Complete Rebuild Kyosho Blizzard DX

[Itch]

I posted this at some other forums, but thought a couple of you might be interested in this rebuild. There are still a lot planned for this.

Scored this on Ebay awhile ago, and I have ALWAYS wanted one of these (heavy metal/blizzard DX) not one of the newer ones. Here is what got with it...all original, circa 1980's, radio gear and equipment. It needed a bit of work, but I was looking forward to it.

[Itch]

Electronics installed with a minor set back. After some time trying to trouble shoot some major interference issues, I finally discovered that the Sabertooth ESC does NOT like AM surface systems (most notably channel 5). After a quick talk with Tom from Dimension Engineering he confirmed what I have been thinking. Wired in the CC BEC for servos (yet to be installed). Next up will be fabrication of a scale plow and mount with 2 servos to control the plow, one for lift/down pressure and the other for cutting angle of the plow (not side to side, but tilting the plow blade forward/back).




Ordered a new DF-300 body for it with decals and plastic body parts. Got my LEDs in and they will be perfect for this project. I did a quick mock up to test a couple of the LEDs with the main battery and all looks well. The little lenses are perfect for this scale. I will mock up the LEDs and mount them to the body, and then tear it apart to paint. I am planning on at least 4 ultra brights white on the front, with 2 on the rear of the cab, and 2 yellow flashers up top. There is a video to show the yellow flashers (one with lens, other without) and 2 ultra brights (one with lens, the other without).

[Itch]

Here is the DF-300 body mount on the DX. I had to remount the stock body posts from the rear to the front and have them mounted under the cab with the antenna. Some minor tweeking is needed for the body, but I'm somewhat pleased on how it turned out...I wasn't even sure it was going to fit the DX. The LEDs are freaking bright! I have 6 ultra brights up front (4 with lenses, 2 with spots up on the roof), 2 flashers up top with lenses, and 2 ultra brights in the rear with lenses.

[Itch]

Finished my temporary plow for the time being.

[Itch]

Videos:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1bIT0K3vjQ

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faFrxoBxHn0

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BkNXHuguk4

[Itch]

Just picked up a nice used DX6 with 3 receivers, and will be a welcomed upgrade for this.

got to play around with my Blizzard some more today, this thing barely uses any juice. I reset the timer on my radio today and got a good 60 solid minutes of pushing and shaping my hill in my front yard (which is quite large now). I brought in and only put in 2000mah into my battery.

I was having some trouble with snow getting packet in on the drive sprocket but had an idea and fixed that. The snow was packing/freezing on the small spaces between each of the teeth, which was metal. I pulled the tracks off and put a thin layer of silicon on all these small areas, and problem fixed. The snow doesn't melt/refreeze on these small metal areas any more.

Some pictures from the other day. It rained Christmas Day with 45*F, so all the snow is gone and only a fraction of the hill that I made is left.

[Itch]

This gets me my RC fix all from the warmth of my own home. I don't know if I'm going to get sick of playing with this one, but I still have quite a bit planned for this. I'm thinking Diesel sound board generator, snow groomer attachment, hooking up my DX6, and adding in a cutting angle for the plow. That should keep me busy in the near future.

[2500hdon37s]

thats awsome, id love to have one! this one is awosme with the plow! whats the top speed on it?

[Itch]

Originally Posted by 2500hdon37s

thats awsome, id love to have one! this one is awosme with the plow! whats the top speed on it?

Thanks, I have it locked in low gear but I am not sure what the final gear ratio is. Full speed is maybe a slow walk, very scale like and plenty of torque for pushing snow. I can easily get an hour and half of pushing and shaping snow on a battery.

[2500hdon37s]

Originally Posted by Itch

Thanks, I have it locked in low gear but I am not sure what the final gear ratio is. Full speed is maybe a slow walk, very scale like and plenty of torque for pushing snow. I can easily get an hour and half of pushing and shaping snow on a battery.

im sure itd do good pulling scalers out of 6-8 inches of snow too!:-P

[spyderwebbcustoms]

that thing is really cool. like the plow that you made

[lsone]

any reason for running the thing in reverse? my nitro was backwards to yours. The smallest drive wheels where at the front.

[Sharkey]

always thought those things were cool, if i had more than a week of snow id have one in an instant.

[Itch]

Originally Posted by lsone

any reason for running the thing in reverse? my nitro was backwards to yours. The smallest drive wheels where at the front.

The original blizzard had the transmission and drive gear in the rear, just like many real snowcats. This newer generation of blizzards they moved the transmission and drive gear to the front.

[Itch]

I got about 2 inches of snow last night, and was able to play a bit last night while it was snowing. The Blizzard was in its natural habitat and had no problems moving through the fresh powder and pushing mounds of snow. I will have to get some pictures and maybe another movie today.

[KBrog]

That is so sa-weet. I looked at those on ebay too. Tought about making a recovery vehichal. <<

[ToTheMAXXcrawler]

That would make an excellent recovery vehicle! I like it!

[Itch]

Just got in from playing around with the DX with the DX6 radio, it works great! No glitch/interference issues any more. I will get some more video/pictures soon.

[Itch]

Quick video on top of my ramp:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE7rlRktLBs

Up on top:


Overhead view of progress so far:


Platform so far:


Height:

[venomous98]

Are you making a "ski jump" for another car That would be cool.