WIP Gunship

[MicVash]

Finally getting some building done the past couple of days but need some help with the design of this thing. Stuck in a rut. What do you think so far?

My photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattman_evers/

WIP Pics:

[IVhorseman]

SO FAR, you have an impressive upper body. Are you running into any design problems?

[solvess]

SO FAR, you have an impressive upper body. Are you running into any design problems?

Nice I like the wing design just looks like you need a cockpit.

[Blitzen]

SO FAR, you have an impressive upper body.

[MicVash]

SO FAR, you have an impressive upper body.

As I've been told before. no hetero.


Main issues I'm having is just not having the pieces I think I need to finish this thing. So I want to get some comments before I place a bricklink order.

Another problem is the angle of the cockpit is offset from the rest of the build so I'm going to have to get creative in figuring out how to cover it up. I also don't know how long I want this thing to be. I'm thinking about adding two more engines raised higher up on a thick tail, similar to the Halo Pelican.

Here's a comparison to some schematics:


Don't think I'll be able to follow the specs completely. (No way I could fit 12 guys on this thing.) I want something more compact anyway.

Any suggestions on some other concept art to look at?

[Theblackdog]

He's BAAAAACK! I always missed your work, it's some of the best mechs and military hardware on the forum. This in particular looks like it's going to turn out to be completely badass.

HALO pelican is cool, but don't make the mistake of trying to follow it too closely. Down that road lies dimmyness. Extend the fuselage back a short ways (about 6 more studs, I would say), then put on a set of engines either slightly closer together or slightly farther apart than this pair, depending on how you want it to look. I think it would look best as a missile platform like some of your hover bikes, but of course that's up to you.

[BFenix]

The engines and upper body are absolutely sick! in a good way that is
keep that building style up and that will be one impressive dropship

[IVhorseman]

Are you trying to go for a dropship or a gunship with this thing? My personal suggestion is to forget about fitting anyone other than a pilot in this thing, and fill the body out with huge fuck-off guns. I suggest pirate masts, but that's just me.

As for the tilted cockpit, I also have a gunship with a similar constraint that I'd messed about with. What I ended up doing is slipping in some technic beams and using black friction pins to hold the lower half of the cockpit in, seperate from the rest of the body. This allows you to set the cockpit at any angle you need it to be at, as well as having the added bonus of being able to open the cockpit almost as if it were a jaw, with both upper and lower halfs being able to move.

[MicVash]

@Theblackdog:

Haha, only back for about a month i'm afraid. I'm actually in the military, and the server I use back at my station won't let me load up the forums. So hopefully I get this thing at least 90% complete by the time I have to go. Otherwise, flickr is good to go, so just drop a comment there.

But anyways, thank you for the support. I was thinking the same thing about it being a missile platform. Extending the body to only 6 extra studs looks like it would work, but it might not be necessary then to add more engines.

@IVhorseman

You're right, I'm going to have to choose between utility or firepower. I was hoping to at least have room for 2 passengers, but maybe I still could but each of them be side gunners. I was thinking the same too about having a giant cannon on the back, maybe the rectangles where I have the dark green could be weapon modules and I could change out all kinds of payload. I like the cockpit idea too; that would be a neat function to have.

Thanks for the comments everybody! Just waiting on my paypal transaction to come through and it's time for a Bricklink order!

[IVhorseman]

Hell, I think you could get away with a massive cannon on each side of the ship. My suggestion would be to widen the body of this thing to make room for some forward-facing cannons, and reserve the back for some engines big enough to get it moving. You might even want to consider a tailgunner if you're fixing to put more minifigs on this baby.

[Theblackdog]

Generally I've found that the choice is between aesthetics and troop capacity, not weapons loadout and troop capacity. It's hard to make a vehicle that can hold a lot of troops and still look good, but I would say that this vehicle will probably end up being able to have it both ways; it's got a wide enough fuselage to seat a lot of people and still have room for guns. A dropship is always a good thing to have during a game, so unless you've got some kind of rule which prevents a ship from carrying both a lot of troops and a full loadout of mounted weapons, don't make up your mind just yet.

Also, I think this would look better with engines in pods off the sides than engines sticking out the back of the fuselage. Generally ships with engines mounted inside the hull in the back want to follow a sort of tapered cone or triangle shape, narrowing towards the front; this one isn't developing that way, so keep the engine pods.

[MicVash]

Theblackdog, you are right about looks and utility. I tried making room for transport but it just turned out to be a big box that didn't flow with the aircraft. I'm taking IVhorseman's suggestion and widening the hull by 2 studs and I've got a lot more room to play with. I'm going to add a missile rack on each side near the cockpit and I'm probably going to change the windscreen to "Windscreen 6 x 4 x 2 Wedge Curved" so I've got 4 studs in the middle to play around with the cockpit, and 2 studs on either side for the missile racks.

[Theblackdog]

Sweet. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

['Mano]

Fantastic color choice, and the organic shape is perfect.

[MicVash]

Okay, so I've got the overall top shape (minus the cockpit) down which is good considering how slow I take to build something. I'm waiting on some BrickLink orders still but at least I've got some new pics to share.

From what I said on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattman_evers/ (Add me as a contact so we can share MOC pics!)

"Waiting on some Bricklink orders for a new wind screen and certain slopes. Not using the type of windscreen i had on earlier. Changing it to 4 stud width and stacking them so there's a pilot and gunner in front.

Changes: Widened by 2 studs. Overall length pretty much set. Tail engines added.

Upper body about 70% complete. Thinking of adding a flat lying radar dish with a buncha forward facing antennae on the top for battlefield tactical purposes (the eye in the sky). Half of the transport area of the belly would be turned into a CIC then. Without a CIC looking at holding 4 extra minifigs, w/ CIC only 3."

If I follow through with the tactical addition I'd have some rule like the "All Seeing Eye" in 40k for the Ravenwing, where I'd get to re-roll an attack or something.

And Pics...