Shipbucket

The P-39 was not equipped with a turbo to make it easier to maintain. Don't worry though, I'll put one on my version .

-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

Here we go. Yet another project I am undertaking. Using the 'General Purpose' scale, I am drawing out my military vehicles, and will also soon draw out civilian vehicles. As with everything else, detail is not the most important factor. I'm really just trying to get a good representation of what it would be in real life. So here it is, in the scale of 1 pixel : 1 inch :
Our 2nd largest TEL (based on the Topol), and our MBT.

This is all a WIP.
I will put more detail on both. I just wanted to go ahead and post it.

Thank you for your feedback,
-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

Hmm, interesting. What kind of missile(s) does the TEL carry? It's a good start, although obviously it needs some more details.

Your tank design is a good start, but I have a few thoughts on it. The hull looks a bit long to me. On most modern MBTs the gun tube overhangs the front of the tank quite a bit. The turret is usually centered on the hull for balance purposes, athough there are of course exceptions to that. I'm personally not a big fan of the detachable rear fuel tanks like the Russians love, but there's nothing wrong with them, and they do serve a purpose. Where is the engine at? If it's in the rear your turret definitely needs to come forward some. If it's in the front, you should put some kind of side exhaust system on it sort of like the Israeli Merkava. I like your turret design, but you might want to put a little more slant on the front face of the turret. Most modern MBTs have a very slanted turret face. Also, I don't see a Primary Gunner's Sight on it, which is usually a very boxy structure on the roof at the front of the turret. I've also never seen 2 .50 cal MGs on a tank. It can certainly be done, but usually MBTs have one .50 cal and some kind of 7.62mm MG. I suppose that's partially to save money and partially because you can fit a lot more 7.62 ammo inside the tank than you can .50 cal ammo. You also need smoke grenade deschargers somewhere on there. All tanks have them, usually on the front of the turret somewhere. Your tracks could probably use a little more refinement and detail, but I'm not sure how much detail you can put on them with that scale. Anyway, if I notice anything else I'll let you know.

It's a good start, so keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing more aircraft and vehicles from you soon.

The TEL will carry a 3-stage, solid-fuel, cold launched ICBM that will either be equipped with a single or multiple Thermobaric or Nuclear warheads.

To give you an idea of the hull length:
T-72 : 22.8 ft
Challenger : 27.3 ft
Leopard 2 : 25.33 ft
Abrams : 26.02 ft
TS-1 Tank : 28.75
I can easily change the hull length by 1 or 2 feet (if I change the position of the front idler).

In the rear of the tank is the gearbox, as that is where the drive wheel is. The gearbox is connected to the engines by a driveshaft that goes down the centerline of the tank to the very front. In front there are 2 V8 engines that produce 850 horsepower (1700 combined), and are combined to a common gear box (that houses the transmission). The 2 drivers sit right behind the engines, protected by an armored firewall. The exhaust is channeled above the driveshaft to the rear of the tank, where it is released into the atmosphere. Either that, or it will be released to the side.
The gunner's sight, I see what you mean. I will put that in as well.
With the machine guns, I know I messed up the sizes a little bit. As it is, the remote turret is supposed to be a 20 to 30mm chain-gun (like the bushmaster), while the one on the loader's hatch is a 50 cal, so basically we can take out infantry, light vehicles, and heavy vehicles.
The detachable rear tanks are just that. Usually we do not carry them, unless we have to cover long distances, without support. They are armored to an extent, are self sealing, and can withstand small arms attacks. Considering that we use diesel-oil in our tanks, the fuel will not have a tendency to explode when penetrated so that is an advantage.
I was reconsidering making the turret more like a T-72, but then realized that it would be quite cramped for the crews.
To be honest, the tank isn't what I wanted it to be, so I will have to refine it. I'm thinking maybe I should go back to my original FD scale design, but i do prefer having the engine either in the front, or midway.


-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

BTW does anyone have any concept drawings of what the MAZ-7907 would have looked like, had it gone into service? Everytime I search it, all i find is the prototype as it was built like this:

In Denton we have never trusted missile silos due to the fact that they were permanent and their location could be compromised. That is why 95% of our missiles are built on TELs, and becuase I love the Soviet/Russian TELs so much, I basically want to draw my own version of the MAZ-7907 as well.

Thanks
-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

Can't wait to see the TEL with a missile on it. that should be interesting.

Yeah, the 25-30 ft range is a decent and acceptable length for a modern MBT. Are you sure you have room for 2 V8s in the front of the hull though? Overall, your drivetrain system is very unique, but it sounds super complicated. Today, most MBTs have a self-contained power-pack with the engine and transmission together that can be pulled out and replaced in less than an hour. Your system, with 2 engines and separate transmissions would be much harder to maintain and replace. Tanks are very hard on their drivetrains, so they have to be easy to maintain and replace. Also, why 2 drivers? 1 should be sufficient.

Your FD-scale turret looks great, altough personally I like the gun tube from the GP-scale tank better, but that's purely an aesthetic thing. Other than adding the gunner's sight, I think it's good. You may just want to put it on the new hull. I'm not sure about having an auto cannon on top of the turret. It's not an unheard of thing, but it seems like it'd be a logistical nightmare to me. You'd have to have room for main gun ammo, auto cannon ammo, .50 cal ammo, and 7.62mm ammo for the coaxial MG. Space is at a premium in a tank and I honestly don't know where you'd put auto cannon ammo in one. The only modern MBT I've been in is M1A1s that the Marines have and they are really cramped inside. Still, it's not impossible. You'd probably just have to put some sort of external storage system on there so you could store extra ammo outside the tank.

The Russians get away with having smaller turrets because they use autoloaders, so they only need room for 2 crewmen in the turret instead of 3. There are advantages and disadvantages to autoloaders, and after testing them, the US and most Western powers chose manual loading over autoloaders. If you descide to go with an autoloader, you can go with a smaller turret, or you can use the extra space for more main gun ammo.

As I said, your new tank is a good start. Your FD-scale tank is great, but honestly, it looks like a US M1 Abrams got together with an Italian Ariete tank and made a love child. In other words, it's not all that unique. Your new one may need some work, but at least it's obviously a unique design.

I'm not going to lie, I've never even heard of a MAZ-7907. I've never really studied TELs, so I don't know much about them. If I run across any drawings of the 7907 I'll send them your way.

Thanks travestytrav. I have side views of it so I can get to work on the actual truck. My ony concern is: where do they put the missile? Once I get an idea of that, then I can fully draw it.

Ok, first off. The FD scale tank is the reason I created GP scale. No matter how hard I tried I could never make it look unique.

Next, concerning the hull length. I spent a few minutes workning the front and got a more pleasing aesthetic result. In doing so, the engines may have to be moved because the front is no longer "boxy."

With the engines, I learned that from the BTR, and twin engine aircraft (it's silly, I know). Basically the advantage of a twin engine set up is that if one engine is out, the other can still provide enough power to keep the tank moving, rather than stranding it. The set up of the actual design is not all that complex though. Basically think of a U engine or H engine setup where there are two separate engines, but they are connected by gears. If one of the engines goes out, then you can disengage a clutch so keep the dead load off of the one still running. Then from where those two engines meet, it goes to the ransmission where the gears are shifted, down the driveshaft to the gearbox, and to the tracks. So basically as long as there is preventive maintenance on the engines, then the gear box is really the only thing that needs to be considered as a quick change option. OfF course most of this is for the sake of being different, and probably trying to keep some redundancy as well.

With the modifications I have made, the turret is now a little more centered now, so maybe I could keep the engines closer to the rear, or even have them right behind the drivers.

BTW how do you think the wheels look?

For the turret weapons. I completely forgot about the coaxial MG, and for that matter, we would use a 50 cal. While yes the bullets are bigger, they pack quite a big punch. If I decided to stay with the remote autocannon, I would probably feed it up from the storage magazine. The 120mm would have 40-45 rounds so I'm not sure if I would have room for it. I'll keep the remote turret as a 50 cal for now, and decide what to do with it later.
I will probably stick with a human loader, rather than an auto loader. I do know that the autoloaders were not as fast as human loaders, but then again I would benefit by having one less crew member. I'll have to decide on that. (plus if I did that I woulld have room for an autocannon)

2 drivers. That was something I picked up a long time ago. The shermans had a 'co-driver,' and he operated the hull machine gun when he wasnt driving. Also, the 'co-driver' was going to be the master mechanic, and if there were any problems with the tank, he would know what to do, and the other crew members could keep watch and help him. At least, thats how I think it would be.

-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

Well, if you're going to put a 3-stage ICBM on your TEL, it's going to be a pretty big missile. Most of the Russian mobile-launched ICBMs were 6-8ft wide and 70-80ft long, not including the canister the missile was stored and launched in, so pretty much the only place you can put the missile is centered on top of the TEL sort of cradled in the middle of the hull.

Your redesigned hull looks a lot better, but I think you're right. I'm not sure you can fit 2 engines int he front of the hull now. If you're going to put the engines in the front, they need to be in front of the drivers. The only reason to put a tank's engine in the front is for crew protection, so putting them behind the drivers would be pointless. Alternatively, you could make the rear of the hull a bit longer and put the engines in the rear. You could also put two power-packs in the rear each with an engine and a transmission and you could cross link the transmissions so one engine could drive both transmissions if one engines goes down. You might also consider using turbine engines instead of diesels. They eat into your fuel economy, but they're much more compact than diesels for the power you get from them.

I've never seen a tank with a .50 cal coax MG, but it's not impossible. Most tanks have a compact 7.62mm MG to save room in the turret. I've been looking for a modern MBT that has an autocannon, but I haven't found one. The Leopard 2 PSO variant has a remote weapon station, but I think it's only designed for a .50 cal. Like I said, an autocannon isn't impossible, but it may be hard to carry enough ammo for it for the gun to matter.

If you're going to go with 2 drivers (which I'm still not sure is necessary), I would go with an autoloader just to keep the crew size down. One thing most people who've never been in the military don't realize is how hard it is to man military units. Units are always fighting over manpower because there's never enough personnel, especially during a war. I never once saw a Marine battalion deploy fully manned when I was in. Even taking personnel from other units to fill the ranks never cut it. Keeping your crew size small will make it much easier to fully man your tank battalions. Also, as you said, using an autoloader will give you more room in the turret for ammo for your autocannon.

I am basing the specs off of the Topol missile and TEL (which this basically is), but I may have read the specs worng. When I get back to work on it, I'll do some more research on it.

After some debate, I have decided to go with a single engine, rather than 2. I will consider a turbine in the future, and it may be better for the space I have, but for now it will just be a 12 (or 16) cylinder engine. I am gonig to situate it in the rear and put it all in one package. Do you think it would be better if I moved the turret up a few more feet now that I am doing that?
For the turret, I have shortened it by 6 inches, to make it an even 14ft (and to give some room for the cooling fans in the rear). I am also going to put an autoloader inside the turret (and get rid of the 'co-driver') to bring my crew to 3. I am going to keep the 50 cal coaxial and the 20mm remote autocannon on top, because I now have more room for the ammo. The only problem I see is feeding the ammo up to the gun. If you have any ideas on that, that would be great, or I could just drop the 20mm altogether..

I'll be posting what I've done so far in a few minutes.
-EZ-

EDIT:
Ok, here's what I've got. I'm still not happy with the front hull shape, so it may look a little more different next time I post it. I've also removed the side skirts until I get closer to completion.


EDIT EDIT: Ok, here is the new hull. I think it looks better, and I moved the turret forward about a foot or so. What do you think?


-EZ-

_________________
Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

The two latest versions of your tank both look pretty good. I can't really decide which I like best, but they both look like they'd work just fin. The only correction I suggest is that the front wheels need the teeth on them too because that keeps the track from slipping off the front wheel during turns.

Going with a single engine is probably for the best. The twin engine concept is a good idea, but it would probably just be too hard to fit into your tank without making it overly large and heavy. V12 diesels seem to be about the standard these days for MBTs, so that'll probably work. I think your turret position on both of your latest versions looks okay. Diesel power-packs don't take up that much room and I think you probably have enough there in the rear. On the upper design, you could probably even fit the engine in the front if you want to still do that.

The autoloader is not a bad idea since newer ones are getting faster and more reliable, and it will give you some extra room in the turret. Most turrets are layed out with the gunner and commander on one side of the turret and the loader on the other side. The M1, Challenger 2, and Leopard 2 both have the gunner and commander on the right and the loader is on the left side of the turret. An autoloader would take up part of that space on the left, but some of it (probably the front left corner) could be used as a magazine for autocannon ammo. The ammo could feed up through the roof of the turret to your remote cannon mount. The only issue I could see from that set up is the crew would have to exit the turret to reload the autocannon, but you'd have that issue with any remote external gunmount.