A What If Amphibious Vehicle

[GTX_Admin]

Looking good

[PFJN]

Hi,

Sorry for the delays in getting anything new posted.  I've started changing the hull over from a solid shape to a "hollow" shape, and making cut outs for accesses, as shown below.




Regards

Pat

[Buzzbomb]

Interesting crew placement.. .getting interesting

[PFJN]

Hi,
Here's a few images of where I currently am.  I know thta sometimes the images don't necessarily do a good job of showing progress, especially since some of the work that I have been doing is cleaning uo and/or revising some areas where I may have had a place-holder, such as the road wheels.

Recently though, I have;

• revised the road wheel based on a cross section drawing that I found for some wheels designed for the AAV7
• started adding additional bolt on armor plates
• added a drivers hatch
• began revising the geometry of the bow ramp
• added skirt plating and adjustable chine flap plating (that would be rotated under the retracted roadwheels and treads, when operating in water
• adjusted the geometry of how far the road wheels can retract, and their locations/spacing along the vehicle's hull
• added an access door aft for engine maintenance

In addition to the above I also need to;

• rework the treads and sprockets for the new roadwheel geometry
• add "mounting bolts" for the add-on armor
• rework the turret to correctly reflect the smaller overhang that would be used with a 90mm gun, and modify the geometry to make it more "3D printable"
• add additional openings for cooling fans and ventilation
• figure out what the exhausts might look like
• add in other small bits and pieces like towing fittings and cable, headlights and tail lights, fuel caps, and miscellaneous openings etc

Hopefully it will all start coming together better soon 

Pat

[PFJN]

Hi,
It doesn't look like I''l get around to trying to 3D print my model beofre the deadline, but I hope to at least the 3D model complete (more or less) by then.

Lately I have been revising the treads, adding on some bolt on armor and attachments, and cleaning up the driver's hatch.  After that I hope to modigy the turret a little to better reflect a 90mm gun and add some vents and other fittings to the upper machinery space deck, etc.

Regards

Pat

[PFJN]

Hi,
Here are some images of my latest updates.  The 1st shows an ISO view where you can see the cleaned up driver's hatch and main gun, along with the vdnt gratings in the upper deck for ventilation and a "stern flap" in its stowed position.  Th 2nd image shows a side view of the vehicle when configured for land-borne operations.  In this image you can get a better viw of the stern flap.  And finally, in the 3rd view you can see the vehicle when configured for waterborned operations.  Unfortunately in this view I don't yet have the revised treads drawn in, and in all the views I don't yet have the bow ramp/flap drawn in yet.  Once I get those drawn in, and finish up my modifications to the turret (especially in way of the aft overhang) ther 3D model will be mostly done, except for maybe any small details (like tow brackets, fuel filler caps, and stuff like that) that I may want to add.

Hopefully I will be able to at least finish up the 3D model before the end of the group build.

Regards

Pat

[Buzzbomb]

A lot of great thought has gone into this.

the added feature of seeing the 3D design process has been a great ride so far

[PFJN]

Hi,
Thanks.  I don't know as much about modern armored vehicles as I'd like, and doing this build has been a fun way to focus on certain aspects of their design, and has been a fun learning experience for me. 

[PFJN]

Hi,
Here are some images with the shortened turret overhang.  I only had a few images of this shorter overhang that goes with the 90mm gun, so I scaled down the overhang from the turret with a 105mm gun as best as I could.





Regards

Pat

[PFJN]

Hi,
I managed to finish up the bow flap.  I ended up mounting the flap up higher on the vehicle than I initially planned, as shown below.  I kind of figured that while a bow flap mounted more or less flush with the bottom of the vehicle might be good for a high speed vehicle like the canceled EFV, but since I wasn't expecting this vehicle to have that high a water speed, it will be sitting much lower in the water and as such it might be better to locate the flap closer to the water surface.









As shiwn in the images above the bow flap is double hinged so that it can extend further forward when deployed.

Also I still need to add back in the treads when the suspension is retracted, and a few other small items and some clean up.  But overall it is close to being done (as a 3D model at least, for now).  Once I eventually get around to trying to 3D print it, I may also need to make some small modifications to make it easier to assemble all the parts once I print them 

[PFJN]

Hi,
I finished up the treads in the retracted position and added some headlights and tow fittings.  Other than that I think I probably just need some tail lights, the fuel cap(s), the muffler/exhausts and maybe a few other small thin gs like shovels, tow cable and such.

Regards

Pat






PS.  I may have to rethink the headlights, because right now they stick up a bit and are kind of close to the drivers hatch, but I wasn't sure where else to put them so they wouldn't get in the way of the the bow flap.

[PFJN]

Hi,
I'm almost pretty much done with the 3D model (though I just recently noticed that I inadverVuwe started messing around with trying to make some nicer looking images by importing the model into a program called VUE.  It's been awhile since I used that program so it may take me awhile to get everything correct, but here are a couple images that I was able to quickly do this evening.




Regards

Pat

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Buzzbomb]

Great stuff, it looks very workable to my eye.
Working through this design process has been interesting. One point that became apparent with my Hovercraft and also this build is around engine deck grating and how that would work in an amphibious vehicle with waves or wash moving over the rear deck. All vehicles appear to have them so the solution must be in there

[PFJN]

Hi,
Thanks GTX and BuzzBomb.  dFor the most part I think I'm basically done with the 3D model, though I may continue to make some small changes as I play around with trying to first "render" some images, and then later 3D print the model.  But for this Group Build I guess I'm pretty much done for now.

Here is a recent image that I have developed for the vehicle.

Regards

Pat

[PFJN]

Hi.
I've started to play around with trying to add a camouflage texture to my model to see how it looks.

The first image below, shows the vehicle with a sample texture that I downloaded off the internet to practice with.  If you look closely you can see the company "watermark" in the texture that the put on the free version of the image on the gun barrel and front ramp.  I wanted to first play around with a sample file since there are some settings in the VUE program that I don't fully understand yet, that can impact they way the texture gets added to the model, so I wanted to find a free texture to practice with.  And this gave me a chance to play around with stretching znd rotating the texture map, and tweaking some of the settings to see how it would impact how a texture would get rendered onto my model.

In the second image you can see a texture that I tried to develop myself that is supposed to kind of be similar to the Cold War era Berlin Brigade Urban camouflage but using colors more suitable for a Pacific artificial island type setting.  Unfortunately with the current lighting setting that I have used the colors came out a bit brighter than I had anticipated for now.  Hopefully as I experiment more I may be able to improve and soften the look a little.

Regards

Pat

[GTX_Admin]

The first one makes me think of it as a Norwegian or Swedish vehicle.  The second I think more someone like someone in the Middle East.

[PFJN]

GTX,
Thanks.  Here's a new one where I found another free texture (without watermarks) and I've also tried to add in some background scenery.  The ground color should probably be changed to something more beach or desert like, but I really like the (Banana) tree and clouds. 

Pat

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Mig Eater]

Looking forward to seeing the 3D print in the future

[Buzzbomb]

Very good 3d render work 

[PFJN]

GTX, Buzz Bomb, Mig Eater, Frank 3K, Story, Lemon Jello, Apophenia, Kim Margosein, & Old Wombat,

Thanks for your comments and feedback.  I've gone ahead and posted some images in the Digital Amphibians folder, since this Group Build is about over.

It was fun seeing Buzz Bombs Hover Tank and Robomog's Helo/River Taxi builds, and I hope to see MAT's final PBY build when he gets a chance to complete it.

Best Regards

Pat

[ysi_maniac]

Can you introduce your design into a 3D printer?

Hard comprehensive job, I would say.

[PFJN]

Hi,
I hope so, though I will probably need to modify the model a little.  My intent was to try and print it in parts at 1/35 scale, and assembbler it kind of like mormal model.  Most (though not all) of the parts right now are modeled as 3D solids, with the hull being built up of thin 3D solid plates.  I may need to thicken them up a little for printing, but I think it should work OK, based on my experience with other 3D models.

Regards

Pat

[PFJN]

Hi,
I found a site with alot of free textures, though only one real camouflage one.  So I decided to try and see what the vehicle might look like with some different textures ranging from rocks, to a pool surface, a snake and a giraffe amoung other things.