Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

I've been flying planes for many years now. Living in Vermont, I need a winter toy and frankly I never considered sleds, but I see that there are some really sophisticated machines out there. I'd like to put together a starter sled just to see if it's for me, but I'm clueless as to where to start...what would be a good machine to get my feet wet. Suggestions?

My wife's going to kill me....

Steve

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

get the traxxas summit maybe? im looking forward to it, cos where i live half of the year its snow, monster trucks and rock crawlers dont really get around so well, im wonder how good the traxxas summit can handle heavy snow. looking forward to it. ;)

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

Uh...looking for a snowmobile....

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

Hi Millerhill

I've been watching for a hobby-grade rc sled for several years myself. Far as I know the only option right now is the ArtAttack product: [link=http://www.artattacksnowmobile.net/index.html]http://www.artattacksnowmobile.net/index.html[/link].

There are several threads in this forum about retrofitting plastic toys like the [link=http://www.newbright.com/search1.cfm?id=323]New Bright Ski-Doo[/link], but for off-the-shelf nitro or fast electric capability I think ArtAttack's is the only offering. I have one of the New Brights and can confirm that it's a plastic toy. Others may disagree, but in my view the amount of work necessary to make it capable of nitro or brushless electric is prohibitive. There's just not enough to it in terms of suspension and chassis strength to make the conversion worthwhile. You pretty much have to rebuild it from the ground up. Having had one apart I have a new appreciation for the technical abilities of those who've managed to successfully make a New Bright fast.

I have been keeping an eye on Jordan Krupp's site, waiting for his Rev prototype to find a home and production. If you haven't taken a look, his one-of-a-kind .21-powered model is pretty amazing: [link=http://www.rcsnowmobiles.com/index.html]http://www.rcsnowmobiles.com/index.html[/link].

For the fun of it I also note the Atomic, an rc sled made in Europe in the late 80's. If this Youtube vid is any indication, it was quite a machine: [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UPt4_VFDTI]Atomic RC Snowmobile[/link].

The ArtAttack seems expensive, but I have yet to see a viable toy sled capable of hobby-grade components. Please post back if you find something though.

Dave

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

I followed some links about the artattack and most say it's just glorified toy without a lot of expensive mods.

I looked at the Jordan Krupp site and his work is nothing short of amazing! I can't believe a manufacturer hasn't picked up his designs as half of the world is covered with snow a good part of the year. I was hoping to find something at Horizon Hobby, but nada.

Seems like a market waiting to happen...

Steve

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

i have a highly modded art attack and to be honest its not the best, needs alot of work. allthough considering what its up against, its halfway decent, just not on par with like a truggy for snow
it is fun though, i cant deny that. but it needs a ton of mods and it suffers one major problem all the other rc sleds do, no real paddles on the track, ive cut my track as much as i could, and i still cant get powder traction at all. with the right consistancy it realy bites, but dont expect to push through a fresh foot of snow, allthough im still trying to figure out how.
jordan krupp has been waiting for someone to pick up his concept for a while, and after this many years i gotta say i dont think its going to happen.
allthough if by some chance it does, my preorder is going in asap!
his design is defintly great, and it seems to have some good push through powder snow. love his vids just wish he could do some more vids in deep stuff.

I just dropped a HV maxx 4.5 from novak into my art attack. on 12 cells (sport packs) its doing wheelies across my living room.
if only those paddles dug in a half inch, i would be doing that in the snow!

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

I wonder what the prob is with the manufacturing? You can easily have $600 bucks in an RC plane, so you wouldn't think it's a price thing. I wonder if they've ever done an RC survey to see what the market looks like for sleds?

I guess it's just not in my future at this point. Looks like a good opportunity for folks to make aftermarket traks though....

Steve

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

I'm just finishing (or should I say starting...) mine. I want to try it out before starting some of the mods to it. The weather is suppose to pick up and I'll get it out for some runs.

flynte

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

did you build this from scratch because i really want to buils a nitro snowmobile and dont know where to start

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

It came as a kit, as shown in the first pic. You supply motor, pipe, radio, servos and battery pack.

flynte

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

market research ? how many different RC cars/trucks/airplanes etc can you buy on this market currently... realy dont have to count, how many RC sleds are marketed and sold, how much of this world at some point gets covered with snow during the year... how many people sit around for months during the winter wishing they had something to run in "all this snow" how many people put skis and paddles on there rc trucks and planes because there bored!
WHY is there only one sled.... just doesnt make sense to me. they realy dont need to do market research, it should be pretty clear. with millions to spend on R&D from several companys i just cant understand why we dont have a single high end sled. we need to donate some RMK's and some time in the hills to some of these project planners, maby that could do some convincing...

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

My theory on the problem with RC sleds and why manufacturers don't seem interested is that vehicles that depend on the rider to do more than steer just aren't well-suited to RC. I know from experience that snowmobiles are inherently unstable, and depend on a rider capable of shifting his weight to keep them track-side-down. Unlike a motorcycle they don't have the benefit of angular momentum to become more stable at speed. My slow New Bright skidoo rolls over way too easily, even after suspension mods to try to handle uneven snow better. Ever notice that, with the exception of Jordan Krupp's video, most Youtube examples of fast RC sleds show them on a paved roads, on grass, or at best on flat, new snow? I don't know how Jordan Krupp handled this problem but I have a feeling it would be front-of-mind for any potential manufacturer.

Of course I don't really know what I'm talking about. Jordan sometimes passes through this forum. If so I'd be interested in his thoughts.

Dave

RE: Interested in nitro snowmobile....where should I start?
 

When I had a Radio shack Sled it was bad, the rider was too top heavy and when I tried to modify it I got some good speed out of it but it kept on rolling over. What I did was put a second steering servo in the seat to move the rider left and right and that seemed to help alot. it was pretty easy to do but I have since recycled that project and have no photos