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Chaosfruitbat

Best Tamiya for snow

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Its snowing poperly here in West Yorkshire, so time to put on the wellies and go for a play. Tried my crawler, but the snow is too deep (and it is really heavy), so its the lunchbox next, then the comical grasshopper followed by the Konghead.

 

Anybody tried driving in the snow, what works well?

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Lunchbox should be a good option, wide balloon tyres and pretty light weight. Clod works ok too down to the balloon tyres again.

modern high lifts and CR01 can work ok in an inch of snow but the tyres are often not the best suited for grip

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No snow here :(

id be tempted to drag my custom Wraith out for a spin on the white stuff..

IMG-0980-zps6984b831.jpg

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I’ve tried my pumpkin in the snow and it was a no go. You need to have four wheel drive and preferably a boat load of power. Last year I was was working out of Denver Colorado for 6 months. While there I bought a slash VXL. The pics below were out in the parking lot before work one morning. I have driven it in much deeper snow. Once it gets planing on the snow it really goes. 
 

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@Percymon that Wraith looks like it'd be a beast in the snow.  

Crawlers really arent much fun in the snow I've found.  As much as I like crawling, snow just begs for something that has some power and can spin its wheels the whole way.  Fast Clods are fun in the snow, as well as pretty much anything with 4WD & some power.  One of my favorite snow trucks is an old TA0T that I built from spares.  Obviously it's not great in deep snow, but anything 4" or less it is a blast to rip around with.  Just a 15t brushed motor gives it enough to be a lot of fun.

I think of the vehicles you listed the Konghead would be the most fun in the snow, especially if you have some power in it.  6x6 will give you a good amount of traction when needed but extra power will make it fun to slide around.

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Was going to suggest slapping a Tamiya sticker on a Kyosho Blizzard, but that Wraith looks like it could handle itself in the white. I gave my youngest nephew the school bus as a birthday present a couple of years ago, that seems to handle it quite well which means the Konghead should as well. 

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I’d vote for the Konghead

That looks like great fun! 
Awesome video, did you make it?

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Best out of my fleet, is the bullhead (clod). 860 esc and 3s lipo with on silver cans.

 

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14 minutes ago, nordic said:

That looks like great fun! 
Awesome video, did you make it?

Thanks! Yes I did. 

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2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

I'd vote for the Konghead. 

 

North Dakota USA here. I can attest. My king Yellow is my best RC in snow.

SMT10 is a close second( not a Tamiya but mentioned for comparison sake ) 

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2 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Best out of my fleet, is the bullhead (clod). 860 esc and 3s lipo with on silver cans.

 

That Bullhead reminds me of a Corgi running through snow 

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I think I’d want one of the G6-01 rigs besides my E-Revo for snow!

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13 minutes ago, Blissard said:

How about mounting Konghead wheels to your crawler ?

I’ve tried that with a couple of my crawler trucks, also heavy, they sunk.  The G6-01 should be able to float with all the contact area the non TR models have.

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1 hour ago, BJoe76 said:

I think I’d want one of the G6-01 rigs besides my E-Revo for snow!

I there is a local guy by me selling an older E-Revo for $350USD 

Think that’s a decent deal? 

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A taken my Agrios for many spins in the Snow, its perfekt for it!. The Grasshopper not so much :), it was fun on the Road where its hard Ice and gravel but as fast it was a bit snow TG got stuck, not very suprised as you will need 4wd and some height in snow even if it has quite good Diff solution it do not help, at all

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I live in Canada, so being able to run the cars in the snow is essential to me, or else I wouldn't be driving them at all for 6 months out of 12.

In my experience, it's more about the snow than the machine, because there's just SO many different types of snow depending mostly on the temperature, along with other factors. While no RC car I know of would run in a foot of fresh snow, most Tamiyas including basic, 2WD ones will provide tons of fun in the right conditions. It doesn't really matter how much snow there is, as long as it's compact enough for the car not to sink. I often build tracks with only the aid of a good shovel: design it, trace it and be careful to press the snow until nice and firm, and you're good to go even with a Hornet (but good luck with handling it, lol). Sometimes it's just not possible: just the other day iI spent over two hours shoveling and compacting but with no good results, as the snow was way too powdery and fluffy to be able to compact it properly. Again, this depends mostly on the temperature.

Best scenario around where I live is when this happens: big snowstorm, lots of snow falling, then it warms up so it melts a little, then overnight it freezes... and you wake up in the morning with a perfect icy crust over fresh snow, so you can blast your cars guilt free and if they crash the snow under the crust will even act as a cushion.

Anyway, when it's just about an inch or two of snow, I say just run any car you want and enjoy. They will all be fun, technical or clumsy or everything in between! About possible water damage, you only have to watch it if it's above 0, in the minuses snow won't melt until you bring it indoors after the run. Just be careful to dry it prompty and thoroughly, and also to keep metal moving parts nice and oiled/greased and you'll have no water related issues at all. I've been doing this for a few years now, without a problem or a speck of rust ever happening. My electric components, besides a couple servos, aren't even waterproof although I did provide some crude protection by bagging them amd I have the "advantage" of running at -20° C which sure means no water at all (and quite a commitment to being outdoors).

It is true, though, that certain cars will perform better than others given the same conditions. A few inches of fresh white will stop a Grasshopper, challenge a 4WD and likely be no issue for a monster truck.

But again: if whatever car stays afloat, run it. If it sinks, take the time to compact the snow: it will be worth the workout! Enjoy the snow with your cars.

Here's a few pics of some frosty action 

Screenshot-20200309-115555-Video-Player.

Screenshot-20190223-180538-Video-Player.

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I often build tracks with only the aid of a good shovel: design it, trace it and be careful to press the snow until nice and firm, and you're good to go even with a Hornet (but good luck with handling it, lol).

Having also driven a Hornet in. Snow, I can agree. 

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@Ferruz you pretty much describe most places in Norway there, though last winter was terrible this one is picing up (after a very wet Dec). Another strugle we have in Norway is litle daylight, if you go far enough North there is hardly daylight at all during this period of the year

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Best one I've tried has been my big hobby converted Nikko MT. It has 4x4 and the wheels are clod size. 

I think ideally, you really need 4wd and big wheels or paddle tyres.

Tried my brushless Lunchbox and it's similar to driving it on sand, the open diff makes it walk side to side and want to spin out. If you can get some speed built up it's like a bullet but trying to find that momentum in confined places like in the street is pretty tough.

My DT-03 with sand tyres works quite well if I put Lunchbox size wheels on the front too. The tyres help to tame the 2wd a little bit. I find you can end up getting a build up of snow on the fronts with 2wd though.

I would expect my E-maxx to be good too, especially with sand tyres but I've never had a chance to try it.

Konghead might well be the best but likewise, never had a shance to try it.

Has anyone ever run a boat in snow? Seen some brilliant videos on youtube! Great if you have open space.

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13 minutes ago, Dakratfink said:

I there is a local guy by me selling an older E-Revo for $350USD 

Think that’s a decent deal? 

Brushed or brushless?  Brushless would be decent if you can look at it, if it were brushed or a roller, no. If it’s one of the latter, swapping to brushless is pretty easy and I’m also fond of the Titan 775 out of the Summit I have in mine. It’s not stupid fast, but it’s quick enough on 14.4v to blow out u-joints if there’s enough grip😁

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Been using my wonky old Blackfoot for snow driving lately. Never had a body for it but that never stopped me running it before. I typically run it in a drift config with Pro-Line Strikers up front, but I swapped to these Nikko Big Bubba tires for more bite, and it's done the trick fairly well. The steering servo and Rx are inside a little ziplock bag and the ESC is waterproof with a brushed motor so no worries there. Added an LED lightbar so I could drive in the dark too. Like @Ferruz said, the snow has to be in the right condition for driving, but when it's good, it's tons of fun! Since the Blackfoot gearing is essentially unchangeable, I'm starting to build up my old Traxxas Hawk junker for some winter bashing, because I can gear it as low as I want to.

lightbar_121820.jpg.898c86e83c22e7c51a96f469039bfd50.jpg

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2 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

Has anyone ever run a boat in snow?

That's such a brilliant idea :lol: I'm going to check out those videos

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46 minutes ago, Ferruz said:

That's such a brilliant idea :lol: I'm going to check out those videos

Here’s one of many😎

 

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