Re: GEV Tank

On Mon, 4 Mar 2002, Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Nice Tank!
>
> 1) Rear jets/exhausts for thrust

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
> 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....
>

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
> moulding of it when it is done? (like in resin, for
> mass production?)

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
> the sides and louvering them to give some
> chance to deflect incoming rounds.
>

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
> 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.
>

Good ideas.

Thanks,

Randy Wolfmeyer