Tracked transport vehicle takes on a swamp (sort of)

[BlackSeaRC]

Thought it was about time I got the WPL E-1 properly wet and muddy!  Well the real one is supposed to operate in these conditions so I thought it only fair to test this in a scale-realistic manner...

 

BlackSeaRC

[wombat]

That looked good, got me thinking, would it be possible to seal the hull and waterproof the electrics to make it fully amphibious 

[Lone-wolf]

nice run and like wombat said the circuit board could be waterproofed

[Stormbringer]

That was going well in the water till it started to fill up 

you might be able to use a small plastic box (tupperware type thingy) to keep water off and out electronics ?

[BlackSeaRC]

1 hour ago, Lone-wolf said:

nice run and like wombat said the circuit board could be waterproofed

I have seen people waterproof these circuit boards by covering them with epoxy resin or something similar but I'm not sure how you would deal with the actual connectors that plug into it.  Could even go with the old style Tamiya rubber balloon with a zip tie.

[BlackSeaRC]

1 hour ago, wombat said:

That looked good, got me thinking, would it be possible to seal the hull and waterproof the electrics to make it fully amphibious 

The way the two halves of the hull go together is not ideal for sealing.  Where the axles for the front drive sprocket and rear gear wheel go through the hull there is a bit of a notch where the plastic just overlaps.  There is space to fit alternative motors so something more appropriate could be fitted.

[BlackSeaRC]

1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

That was going well in the water till it started to fill up 

you might be able to use a small plastic box (tupperware type thingy) to keep water off and out electronics ?

I even wondered about filling the entire hull cavity with spray foam.  Taking the rear cover off made it sit slightly lower at the front but these vehicles always sat low in the water in real life as well.