8263-1: Snow Groomer

Conquer the slopes!

Take on even the steepest snowy slopes with the snow groomer's wide, rotating tracks! Control the front blade with the joystick behind the cabin, or turn the gear wheel to raise or lower the rear grinder. Includes instructions for rebuilding into an all-weather Arctic Tracker! An exciting and challenging building experience with this 2-in-1 real world model! Snow Groomer has moveable wide tracks! Front and rear blade move up and down! Rebuilds into an Arctic Tracker! Snow Groomer measures 14 inches (35.6cm) long and 6'½ inches (16.5cm) wide!

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8263: Snow Groomer
8263: Snow Groomer
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8263
Snow Groomer

Snow Groomer

Posted by travisco_nabisco in Canada on 02 November 2009

This is the first Technic set I have put together since a hovercraft set over 10 years ago.

My first impression of the set was that the piece tolerances are way down from where they used to be, making it much more difficult to get long pins through more than on block. I am not taking any points of the rating for this set as that is just the way Technic appears to be right now.

The set itself is a very interesting build. It is much more modularly built that you would expect which helps with keeping the build interesting.

The instructions took some getting used to to be able to tell the black pieces from the dark gray pieces. The use of the Bionicle pieces for finishing body plates and the plow itself was a very good idea and keeps the set feeling authentic.

Other than the instructions there are a few other complaints.
First off the rear plow segment that raises and lowers can be a bit difficult to pull up because of the gearing used.
Second, the tracks seem too big, but you can't take out a link and still attach them, it would have been nice if the track guides could have been a tiny bit further apart.
Third, it doesn't have quite the level of functionality that I thought was available in Technic sets.

Over all this is a great set though. I would recommend it to any Technic collector. It is also a huge bonus that you get all the tank treads. I want to get another Snow Groomer to build the alternate model with, as it looks fabulous.

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8263: Snow Groomer
8263: Snow Groomer
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8263
Snow Groomer

My new all time favorite

Posted by garthd in United States on 08 July 2009

A little quick background first:

-I operate snow groomers for a living
-I've been building LEGO groomers since I was 5 years old
-I've been waiting for this for more than 20 years!

I received the Summer 2009 LEGO Catalog last week and was flipping through it finding many interesting new items, when I came to the Technic section. I have always loved this line, but have not found much that intrigued me lately. My eyes scanned the page and saw the kit I'd been waiting for for so long: a snow groomer. I ordered it immediately, and impatiently awaited its arrival.

When it came, I started building immediately. There are 2 instruction books, one for the groomer and the other for the snow tractor with dumper. I tried to build slowly, as much of my enjoyment comes from construction. It took me about 2 hours, taking my time. This set has great features, including:

-moving tracks
-blade that moves in 4 directions (and can be easily modified for 6)
-lifting and swinging tiller

I plan to modify (and already have in some cases):
-lights; there aren't enough
-the tiller has too few grinding bits
-flipping the black panels on the tiller gives more realism
-the blade wings will receive pieces to make them swing like the real thing


Overall, this is truly my new favorite set of all time. Great fun to build, modify and to play with!

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