Hover Tank update

Hi everyone, as a change of pace from the fighter conversation, I'd like
someone to take a peek at the update to the hover tank that I posted about
back in March.

> At 01:25 15/05/02 -0500, Randy wrote:

Looks good to me

Cheers

G'day,

> Let me know if you think it works or not.

I don't know about constructive dsign comments, but it works for me;) <i.e.
VERY nice!!>

Cheers

I just have to add my voice to the choir and say: That is a very nice tank!

What's your plan for the back of it, which doesn't seem to be as deteiled as
the rest yet?

____

> At 04:57 15/05/02 +0200, Henrix wrote:

A bumper sticker?:)

Cheers

> At 01:01 2002-05-16 +1000, Derek Fulton wrote:

You mean like "I brake for Bugs!"?

____

> At 05:09 15/05/02 +0200, Henrix wrote:

or "I DON'T brake for Bugs"

Cheers

> >>

On 5/14/02 11:25 PM, "Randy W. Wolfmeyer" <rwwolfme@artsci.wustl.edu>
wrote:

> Hi everyone, as a change of pace from the fighter conversation, I'd

Excellent work Randy!

> Hi everyone, as a change of pace from the fighter conversation, I'd

Good God man, get that thing cast now so we can ALL have one!:)

(Very nice!)

> At 1:25 AM -0500 5/15/02, Randy W. Wolfmeyer wrote:

I just looked at this. Looks bloody nice.

> Let me know if you think it works or not. I've added quite a few

Hmm. How about an under armor mortar and a loader's Pintle MG? A basket on the
back of the turret and or hull rear for kit to be stowed into would be neat
too. Something made out of wire would look
really really good. But, given the sci-fi form, a couple of water
proof bins for crew kit and extras would make sense (see the units from the
M47s that appeared on M48s given their preferred sealed
nature...) You don't _ever_ have enough stowage on an armored
vehicle. Kit bags and stuff hung off the sides of the turret would make sense
too.

> On Thu, 16 May 2002, Jeremy Sadler wrote:

> Good God man, get that thing cast now so we can ALL have one! :)

About that casting stuff, I would really REALLY like to try to cast this thing
and make copies, mostly because I don't have time to make another one the hard
way for myself and if anyone else wanted to actually buy one from me that
would be cool too;).

But I've never done resin casting before. I've read a few articles on the web,
but I'm still kind of nervous. To those with experience casting bigger stuff
like this, is it possible to cast this thing the way I've got it built? The
last picture shows it broken down into some of the parts, the main gun and the
minigun can also be pulled out of their sockets. I'm figuring I wouldn't try
to make a casting with all the moving parts like hatches and the vectored
thrusters or gun elevation. Maybe after I get some practive I could try to
make the advanced version.

Should I try to make the main body one brick of resin like the bigger GZG
stuff I've seen, or break it down more like a model kit or DLD's Kamodo. The
first option seems easier, but would take more resin to fill the volume. I was
thinking I could do the main body as two one piece molds, one for the top
surface and one for the bottom to be glued together (this is how the one GZG
resin vehicle I have is done.)

Also, any advice on what supplies for the resin and rubber I should use?
I've seen that two companies, Smooth-On and Ace, sell starter kits for
about $30.

Thanks for all help,

http://www.tiranti.co.uk/

Havent done any casting yet but I have seen it done several times. The site
above has all of the supplies that you should need in the uk, is slightly more
expensive then the other companies you have mentioned but I have seen the
results of castings using their stuff and it is very nice. If you
e-mail
them they should be able to tell you what you need to do it, at least thats

> On Wed, 15 May 2002, Ryan M Gill wrote:

> Hmm. How about an under armor mortar and a loader's Pintle MG? A

Umm....I don't really know what an under armor mortar would look like, or
exactly where I'd put it. I know the Israeli Merkava has one, but I haven't
found a decent picture.

Originally I had the commanders hatch with just a pintle mounted machine gun,
and for some reason it didn't look right. Too low tech I guess.
That's why I went with a sub-turreted minigun.

One other thing, more general in nature: in my head I've been thinking of
this thing having a 3-man crew rather than a 4-man crew.  Pretty much
counting on the fact of a lot of automation, and the main-gun is
intended to be Gauss cannon of some sort, so the ammo is going to be very big
(but look out for the capacitors). Part of my reason is that I'm designing it
for use in a FMA scenario and I really don't know what 4 crew-members
are going to do with all of their actions during the game.

> basket on the back of the turret and or hull rear for kit to be

I was planning on having some external stowage. I might put in the raised
armor panels on the back sides of the turret, and then put some boxes over
that. Would it make sense to put some on the back of the body too?

> At 5:47 PM -0500 5/15/02, Randy W. Wolfmeyer wrote:

Looks like a short tube sticking up from the top of the turret. I found a
really good photo of one a few weeks back.....I can't find it
now. Really it just looks like a 3-5" tube that has a high elevation
range sticking out of the turret top. Just off to the side of the turret where
a crewman can service it.

> Originally I had the commanders hatch with just a pintle mounted

That does look good.

> One other thing, more general in nature: in my head I've been thinking

Hmm, if they are that close to the action, then you've got the gunner firing
the main gun or more likely the coax. The loader would be rattling away with
his MG when not servicing the main gun and when not doing either of those
things he'll be looking for things with the commander. The Commander would be
looking for targets, talking on the radios, "fighting" his tank, telling the
driver not to hit such and such tree that the driver can't see and looking for
targets. The driver will be looking for things the commander can't see and
trying to memorize the terrain he's going over so that if he has to reverse in
a hurry he doesn't hit something that he doesn't want to.

> I was planning on having some external stowage. I might put in the

Just looking at the model, that seems to be the best place for stowage bins.
On the back of the hull and turret (either side of that vent like tube). They
are almost always and after thought on vehicles and are worked into all the
places where something important isn't.

My Ferret has stowage bins on either side of the hull between the wheel wells
and on the hull side. Crews added racks to the back of
the hull for 2-4 additional jerry-cans, boxes to the side of the
turret for lighter stuff and in Mk 1/2 models a rack over the back
engine deck that looks to be about 5'x5'x1' full of all sorts of kit. Saladins
were more so a pain with additional ammo and 3 crew vs the ferret's 2.

Its miserable to look at stowage diagrams for things that the vehicle was
issued with that have "stow as desired or able" next to them in the lists.
Some of the mandatory items are useful but just fit nowhere on the vehicle
without moving something else. Additionally
they are delicate, fragile (approach march windscreen/wiper assembly)
and bulky. When they're fully kited out and everything is stowed you have one
position you can sit in and one place your arms and legs can go. Comfortable
they aren't....

So Randy,   where d'ah git the armor plating concept?  :-)

Nice, very nice.........so........ how soon can you relocate to sunny,
Southern California? :-)
Beaches, nice shopping malls, pretty girls, work for me,.......great
benefits! All of the resin vehicles you want!  :-o     (just kidding for
the most part. Perhaps next year eh?) Looks great! Nice lines. Need to take
the pics in better light though...my eyes aren't quite what they used to
be...... I like the thrust vector outlets. Nice layout. Keep up the good work!