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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 21, 2009 13:50:21 GMT -9
(originally started in 2007) Some sketches from the original Hovercrafts project; I never had a good design, one that I was happy with, for a Heavy class hover tank. A Heavy class would, in my mind, need to be able to dish out a great deal of damage, and be able to sustain some serious damage. The way I look at air-cushion vehicles an AFV would lose efficiency once you packed on a big gun and heavy armor and would just become a target instead of a fast mover. The Heavies that I drew would actually be classed as artillery platforms on air-cushions but wouldn't qualify as Main Battle Tanks. I'll see about scanning in my drawings and add my cg renders to Photobucket and then start a hover thread later today. I really enjoyed the project....but test-build after test-build after test-build on too many projects really wore me down...but no more!
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Post by emergencyoverride on Sept 21, 2009 14:04:51 GMT -9
I still have your hover that you sold over at papermakeit. Are you goin to continue along those lines? Its a good hovercraft. The lift supports underneath it were a nice touch. ;D
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 21, 2009 14:09:39 GMT -9
Hmmm, you posted some 'sketches' of medium hovers etc over at paperworlds2 that reminded me of early GZG style vehicles. Have you still got those designs? They were ace. I have to agree with EO about the riser as well!
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 22, 2009 12:03:10 GMT -9
I love GZG's work. I'm still digging the files and sketches out and organizing them. My thought initially, when I started this project, was breaking it into chunks by hover skirt size. The Recon was built on the smallest size and I have designs for a little AA unit and a tank hunter inspired by a WW2 Soviet SU76. Those were the light class. The Interceptor was going to be there too but the design started to look too crowded and so it got moved up to the medium scale; which is where the APC, hover-truck, and light tank fit. I kept having problems with the APC's hull so it kept getting turned over and over in my designs and in my head. Finally I broke off the forward quarter section and everything worked for it. The APC has a cab followed by a series of options to fill the other 75% of the space; passenger block, or command suite block, or flatbed for providing missile artillery support. There is also a Cyclops TOW launcher to make another tank hunter-ish vehicle. The hover truck has an enclosed box and a flatbed....I should probably make some cargo to go on there. The light tank is just a small AFV with a turret and some gun options. The next class up is the Heavies, which I could not design anything to my liking for, with the exception of a square platform to provide a stable base for artillery and rockets, but no solid AFV ideas for this size. I appreciate your guys comments on my first vehicle, as there were only eight people who purchased it. ;D The Recon Hover has been re-laid out for the CraftRobo, GSD file in progress, each color scheme needs to get moved around though to fit...bleah! Once that's done I'll ask Claudio to send a notice to previous customers to re-DL the model if they want the CR version, then he'll put the Recon Hover up on RPGNow with the CR files for the general public. Meanwhile, I'll see about finishing texturing some of these models. Most likely the APC Hover as it makes a good companion piece to the Recon Hover.
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 22, 2009 13:04:28 GMT -9
Can't wait! I actually found a pile of unbuilt recon hovers just the other day. I really must get them finished.
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 22, 2009 13:46:37 GMT -9
Found one of the old WIP shots; The light tank and hover truck designs remain the same, the APC has been modified a bit.
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 22, 2009 23:17:32 GMT -9
yeah!!!! They're the ones! The apc reminds me a lot of the 'Rommel' (I think) from GZG (the one in the photos in stargrunt 2), and all of their resin stuff is currently unavailable. These would be a welcome addition to the sci-fi universe!
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 23, 2009 12:20:47 GMT -9
Okay, APC chassis revised nicely and awaiting unfolding. The old issue with this model was the junction of the hull to the skirts where I had the hull angling outwards, which necessitated a lower hull and an upper hull, which caused lots of warping and I wasn't happy with it. Ditched that look, went for the straight join like the Recon has, broke the hull up into three sections for strength and modularity potential. Since that worked out nicely I converted the middle and rear sections for the Command version; I'm pretty certain about how these test-builds are going to workout, but I want to actually complete the builds before I look at the next piece, which is the weapon add-ons.
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Post by droffset on Sept 23, 2009 12:57:11 GMT -9
Looking good so far!
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 23, 2009 13:42:29 GMT -9
And the command version would also make a nice base for a casevac version, like the Sultan/Smaritan in the CVRT family over here would it not?
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Post by jabbro on Sept 23, 2009 14:58:07 GMT -9
OK, I have a question, and this is nothing against your designs, Eric, I am just dying of curiosity... Are the skirts on these things covered in plating, or do the soldiers just carry around tons of duct tape?
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 23, 2009 16:21:12 GMT -9
magpiestear; Yup, that was part of the thinking. I'm making a little set of red cross decals to slap on the sides for the ambulance version. jabbro; In the future the entire vehicle will be made out of duct tape. ;D I have both soft skirt and armored skirt versions, moderate to light skirt damage should only impair speed and handling, severe skirt damage would count as a mobility loss. I know that they're not the most practical design, but I enjoy the look. Update: GSD conversions complete for supports size 1+2, armored and soft skirt versions for both size 1+2. I've made pdfs from the CraftRobo layouts and I'll see about using those as my base for texturing. APC layouts are complete, test-builds are on for tonight.
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Post by jabbro on Sept 24, 2009 6:10:24 GMT -9
Practical or not, they look cool, and the fact that they can blow over water as well as land makes up for it. I love the little one on the far left of your first color preview. If I ever played any future or modern settings, I would definitely throw one of those in just because it looks so cool.
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 24, 2009 7:17:59 GMT -9
Practical or not, they look cool, and the fact that they can blow over water as well as land makes up for it. I love the little one on the far left of your first color preview. That's the light tank model, next in line after the APC. So last night I went through my usual routine of exporting models from Vectorworks to Pepakura, unfolded the APC, set line and color configurations for CraftRobo, exported as a DXF file, then opened it in Craft Robo. CraftRobo didn't recognize many of the line settings for color and style so I had to go through and select and convert a bunch to be score lines, which was really easy. I then made my pdf's for texturing and print test straight out of CraftRobo. The pdf's for the APC come in at only 2-1/2 pages so I have room for weapons, commo equipment, and accessories. This was my first time approaching CraftRobo from this direction and all I can say is OMFG, this is so much easier than approaches I've used previously for model layout and setting up CR files. MelEbbles has written an unfolding program which he says is more CR compatible than Pepakura so I'll have to give that a more thorough look-see.
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Post by emergencyoverride on Sept 24, 2009 9:45:49 GMT -9
Very nice! those are the old ones i remember. The new wips are awesome. I cant wait to see them fleshed out! ;D
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 25, 2009 9:15:57 GMT -9
Time for some test-build pics. First up is the standard APC hull with armored skirts; Next up is the Command version with armored skirts; And then the standard APC with soft skirts next to the Recon hover also with soft skirts; APC with Wolverine for size comparison; And APC with old wheeled APC from Paperworlds; Now to make some weapons.
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 25, 2009 12:36:35 GMT -9
looking good Eric! You could always 'borrow' the weapons from Jims battle car range for cupola mounted stuff etc.
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Post by jabbro on Sept 25, 2009 16:44:45 GMT -9
And APC with old wheeled APC from Paperworlds; Whatever that wheeled thing is, it looks very cool. Is it still available somewhere, or has it gone the way of the ghost of paper projects past?
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 25, 2009 20:11:50 GMT -9
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Post by jabbro on Sept 26, 2009 13:41:03 GMT -9
Thanks for the link... ;D
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Post by onemonktrey on Sept 29, 2009 10:13:17 GMT -9
Anybody else have visions of "Ogre" dancing through their heads after looking at these sweet vehicles...? Waitaminit...could all this ultimately lead to a giant, 12 page printout of a multi-story Ogre Mark V? Squirmydad, I think you have your work cut out for you...
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Post by djlittle on Sept 29, 2009 13:12:37 GMT -9
Anybody else have visions of "Ogre" dancing through their heads after looking at these sweet vehicles...? Waitaminit...could all this ultimately lead to a giant, 12 page printout of a multi-story Ogre Mark V? Squirmydad, I think you have your work cut out for you... LMAO! I was thinking the exact same thing! OGRE/GEV!!! YES PLEASE!
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 29, 2009 16:58:56 GMT -9
Anybody else have visions of "Ogre" dancing through their heads after looking at these sweet vehicles...? Waitaminit...could all this ultimately lead to a giant, 12 page printout of a multi-story Ogre Mark V? Squirmydad, I think you have your work cut out for you... LMAO! I was thinking the exact same thing! OGRE/GEV!!! YES PLEASE! Sorry, no. Already went down that road, can't share what I did, so please don't ask. But...if you did want to make something like a MKIII in 30mm scale, it'd probably look like this next to my hovers;
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Post by anitangel on Sept 30, 2009 6:38:05 GMT -9
Do you have time working on your projects besides making cutting files? I haven't seen an update from you for a while now.
Anita
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 30, 2009 7:25:19 GMT -9
Do you have time working on your projects besides making cutting files? I haven't seen an update from you for a while now. Anita Some, this is a slow week for project accomplishments as it's my daughters 6th birthday and a great deal of my time is involved in designing a birthday announcement card (puppy-themed this year) setting up her birthday party, celebration of life at her school, and then a tea party this weekend for her friends who were down with the flu and missed the first party. Six years old, the Age of Wonderment.... I have a lot of things on paper as I plan out the shapes for the weapons and accessories, just haven't had much time to work in my 3D program to get them banged out. I should have some real updates by monday, thanks for asking.
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Post by onemonktrey on Sept 30, 2009 9:25:22 GMT -9
Sorry, no. Already went down that road, can't share what I did, so please don't ask. Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers in this case...
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Post by djlittle on Sept 30, 2009 10:37:33 GMT -9
LMAO! I was thinking the exact same thing! OGRE/GEV!!! YES PLEASE! Sorry, no. Already went down that road, can't share what I did, so please don't ask. But...if you did want to make something like a MKIII in 30mm scale, it'd probably look like this next to my hovers; Drat! Curses, foiled again! I'll be content with your various array of GEV's.. uh, I mean hover doodles!
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Post by anitangel on Sept 30, 2009 10:44:03 GMT -9
Aaah, Happy birthday for her! What is her favorite kind\type of dog? I quite like great danes.
Anita
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Post by magpiestear on Sept 30, 2009 13:23:31 GMT -9
Heh Eric I hope your daughter has a great birthday! I hadn't realised that she was of a similar age to my daughter who will be 6 in April. Over here they would be in the same school year!! I know exactly what it's like having to use up your time on daughtery things! Mine has just discovered the wonders of Pokemon!! She saw a couple of the cartoons on tele and decided quite quickly that Pikachu was her favourite! SO I dug my Pokemon TCG's out, reminded myself how to play (not used them for almost 10 years!) and started to teach her a very simple version of the game. She's hooked.......beats me often.......actually doesn't mind losing occassionly and has 'built' her own deck!!! So between having to do pokemon stuff and helping her with her new 'littlest pet shop' game on her NDS I haven't had any time for card models!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but the seeds of a gamer are being sown!!! and she hasn't seen Anitangel and Xteas stuff yet!!, especially the turtles!). Wouldn't swap the time spent with her for the world though!
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Post by old squirmydad on Sept 30, 2009 20:30:49 GMT -9
@anita: My daughter really likes all dogs, particularly if they're smaller than her, but really she likes all dogs. And cats. magpiestear: We have got to find a way to get the girls together for a play-date. It's going to be some time before I can get back to the UK though. LPS for the NDS was one of my daughter's gifts this year. I've got most of the weapons and accessories worked up for the APC line, still haven't finalized a second, simpler, ATGM add-on and the anti-aircraft add-on. Probably be able to finish the CAD work on those two tomorrow. Here's some preview pics from Vectorworks as I haven't had a cance to export and unfold these yet; First is an APC with the old flat version of the comms system that is currently on the Recon Hover and the new conical dish system that the Command APC will be getting. I reworked the LMG attachment that was originally on the Recon into a longer version, and then put together a dual support version- Last preview is the Cyclops heavy ATGM system- Hopefully I can do my final builds on these and the other two bits by friday so I can jump on the texturing.
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