holy shit this is an insanely cool vehicle that I had no idea about, fucking Soviet Half-Life 2 airboat :sicko-yes:

  • Beaver [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Wikipedia article about these.

    Snowmobiles did exist in this time period, so I’m wondering what the advantage is. My guess is that with the technology of the 30s and 40s, this was actually a cheaper and easier maintain option than trying to make a vehicle with continuous tracks.

    • TheCaconym [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      The article suggests “otherwise-disused vintage aircraft engines and propellers”, so it might simply have been cheaper / easier to find a use for those.

    • The_Walkening [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      You don’t have to manufacture a transmission for one of these - the propeller goes straight on the crankshaft of the engine so that likely saves a bunch of labor time/materials. You’re sort of limited to the redline of the engine, but if it’s designed for high RPMs (rotary engines are great for this) feel like a that’s not much of a limitation.

    • Beaver [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Wikipedia suggests that they can’t handle any kind of grade… but that’s okay if you’re using them to fly down a frozen river super fast.

      • Hoyt [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        there’s an alternate reality where the USSR won and Comrades of Duty (it sounds better in Russian) is the most popular video game series and there’s a level where you get to absolutely whip down a river gunning down nazis in this thing

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    There were a couple of units of vehicles like this, some lightly armored, that were used on frozen lakes and rivers. Frozen rivers become, essentially, free roads if the ice is thick enough.