[TC29] Hornsby Tractor from 1904

[Jundis]

Hey guys+gals,

as an adorer of older machinery, my first thought was: What were the first tracked vehicles?

After reading the cool little history of tracked vehicles provided by CAT, the first true tracked tractor without aditional front wheels (Rules quote: "Half-tracked is not allowed.") was the Hornsby Chain Track Tractor from 1904. Later models were also driven by a petrol engine, but the first ones run on steam.

As usual tracks aren't really suitable here, I came up with a way more cumbersome, and therefor fitting solution:

Apart from its looks, it works way smother than one might think. All return and road wheels are prone to change, though. But dimensions are settled so far with a width of 17 studs.

The only PU XL-motor with a heavy cluth will drive the steam mechanism directly and then be geared down by a planetary gear hub. Like the real machine, it will have a 4-speed gearbox, but not shure if I can arrange a working slight-gear drivetrain... at least I aim for the scaled-down version of the same speeds as the real machine (1.5 - 3 - 5 and 8 mph). Also like the real think, it will have a break steering-system for each individual track side.

Hopefully I can arrange the drivetrain in a way all the gears are visible like in the real machine (see first pic).

Edited May 28 by Jundis

[aeh5040]

Looks very interesting!

[2GodBDGlory]

Ooh, that's some interesting subject material, and I love how the bizarre-looking track matches the real vehicle so well!