and tracks will warm up anyway.
Maybe there is a difference between metal and plastic tracks and wheels?

The other option is to live where I do, as we get snow about once every 5 million years....

[jackalope]

HA HA!!! I got it!! I let my King Tiger set outside for like 4 hours, then once properly frozen I coated the tracks, drive sprockets, idler wheels, road wheels, lower hull and insides of the side skirts with Ballistol and it now carves through 2 to 4 inches of snow like a hot knife through warm butter! Just came inside from about a 45 min run though the snow and she never once got stuck or had snow build up in its tracks!

My Tiger however I doubt will ever do that good because the tracks are loose so they look realistic but that realism look also makes them pop off if anything much gets in them. I may try it tomorrow but its getting damn cold outside! Winds are up to 20mph and the air temp is down to 19 degrees, which to you guys in the UK would be -7 degrees!

[971wright]

Hi now you have the secret .

bit cold for me those temperatures makes my knees hurt.

regards pete

[ALPHA]

Dang Jack ...you be having too much fun... it's like 70 degrees here... no chance of snow

ALPHA