Mini-Motorized Tank Pod


	Dave's Lego Site \| Creations \| Treaded Motorized Pod

Treaded Tank Pod

After my last Motopod, I became inspired again, this time to create a motorized pod using the Lego tank treads for mobility rather than the pod "wheels". After experimenting with various gear wheels assemblies, I happened upon a design that made a pretty round curve, and just barely extented beyond the 8x8 radar dishes (which was necessary). Amazingly enough, I even found I could use rubber bands to power the gears-- but sadly the design never made it. The motor just wouldn't fit in the space constraints, and even when put outside of them, wasn't strong enough to push the tank treads once they were added.

But despite its problems, I still thought it looked cool. So in true silly-pod fashion, I added two grossly oversized weapons, and called it a day:

Determined to motorize it, though, I re-tooled the design with different gears, a 2nd tread to provide steering, and of course, the ever important motors! Fitting a non-disassembled minifig inside proved to be difficult without expanding the model too much, so I let it stand without any real minifig access points.

For those of you who are bored and have a decent net connection (I'm serious, it's probably not worth the download, but you're welcome to it!), here's a 5.2M mpeg of the tank pod wandering around very slowly.