Hover tank challenge

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:42 pm

Not at all and i agree. also the discussion thread could help fuel others ideas for developing their models.

DEC · Post by **DEC** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:47 pm

So Sean, are you building something now? I'm not so much as taking apart stuff to free up parts. Design idea roughed out- and it uses some of the nozzles you saw before for vectoring thrust. ( but that was on a kit bash from an afv hull so not being used now, plus it wasn't a great design anyway, more an ideas vehicle.)

Going for a wider lower hull shape, needed to trap ground effect.

DEC

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:52 pm

I have something in work.

Chris Binnett · Post by **Chris Binnett** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:07 pm

That flying brick tank could have been one I built a few years back and took to wonderfest.

http://www.starshipmodeler.info/wfest2k3/veh2_009s.jpg

It was called the HA/RM, or heavy armor/remote minions. I built it with the notion that hover tanks with rotating and elevating guns are absurd, if it hovers, the tank is the turret, on an infinitely adjustable gimble. The one I built had no gun, but was a bullet by its own design. If you can hold an object off the ground with a force field, then you can propel it at insane speeds as well....build the tank out of a heavy and cheap outer ring and an armored "cabin", and you have a destructive force to be reckoned with.

...and the argument about recoil is crazy, if you can make a tank float then you can generate an opposing force "pulse" when you fire...keeping the tank nice and stable.

Chris "Smash crush destroy" Binnett

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:15 pm

Thats the idea chris

Its also one of my faves for its simplicity!.

Im doing a turreted one. In the universe its from tanks may still be required to fight from a hull down position. One rule of any warfare is the more material you have between you and the enemy forces while still being able to clearly engage the enemy is a definite benefit.

The tank im doing is not Ma.K related however and im trying my best to keep it from having that overall impression.

Blappy · Post by **Blappy** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:28 pm

I would like separate area for this. Hover Tanks have had a special place in my imagination ever since I read "Hammers Slammers" as a teen.

Dr. Yo · Post by **Dr. Yo** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:51 pm

I'll suggest we have seperate categories, and standards, for Anti-gravity
and Air-cushion vehicles.

chrisjon65 · Post by **chrisjon65** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:13 pm

I'm in for this one,I have got a steampunk hover tank idea ive been looking at and this comp is built for it.Now where's that box of bits?

DEC · Post by **DEC** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:15 pm

I'm sure if a special Board forum gets green lighted, all sorts of permitations will be posted and developed.

HT's have featured in other Genres, as well as the scratch building challenge that HWR MkII has thrown down. I expect that the " AFV with out wheels so must be a HT" variations will also still get a good following, for all its failings, it does seem a popular idea with builders. ( though I have to agree with Sean, I reallly don't like seeing real armour minus running gear paraded as Sci-fi HT's, I much rather see 'What ifs' based on real Tank design with tracks, like buzzbomb's excellent What ifs based on M1A1 etc with out the need to be HT)

Feed back on this thread alone tells me this is a keeper. Looking forward to see what develops.

DEC

PS, Chris I like the simple design idea of your HT, though your mention of the vehicle ramming opersition has the draw back of the force of the vehicle striking another object would be transfered to the crew, regardless of being a hover tank they would feel the change in G force as the Hover tank impacted with another. Even a secondary shell withg some sort of dampner would leave the crew shaken?

Blappy · Post by **Blappy** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:29 pm

DEC wrote: PS, Chris I like the simple design idea of your HT, though your mention of the vehicle ramming opersition has the draw back of the force of the vehicle striking another object would be transfered to the crew, regardless of being a hover tank they would feel the change in G force as the Hover tank impacted with another. Even a secondary shell withg some sort of dampner would leave the crew shaken?

If they can make a block like that hover I am sure they can place the crew in an inertia cancelling field of some sort.

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:40 pm

Blappy wrote:
DEC wrote: PS, Chris I like the simple design idea of your HT, though your mention of the vehicle ramming opersition has the draw back of the force of the vehicle striking another object would be transfered to the crew, regardless of being a hover tank they would feel the change in G force as the Hover tank impacted with another. Even a secondary shell withg some sort of dampner would leave the crew shaken?
If they can make a block like that hover I am sure they can place the crew in an inertia cancelling field of some sort.

Exactly Its just good fun. Who cares IF it can work as long as it looks like it could!

Lonnie Sweet · Post by **Lonnie Sweet** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:20 pm

Just a hunch, but if you can make 70 tonnes of armor hover 5 feet off the ground, you probably already have the recoil problem figured out.

I wonder if I could buy one of those cheap R/C hover crafts and take this one step farther....

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:23 pm

I hate arguing grav tank physics. Who cares, they look cool.

shadowbeast · Post by **shadowbeast** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:23 pm

chrisjon65 wrote: I'm in for this one,I have got a steampunk hover tank idea ive been looking at and this comp is built for it.Now where's that box of bits?

Ridiculous as a steam powered hovercraft sounds, there is a gaming miniatures range where the humans have steam tanks and the kits are released in both wheeled or hover versions...

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:48 pm

Kylwell wrote:I hate arguing grav tank physics. Who cares, they look cool.

Arguing is one thing. But hashing out the different ideas of how they could work given the persons idea is fun. Heck look at some of the recoil dampers we have now. Were developing floating gun systems so they transfer no recoil to a vehicle chassis now. This is a benefit on even tracked and wheeled vehicles as it saves wear and tear on drivetrain components.

Dwight D. Maxwell · Post by **Dwight D. Maxwell** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:13 pm

I like this whole idea, pretty cool! I'm going to take a stab at it too, been thinking about it all day.

Cenebar · Post by **Cenebar** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:28 pm

Old Crow Models makes some hovertanks...

Zen-Builder · Post by **Zen-Builder** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:34 pm

Can we use parts from Legged or wheeled tanks like Dougram, Technopolice 21C, etc?

Example: LIke a Bilzzard Gunner
http://www.mahq.net/mecha/dougram/dougram/f35c.jpg

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:04 am

Yes you can. As long as its not a commonly seen Tank or other real AFV your fine. This also includes wheeled AFVs like the LAV or stryker and also includes previous hover tanks like the games workshop stuff. Thats cheating

.

The main point of this is to get everyone to exercise their ideas for hovertanks. Its also to break the invasive idea i have seen recently that if you glue the road wheels flat on the bottom, slap on a bunch of guns, and call it a hovertank. Id like to see you guys really do your best to design something. Or even take a design from a video game or other series that has never been made in 3D. You can make an unmade Ma.K design if you like. But the main point is to have fun and just go for broke. I feel using existing tanks as base platforms is quite limiting to some extent.

MS-06 F/J · Post by **MS-06 F/J** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:17 am

Er, I'm as big a fan of the Hammer's Slammers ducted fan powergun armed hovertanks as anyone, complete with tribarrel coaxials, grates bolted over the fans to keep the FOD to a minimum, but is there no love for H Beam Piper's contragravity tanks, still armed with 75mm's?

Dr. Yo · Post by **Dr. Yo** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:16 pm

Thats going to make me go back and re-read Piper-I haven't picked
up anything by him in years.

No clear plan at the moment, though I'm hoping this challenge will
spur me to finish rebuilding the vacuform box I started about five
years ago. I have a form based on an old 'SF3D My Original' ( the
fan designs that appeared with the original Ma.K articles ) design,
and if I can make a simple vac shell, that'll make doing multiples,
variations etc., that much easier. In the meantime, I'm going to dig
out and photograph some of my older Grav builds-they're a little
shop-worn, but I still think the designs are pretty good.

Post by **onezero** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:02 pm

Oh, I just had a Very Bad Idea.....

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:02 pm

onezero wrote:Oh, I just had a Very Bad Idea.....

Well get to it then!

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:04 pm

MS-06 F/J wrote: ...but is there no love for H Beam Piper's contragravity tanks, still armed with 75mm's?

The only times that the reader gets to see Piper's contragrav in almost any action is in The Cosmic Computer (the book has also been published as The Junkyard Planet); the combat scenes when our heroes move on the backup Force Command HQ, and Blackie Perales's gang is already there...

His contragrav for combat vehicles get mentioned alot in his works, but, I honestly can't recall more serious vehicle descriptions, other than in Four Day Planet - and those are for the catcher boats that harvest the local sea monsters.

MS-06 F/J · Post by **MS-06 F/J** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:19 pm

I was just thinking about floating tanks still armed with WWII weapons, not in line with the contest, but picture an M-4 Sherman with contragrav units instead of bogie wheels and tracks...and I haven't read any H Beam Piper in years, either, but I do remember he was serious about contragravity armor and SP guns. First David Drake story I ever read, I was like 10 or 11, late '70's or so, it was in one of the sci-fi short story mags, F & SF or Asimov's, I don't remember, nor the title of the story either, but I remember the story. US Viet Nam era tank platoon gets called out to a contact, turns out it was a UFO. Tankers are riding M-48's I think, T-shaped muzzle breaks on the 90 mms, one of the tanks has broken torsion bars on one side, giving it a rough ride. David Drake might not be the best author ever, but he definitely gives the feel of someone who's been there and done that. The RPG hit by a VC on the turret of the main character's ride especially stands out in my mind, took out one of the crew. The main character offs the alien to make sure his wounded guys get medivaced. So kinda why I like David Drake's stuff...

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:02 pm

Hm... Piper. A-grav... Hm....

Down to the book vaults I go...

COOL idea DEC!

chrisjon65 · Post by **chrisjon65** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:05 pm

shadowbeast wrote:Ridiculous as a steam powered hovercraft sounds, there is a gaming miniatures range where the humans have steam tanks and the kits are released in both wheeled or hover versions...

I also thought a steampowered hovertank wouldn't really work but when the steam power is generating tubines that produce electricity that drive 5000rpm fans then it would work

Gunnie · Post by **Gunnie** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:17 pm

I've never joined in an event here on SM before - but this sure sounds like fun! I'd like to do an AGV more than an ACV - but no problem in following the rules of the challenge.

HWR MKII · Post by **HWR MKII** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:18 pm

Welcome aboard Gunnie. Now the heat is really on.

jowman · Post by **jowman** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:34 pm

Hover tanks are some of my favorite vehicles. I should see if I can actually get something completed!