The PistenBully 600 Polar is a $500,000 snowcat from Germany. It’s what high-end ski resorts around the world use to “groom” snow, smoothing out the rough patches to yield a consistent skiing surface.
Willem Smith creates 3D-printable RC vehicle kits through his company, 4x3D. For his most recent design, he scaled the PistenBully 600 down to 1/7th scale and jettisoned the operator’s cabin:
Then he put it to the test:
It runs on brushless motors, and is strong enough to tow him in a sled:
Also incredible is the amount of adjustability he’s designed into the blade:
“It is difficult to actually control all of the functions at once with a standard remote,” he admits, “But it works!”
Lastly, here Smith is using it to create a jump:
“With a fully functional 12-way blade, the sky is pretty much the limit for what you can build out of snow. For those wondering, the model works best in cold, soft snow. Warm snow close to or above freezing, and or icy snow generally are not fun to shape with the blade. But cold snow works great!”
Follow Smith on Instagram to stay posted.