From The Thing
to Christmas.

It started with a film night.

On Halloween, I rewatched The Thing. Those rugged vehicles at the polar station stayed with me. I wanted to make a small Snowcat of my own: a compact cab, a long body sitting low over the tracks, and the look of a machine built to carry a crew and their equipment.

I drew on the proportions of older expedition vehicles and developed the model around CyberBrick. Moving from laser-cut designs into 3D printing gave me room to work on the body shapes, wheels and small mechanical details.

The colours mattered to me, too. I chose yellow for the body, with dark running gear and silver accents. PLA Metal Iron Gray Metallic and PLA Silk+ Silver were part of the palette I used for the base, rims and details. You can follow the listed materials or choose a scheme of your own.

Give Santa the keys.

After Arctic, I took the tracked-vehicle idea in a Christmas direction. The expedition body became a red-and-white truck, with snowflake panels, bolt-on antlers and an open cargo bed. The headlights and taillights stayed part of the build.

I imagined Santa giving the reindeer a day off and using a tracked truck for the deliveries. The little cargo bed made that idea easy to play with. I also designed a matching gift box, which is published as a separate model.

Choose the print profile that suits your setup.

Simplified

The white details print as separate pieces, and the cargo bed is split into sections to reduce repeated filament changes. Some pieces may need a little glue. This is the option to look at first for a single-nozzle workflow.

Pro

The white cab details and red panels are combined into multicolour parts, with the intended fuzzy-skin settings in the profile. Choose it if your setup suits the colour changes and you’re happy with the extra printing involved.

Both versions have their own PDF assembly guide. Check the profile in your slicer before printing, particularly the printer selection, colours and texture settings.

Print the body.
Build the drive.

Both projects use CyberBrick hardware to turn the printed parts into a working RC model. Each track has its own continuous-rotation servo drive. With the supplied control setup, the left stick controls the left track and the right stick controls the right track.

Drive and control

Independent tracks and the standard CyberBrick joystick. Download the configuration for the version you’re building.

Lighting

Working front and rear lights form part of the build. Follow the chosen model’s guide for their placement and wiring.

Nonprinted parts

The model descriptions specify a CyberBrick kit and an additional 9g continuous-rotation servo (360°). Use the current bill of materials for the full list of hardware and fasteners.

Assembly

Read the PDF for your exact version before printing and fitting the hardware. The extra servo is the continuous-rotation type specified in the guide.

The printable files cover the model parts. You’ll need filament and the hardware separately. The model pages keep the print profiles, instructions and CyberBrick files together so you can choose a matching set.

The snow-plow version is here.

When I first shared Arctic, I promised a servo-driven snow plow if the model reached 50 boosts. The community got it there, and the upgrade is now available on the Arctic model page.

If you’re upgrading an early build, check the new parts before starting. You need the plow components, the updated chassis frame and lower body, and another 9g continuous-rotation servo (360°).

Use the dedicated print profile, the V3 Snow Plow Snowcat Instruction PDF and the matching CyberBrick configuration. The original and plow builds have different preparation steps, so choose the guide for the version you want.