This is one of my favorite free models currently available on the net. I particularly like the high detail photographs of the completed model that the designer posted as reference. This has become a wonderful resource for me to confirm and compare my build to that of the designer's build.
...very nice...
Here's the link to the site where the sno-cat model is located.
And this is the home page..
Just go to "paper" near the bottom of the home page to see some nice built photo's of the model.
This particular model is of one of three Tucker sno-cats that were used by the British scientific exploration team led by Sir Vivian Fuchs as they crossed the Antarctic.
Here's a quote about that venture taken from an article by By Simon Usborne.
"When the British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs was commissioned to undertake the first overland crossing of Antarctica, he needed a vehicle tough enough to withstand 100 days of travel across more than 2,000 miles of ice and snow.
Capable of operating in temperatures below minus 30C, the US-built bruiser that is the Tucker Sno-Cat was the machine for the job.
Leaving Shackleton Base in March 1958, the Sno-Cat, which had been developed 10 years earlier in Oregon to traverse soft snow and maintain telephone lines, fired up her engines and carried a ton of equipment and passengers inside, hauling another ton of gear in sledges behind her.
The Sno-Cat traveled an average of 22 miles per day and allowed Fuchs and his team to conduct various experiments on their mission across the South Pole. Their seismic survey measured the thickness of the ice cap and established the existence of a solid base of land beneath it.
Ninety-nine days later (a day short of its estimated travel time), the Cat arrived at Scott Base in one piece, earning itself a place in the Antarctic history books."
Read the full article here.
Sir Vivian Fuchs's Obiturary...
An absolutely EXCELLENT website devoted to the Tucker Sno-Cat
The Model 743 Tucker Sno-Cat available as a free model has the letter "B" painted on it's doors. This Sno-Cat was also known as "Rock-n-Roll" and was the vehicle that Fuchs himself drove. The actual vehicle now resides at the Tucker facility in Oregon and is reputed to be slated for a complete restoration.
There was a fourth Sno-Cat that was lost in an ice crevice, killing it's driver.
For more info about the other Sno-Cats
After all this research... the question that burns most in my little head is
HOW ON EARTH DID THE TEAM GET THE SNO-CAT "ROCK-N-ROLL" OUT OF THE SPOOKY LOOKING PREDICAMENT IN THE FOLLOWING LINK!!!
Nuther great Sno-Cat site
Here are some wonderfully, detailed and up close shots of one of the real vehicles.
Okay, that's it for the research.
I'm well on my way into the model and I'll post pictures of the build in the next post.
David
...very nice...
Here's the link to the site where the sno-cat model is located.
And this is the home page..
Just go to "paper" near the bottom of the home page to see some nice built photo's of the model.
This particular model is of one of three Tucker sno-cats that were used by the British scientific exploration team led by Sir Vivian Fuchs as they crossed the Antarctic.
Here's a quote about that venture taken from an article by By Simon Usborne.
"When the British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs was commissioned to undertake the first overland crossing of Antarctica, he needed a vehicle tough enough to withstand 100 days of travel across more than 2,000 miles of ice and snow.
Capable of operating in temperatures below minus 30C, the US-built bruiser that is the Tucker Sno-Cat was the machine for the job.
Leaving Shackleton Base in March 1958, the Sno-Cat, which had been developed 10 years earlier in Oregon to traverse soft snow and maintain telephone lines, fired up her engines and carried a ton of equipment and passengers inside, hauling another ton of gear in sledges behind her.
The Sno-Cat traveled an average of 22 miles per day and allowed Fuchs and his team to conduct various experiments on their mission across the South Pole. Their seismic survey measured the thickness of the ice cap and established the existence of a solid base of land beneath it.
Ninety-nine days later (a day short of its estimated travel time), the Cat arrived at Scott Base in one piece, earning itself a place in the Antarctic history books."
Read the full article here.
Sir Vivian Fuchs's Obiturary...
An absolutely EXCELLENT website devoted to the Tucker Sno-Cat
The Model 743 Tucker Sno-Cat available as a free model has the letter "B" painted on it's doors. This Sno-Cat was also known as "Rock-n-Roll" and was the vehicle that Fuchs himself drove. The actual vehicle now resides at the Tucker facility in Oregon and is reputed to be slated for a complete restoration.
There was a fourth Sno-Cat that was lost in an ice crevice, killing it's driver.
For more info about the other Sno-Cats
After all this research... the question that burns most in my little head is
HOW ON EARTH DID THE TEAM GET THE SNO-CAT "ROCK-N-ROLL" OUT OF THE SPOOKY LOOKING PREDICAMENT IN THE FOLLOWING LINK!!!
Nuther great Sno-Cat site
Here are some wonderfully, detailed and up close shots of one of the real vehicles.
Okay, that's it for the research.
I'm well on my way into the model and I'll post pictures of the build in the next post.
David