GEV Tank

Hey, I'd like for some of you to take a look at the 25mm scale GEV Tank that
I'm trying to scratchbuild. Pictures are here:

> "Randy W. Wolfmeyer" wrote:

Nice.

> On Fri, Mar 01, 2002 at 11:13:41AM -0600, Randy W. Wolfmeyer wrote:

Nice armour sloping!

> It's built almost entirely out of sheet styrene and styrene rods. I'm

I don't know how practical this is, but I suspect I'd want rivet-lines,
the occasional hatch, that sort of thing. The sloped sides are fine -
really just the turret top (antennae?) looks wrong without more stuff on it.

> BTW, what does the bottom of hovercraft actually look like? I can't

Lots of empty space, and the outlet ducts from the engines.

> On Fri, 2002-03-01 at 12:33, Roger Burton West wrote:
I'm
> >kind of stuck on how I want to finish the detailing, if I want to

Retractable "service" wheels also. I can't imagine the guys in the motor pool
would want to wind up those engines every time they need to move one onto the
lift for preventive maintenance.

> Roger

> On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Roger Burton West wrote:

> Nice armour sloping!

Thanks.

> I don't know how practical this is, but I suspect I'd want

I'm not too sure about the rivet-lines, but I definately plan on hatches
for all the holes (actually hatches with hinges that can open and close!!).
For the turret hatches I plan to have raised areas like on the driver's
position in front. Also the commander will need a support weapon of some sort,
esp. since this is going to be seeing mostly urban combat with my gaming
table. I think there are going to be missile racks on
either side of the turret, and some sensor domes.   I've been looking at
pictures of the Civet Grav Tank from DLD Productions for inspiration on the
details.

very nice job!

NONONONONONONONONONNONO!

NO RIVET LINES!

a panzer like this would be high tech, and riveted armor plate is decidedly
low tech!

i worry about those shot trap intakes on the sides, though.

ever consider making those vrertical openings (like on HAMMER's panzers) that
lead to the plenum chambers and fans?

somewhere i have seen the bits and pieces that you could add on to give that
panzer a lived in look.

maybe DLD PRODUCTIONS?

DAWGIE

> On Fri, Mar 01, 2002 at 05:43:31PM -0600, DAWGFACE47@webtv.net wrote:

OK, so I've been playing too much Crimson Skies recently... :-)

> i worry about those shot trap intakes on the sides, though .

Makes sense, but sometimes one has to compromise between "what it would really
be like" and "what someone looking at it will understand".

R

[quoted original message omitted]

> At 05:43 1/03/02 -0600, DAWGIE wrote:

Bit's and pieces from model kits and I GZG does a stack of hatches, boxes,
weapons and crewmen to add on. I got mine through Nic.

Cheers

> Nice.

Yeah that's what I thought, very nice.

What sort of materials were you using?

> What sort of materials were you using?

Mostly just Evergreen and Plastruct sheets and rods for the frame, and using
Plastruct Weld (plastic solvent) to hold it all together. The turret ring is
two small plastic bottles I had in my junk box that fit into one another. The
skirt is actually a strip cut out of that tubing you can buy to run all your
computer cables through. The tubing never actually made it to its designed
purpose, and I owe my wife a new one now.

I had thought about the fact that the intakes were probably a weak point in a
realistic design, but then again it looked so much cooler than any other
layout I could think of. And in this case coolness had to win out.

[quoted original message omitted]

> Mostly just Evergreen and Plastruct sheets and rods for the frame, and

What? I have never heard of this stuff...

> I had thought about the fact that the intakes were probably a weak

> other

What about ducts facing backwards? Nice tank though

> On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, Richard Kirke wrote:

> >Mostly just Evergreen and Plastruct sheets and rods for the frame,

It's sheets of styrene plastic you can find at train hobby shops. It
comes in all kinds of thicknesses, and rods of square cross-section or
tubes. They also have some sheets with different kinds of textures, like
corrugated sheet metal, or brick, and train scale ladders and stairs, but
usually all of these are more expensive. You use the solvent to melt the
pieces together.

Wow, cool

Richard

> From: "Randy W. Wolfmeyer" <rwwolfme@artsci.wustl.edu>

> At 09:57 2/03/02 -0600, you wrote:

> > What sort of materials were you using?

Maybe that anti-mine finish you see on German tanks in WW2 would look
good too?

Cheers

> Randy W. Wolfmeyer wrote:

> > >Mostly just Evergreen and Plastruct sheets and rods for the frame,

*snip*

> It's sheets of styrene plastic you can find at train hobby shops. It

The also have I-beam and U-beam cross-sectioned rods, as well as girders

with crossbeam support. Very neat stuff.

2B^2

[quoted original message omitted]

[quoted original message omitted]

Nice Tank!

1) Rear jets/exhausts for thrust

2) The turret extents over the place where the hull bends at the front....
thus creating a place for air to catch and upthrust (smaller turret would
solve). Worse, this represents a shot trap for round ricocheting off the
sloped front armour! This is not so good....

3) fantastic work. Wonder if we could get a moulding of it when it is done?
(like in resin, for mass production?)

4)I'd have considered inclining the intakes on the sides and louvering them to
give some chance to deflect incoming rounds.

It's a pretty good crack though. I'd avoid a lot of surface clutter because a
high speed GEV will want as flat a hull as possible... no rivets. Panel lines
might be okay, and any "kit" should be stored on the back of the turret to
keep the
airflow over the hull smooth as possible -
turbulence isn't a great thing.

Thomas Barclay schrieb:
> Nice Tank!

Plus small sideways thrusters at the corners to turn the tank.

Greetings Karl Heinz

> Derek Fulton wrote:

Zimmerit - basically a thick plaster-like material with a corrugated
surface so that magnetic mines wouldn't stick.

> At 02:16 4/03/02 -0500, Tom wrote:

Hey Tom should you really use the words 'ass' and 'scratch' in the same
sentence?

Cheers

> "Randy W. Wolfmeyer" wrote:

'Cool' wins over 'realistic' most days of the week for me!

> On Mon, 4 Mar 2002, Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Nice Tank!

To be honest, I wasn't sure how hovertanks handled that. I thought it might be
possible that they manuever using vectored fans underneath the skirt. I've
also thought about adding jet exhausts coming out of the slanted part behind
the intakes. Probably just square pieces that look like they might be gimbaled
a little for manuevering.

> 2) The turret extents over the place where the

Yeah, I noticed that too. I think I'm going to fix this by making a slightly
raised portion of the hull that fits under the turret, kind of like the raised
part around the drivers compartment. Originally the turret was going to sit
back just a little further, but my turret rotation "mechanism" was a little
larger than I orignally figured and shifted things forward a bit.

> 3) fantastic work. Wonder if we could get a

I've been toying around with that idea, but I have no experience with resin
casting whatsoever. A couple of parts seem kind of complicated,
like the air intakes go in about 1/2 cm, and the gun actually does tilt
up. Right now the gun is not permanently secured in the turret, and it won't
be until I decide if I want to cast it or not. Can you cast something after
you've painted it?

> 4)I'd have considered inclining the intakes on

Interesting idea, but those intakes were pretty fiddly, and they're
permanently secured to the hull now. I could take remove the side hull panels
and redo it. Depends on how much of a perfectionist I want to be. Actually
I've been more perfectionist than usual, I've rebuilt several parts more than
once, just because they didn't feel quite right to me.

> It's a pretty good crack though. I'd avoid a lot

Good ideas.

Thanks,

> Thomas Barclay wrote:

> 2) The turret extents over the place where the

The latest Leopard 2 models (2S and later) have a similar turret front:

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-42039/strv_122_.htm

Looks like a very nasty shot trap, but rest assured - it isn't :-)

Later,