Re: Hover Tank update

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

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
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.

That does look good.

>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.

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
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?

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....

-- 
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
- Ryan Montieth Gill			     '01 Honda Insight -
- rmgill@SPAmindspring.com			    '85 CB700S -
- ryan.gill@SPAMturner.com		 '76 Chevy Monte Carlo -
- www.mindspring.com/~rmgill		       '72 Honda CB750 -
-				      '60 Daimler FV701H Mk2/3 -
-				   '42 Daimler Scout Car Mk II -
-	      I speak not for CNN, nor they for me	       -
----------------------------------------------------------------
-    Smart ID cards in the US, Smart ID cards in Hong Kong,    -
-		      what is the difference?		       - 
----------------------------------------------------------------
-  C&R-FFL  /  Protect your electronic rights!	  \ EFF-ACLU   -
- SAF & NRA/  Join the EFF!  http://www.eff.org/   \ DoD #0780 -