Looking for a critique - Hover tanks

[ErikB]

Artwise I am a photorealistic artist and there is no appeal nor much artistic merit to impressionism or abstract in my personal opinion. But my bias against pseudo art aside, on a more practical note most artwork related to science fiction books, comics, movies, posters, fantasy art, etc is done in a realistic to photorealistic manner because it tends to appeal to the majority.

As for hover tanks or other hovering craft it depends a lot on what it is causing your vehicle to hover but generally a bulky narrow (top heavy) craft, does not work or ring true because it is simple to topple, blow away if struck in profile, or if a port/vent/ repulsor/etc is struck or damaged.

Think about quadcopter drones. Apply that to low profile and very stable tanks. I think you would do better focusing on horizontal bases rather than vertical hovering craft.

Any mildly rough terrain would screw up that sort of tank. Easily tipped/unstable vehicles don't fare well in war.

Just my opinion on the top heavy designs I am seeing on this thread. I'd spread it out. Stabilize and increase speed and mobility for your hover tanks.

Good luck with your project.

 

[AlexanderSen]

Hi, after a bit of hiatus I am back with more hover tanks! This hover tank is based off a tank destroyer mounted on a VTOL engine type theme. It's a pretty simple design which it's sophistication and efficiency I appreciate. I love the angles on some of the late war (WWII) tanks - sleek and elegant they both served a purpose of providing maximum protection as well as simplicity in manufacturing. It's hard to beat a solid metal plate at a good angle as protection. lol

 

[cidetraq]

Thanks! I am now working on another version of the hover tank, here is the rough. Also, I have been working on a hover jet bike and flying car as well. I must have a thing for hover vehicles...

I really like this one. Something about it reminds me of Star Wars on Endor with the hoverbikes and also Inception with the earmuffs (during the winter dream level). Nice design.

 

[AlexanderSen]

Here is yet another design. This time an actual hovercraft! I envision this vehicle as a transition from armor treaded vehicles to hover vehicles. It would be an early experimental design which was not very successful, but lead the way to more successful and mobile designs.

 

[AlexanderSen]

My latest design is based off of the German WWII Jagdpanther Tank Destroyer, and the JagdP is one my favorite designs. I just love the lines and angles this beast has. I started the design using the Jagdpanther body and the hover chassis in some of my previous posts. I decided to use the design of the hover engines as it gives the vehicle a fast and yet robust feel to it. It has a lot of thrust with all those engines and even if one gets knocked out by the enemy it still has several that could compensate for the loss of the thruster and or hover engine. I plan on coloring it, and I am looking into camo/color schemes for the hover tank.

 

[AlexanderSen]

Here is a color scheme applied to the previous design based off the JagdPanther. I tried messing around with the design a bit, so the chassis is slightly different with less thrusters, giving it a more functional/organized look and feel. Not sure which one I like better, but I am going to try and play with the color schemes and design some more.

 

[AlexanderSen]

I was designing a Hover Tank, something more modern, with missiles instead of a cannon which have a higher explosive payload and advanced guidance (aim) systems. The piece hanging below the chassis I envision as an anti-grav / mag-lift device.

 

[AlexanderSen]

Here is another Hover Tank. Yes that's right - more hover mecha on the way!

This armored hover vehicle is armed with a laser canon and homing missiles as its main armaments. It also has a secondary machine gun for antipersonnel roles. Like the previous design, I imagine this hovertank is propelled by something like a mag-lift (magnetic lift) or an anti-gravity drive which can be seen as the round domes on the bottom of the tank.

Looking at it now, I can see something I can improve. I probably should go back in and clean up the line art, but I'll post this for now. I am trying to post regularly so I can improve my art. I think forcing myself to doing it consistently will help me improve. Any critiques and comments are welcome.

 

[Foxbat]

I'm not sure I agree with the logic of the hover tanks you portray (although you are quite skilled in creating them). Here's why - a hover tank as shown is counter-productive. They would be slow, lumbering and difficult to control because of their sheer weight (weight of the armour plus weight of the power plant to lift such an object).

To me, you'd be better thinking about how modern warships are designed. they carry little or no armour, relying on low radar signature, counter-measures and agility to avoid being hit.

So, rather than creating something that's going to take a pounding, I'd be thinking about creating something sleek with no vertical surfaces (modern warships are always at least six degrees off the vertical to provide low radar signature). I'd take a look at the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyer for some ideas. Without the heavy armour, the tank could still carry a large armament but be faster, sleek and nimble, stuffed with decoys and electronic countermeasures rather than boxy, lumbering and somewhat anachronistic.

Just my thoughts

 

[VinceK]

Picking up on Foxbat's naval analogy, you could use your current design to create a much larger tank, which would be analogous to an aircraft carrier and then create smaller, more agile, tanks to act as escorts.

 

[Joshua Jones]

I think much of this depends on the faction and how they intend to use these tanks. Hover tanks immediately have an advantage over treaded tanks in that they can move sideways and diagonally rather than merely forward and backward. They may, however, be easier targets for a mobility kill than a treaded tank. If this later point is true, you may consider adding shielding around the lift mechanisms to protect them from rockets and the like. Also, consider adding multidirectional defense systems, such as micromissile arrays on the corners of the chassis or turret.

The advantages, though, seem to imply that they will be used in more of a scout/fast assault role than a mobile fortification role. That said, I could envision a military using the mobility advantage of a hover tank as a means of moving the mobile fortification type tanks in and out of combat faster, but they would need some kind of retractable landing struts or something for that to be successful. You may want to include these either way in your design, because a lift system presumably consumes energy, meaning they will need to land for storage at some point. But, they will need to be more sturdy for a mobile fortification type tank, as they will also be providing firing stability.

You are also right about missiles being more accurate than projectiles, but they are also much more expensive and a fair bit larger. It looks like the one you have pictured has six missiles, which means you have six shots, and then it needs to be resupplied to be useful again. That isn't so much of an issue for something that uses its missiles for specialized purposes (such as the Patriot system that shoots down other missiles), but for a forward unit, that may cause serious problems. I would take a look at the MLRS system and see if a design like that may make sense for a missile turret.

Overall, your designs are solid and well done. Keep on posting your designs, and keep up the good work!

 

[AlexanderSen]

I have been on a modelling fix lately. Did some more kitbashing. I did some kitbashing before from my previous post of a SAR(Search and Rescue) Mecha thread. This time, I am working on a hover tank based off of the German WWII Panzer III and the hover skiff from the Atlas Gundam. It's a simple design but I rather like it. The multiple thruster-like vents on the bottom makes it look believable, like something which could hover. Also the pieces I need to connect are a close fit to each other even though they are different scales(1/72 for the Pzkpfw III and 1/144 for the Gundam). Although I still need to do some scratch building with the sides. I plan to cut some polystyrene sheets to fill the gaps and connect the body top to the hover chassis.

I am also working on another design with a big cross section of parts from different series (ranging from Gundam, Armored Core, and Gasaraki!) which I'll post later when I have more time.





Also thanks for the comments they are quite interesting ideas. I really like the modern naval analogy. I'll try incorporating the suggestions, in my next series of designs and I'll also address some of the ideas in my next post.

 

[AlexanderSen]

I have been working some landships based upon some of the posts and comments in this thread. I probably should start a new thread with land ships and naval-themed hover vehicles, but in the meantime here is another hover tank - an Arctic / Winter Camo hover tank, but it is more like a flying hover gunship, somewhere between a naval ship and tank mecha. More maneuverable/mobile and able to transverse rough terrain more than regular tanks due to its hovering abilities; it is armed with a laser cannon, a conventional auto cannon, and a missile launcher, as well as some electronic counter measure defense systems.

 

[Joshua Jones]

I have been working some landships based upon some of the posts and comments in this thread. I probably should start a new thread with land ships and naval-themed hover vehicles, but in the meantime here is another hover tank - an Arctic / Winter Camo hover tank, but it is more like a flying hover gunship, somewhere between a naval ship and tank mecha. More maneuverable/mobile and able to transverse rough terrain more than regular tanks due to its hovering abilities; it is armed with a laser cannon, a conventional auto cannon, and a missile launcher, as well as some electronic counter measure defense systems.

View attachment 47731

Not a bad design. The weapon load out makes some sense (laser for anti-armor, auto cannon for infantry and light armor, missiles to add operational flexibility). The lift mechanism is still a bit of an easy target, but it looks more armored now, which helps a bit. And, electronic countermeasures will help defend from missiles.

I will give two points, though. It is still pretty vulnerable to unguided weapons like rockets and tank shells. Electronic countermeasures work by confusing guidance systems, so if there is no guidance system, there is no defense offered. The only ways to defend against such things are to shoot them down, redirect them, or detonate the warhead before it strikes the tank. Proximity warheads on micromissiles is one option, along with either laser or autocannon PD turrets and some sort of deflector shield. Or, it could simply be fast enough to dodge them at range, but that would leave it vulnerable up close.

The other problem I see is the guy hanging out of the top. Other than making him (presumably the driver) vulnerable to sniper fire and the like, it also would be mighty chilly to be hovering around in Polar conditions with your head and torso hanging out. Imagine driving at, say, 130 kpm in the dead of winter, then winding down your window and sticking you head out. Now, imagine you do this in northern Finland. What this tank asks of the driver is actually worse, because his head and torso are exposed. This would pose a serious risk for frostbite and hypothermia. So, I would recommend adding a cockpit or simply dropping him into the body of the tank. This would also give the advantage of a HUD system he could use for targeting and intelligence.

Overall, though, I think it is a good design. Add a metal bubble over the guy's head, and it is something I could see used in the real world. Add a physical defense for unguided munitions, and you have something which can dominate the battlefield.

 

[AlexanderSen]

I put the Artic Hovertank/Gunship into a scene. Thanks for the input JJ! Just FYI the guy standing out is the Commander and normally in combat he would stay inside only peeking out from the Commander's Copula. He is just standing to get a better view of the situation. I also used the commander standing up to give a sense of the scale of the vehicle.