New member with an idea

[oldwolf]

Just a few thoughts: I have pines that put a lot of needles on my driveway. The darn things take a lot of wind from my leaf blower to move them, but that is in the damp northeast and even a little moisture makes them adhere. Unless you’re in a pretty dry season when you are planning to blow them, I think you likely need to be mounting something at least as powerful as a hand held leaf blower on the tank.
The shingles you have should give the tank decent traction but the slope means you will need to run the tank-blower mostly up and down, not across slope, to avoid tipping.

Might it be possible to repurpose an automated floor vacuum, like a roomba? They have a low center of gravity, spinning brushes to loosen the pine needles and if the motor was reversed it would blow instead of vacuuming. Seems to me, some of them can be programed for a certain area and have edge detection ability to avoid falling down stairs. The latter might keep it from driving off the roof.

[Rooffanman]

@Sclui56: I hear you, as to the drone blowing the roof, type that in on Youtube and you will see the other results that men got with a drone by itself.
Of course, the leaves and needles were dry in the video.

@Oldwolf: You are correct about wet needles. I blew the driveway yesterday while they were dry.
I got about a bushel of needles. If the needles had been wet, the blow would have been more difficult.
Being on the roof, the NC air tends to dry them in short order.
There are many different blowers and I know I will have to select the right one.

There are going to be challenges with this build, hopefully I can do it.
One thing I did not mention was is that there are going to be a lot of left over parts.
I will gather all of the unused removed parts and offer them to you hobby guys.
I will remember the ones that helped me when that time comes, maybe after Christmas.

[Rooffanman]

Well, my project is being put on hold.
The 1:12 size RC tank is too small.
The ones I ordered could not possibly hold a 4" fan.
Add to that the plastic is too flimsy to be more than a toy.
So, I will back up and re-think the project.
I will put them out as Christmas children's toys in the pawn shop after Thanksgiving.

[Rooffanman]

OK., I have now gotten some help from the guys at the Drone Bot forum.
I am going to use an "H" bridge to amplify the motor output for larger motor control.
I bought a small steal body tracked unit which I plan to modify into a useable device.
I am getting started.