T-28 Tank???

i was thinking of building a t-28 super heavy tank, but theres a problem... i have tried to standardize all my newest tanks in size, detail, and scale when compared to sackboy. so far they have all been 2 thick planes thick with the main gun tacking up a thin layer in between. BUT... because of the way this tank is made and the location of the tracks it almost seems better to make it 3 thick planes thick with a thick plane for the gun. this way i would have to use 2 separate tracks one in the back thick plane and one in the front (i have been able to make an entire tracked chassis in one thick plane and 2 thin planes with suspension). so anyway im kind of torn between them, on one hand making it in 2 thick planes matches my other tanks and leaves room for scenery. BUT, it also means i would have to compromise the design slightly (as the gun goes between the tracks on this tank i would have to move the gun up slightly). heres a picture so you can see what i mean: http://www.the-blueprints.com/bluepr...er_heavy_tank/

so which way should i make it???

*** i should note that the 3 plane design would most likely take up significantly more thermo due to the double tracks.

oops!!!! i should have put this in ideas and projects, anyway i can move it??

I think this would be better in the ideas and projects section, but,....

There's a huge amount of tanks in the world. If you really want that one, then I'd prefer it in three layers. Because: You already have a ton of two-layer tanks. And to be honest, I've given up on tanks in actually levels so about it blocking scenery; I wouldn't mind that much. And, it gives you plenty more room for switches so you could make it easier to operate.

Oh, and, glad you like the blueprints website :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Incinerator22

I think this would be better in the ideas and projects section, but,....

There's a huge amount of tanks in the world. If you really want that one, then I'd prefer it in three layers. Because: You already have a ton of two-layer tanks. And to be honest, I've given up on tanks in actually levels so about it blocking scenery; I wouldn't mind that much. And, it gives you plenty more room for switches so you could make it easier to operate.

Oh, and, glad you like the blueprints website :D

---

well actually i realized that it should be in that section but i didn't think theres any way to move it. ANYWAY.... about the more room for switches ive actually completely given up on exposing the front of the tanks and have incorporated all my controls like in my Panther tank thread. i like it better, its hidden, very compact, can be "programmed" and can be used in many different ways.

Moved to Ideas and Projects.

:)

A word of wisdom regarding construction of this sort. When moving to a triple-layer design you must take into account the fact that you will also be occupying the rearmost thin layer and will also be dumping some of your most critical connectors in between glued layers.

It might not sound like much the way I've written it, but I speak from experience as someone who has already gone through the headaches of this sort.

It takes careful planning and full confidence in your directional gluing abilities to pull off, plus some tricks up your sleeve for working in between glued layers. Your biggest challenge will be getting the rearmost track working correctly when it will be heavily obscured by your tank's body (which you will have to glue to the rear thick layer first before assembling treads).

You also need absolute precision when duplicating your rear track to the front. You should probably do this on grid.

My advice is this: build one tread mechanism to full specification. Duplicate it to the foreground. To the small section of the rear track that you want to glue your tank's middle section, place and glue a small square of material using the shoulder buttons to directionally glue it. You want to do this so that you inevitably end up gluing the middle piece ONLY to nonmoving parts on the back piece. Now directionally glue the resulting piece to the foreground.

You should now have a 3-layer thick pair of treads connected by a small piece of material which, using the corner edit tool, you will now shape to the tank's body. Voila!

Of course, having a 3 layer thick tank now probably means your tread connectors are lying in the background thin layer. I guess you won't be including any scenery in the background...unless...you spend the extra effort and do this the advaned way:

Instead of simply copying the foreground layer tread to the rear layer, unattach the tread connectors and move them forward one thin layer so that they end up occupying the thin layer between middle and back layers. Reapply bolts. Now assemble your middle section as described above.

The advantage to doing this is you have full background thin layer to work with, and your tank is a mirror image split along its Z-axis.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thegide

A word of wisdom regarding construction of this sort. When moving to a triple-layer design you must take into account the fact that you will also be occupying the rearmost thin layer and will also be dumping some of your most critical connectors in between glued layers.

It might not sound like much the way I've written it, but I speak from experience as someone who has already gone through the headaches of this sort.

It takes careful planning and full confidence in your directional gluing abilities to pull off, plus some tricks up your sleeve for working in between glued layers. Your biggest challenge will be getting the rearmost track working correctly when it will be heavily obscured by your tank's body (which you will have to glue to the rear thick layer first before assembling treads).

You also need absolute precision when duplicating your rear track to the front. You should probably do this on grid.

My advice is this: build one tread mechanism to full specification. Duplicate it to the foreground. To the small section of the rear track that you want to glue your tank's middle section, place and glue a small square of material using the shoulder buttons to directionally glue it. You want to do this so that you inevitably end up gluing the middle piece ONLY to nonmoving parts on the back piece. Now directionally glue the resulting piece to the foreground.

You should now have a 3-layer thick pair of treads connected by a small piece of material which, using the corner edit tool, you will now shape to the tank's body. Voila!

Of course, having a 3 layer thick tank now probably means your tread connectors are lying in the background thin layer. I guess you won't be including any scenery in the background...unless...you spend the extra effort and do this the advaned way:

Instead of simply copying the foreground layer tread to the rear layer, unattach the tread connectors and move them forward one thin layer so that they end up occupying the thin layer between middle and back layers. Reapply bolts. Now assemble your middle section as described above.

The advantage to doing this is you have full background thin layer to work with, and your tank is a mirror image split along its Z-axis.

---

actually i have already built tracks like this and implementing them would be easy ( and i mean 2 sets of 1 thick planed tracks) and what do you mean by dumping some of the thin connectors, maybe i should post a picture of the setup i made for this (not on the tank of course) to show what i mean.

BTW thanks for moving this to ideas, i didn't mean to post it there...:confused:

I'm not familiar with your work, but I'm assuming your tank treads are based off a linked design? In other words, several thick plane links connected by thin layer links?

Assuming the above is true, you have two design options:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/...42c0f7337d.jpg

(foreground layers are to the right, background layers to the left)

Most people will generally go with (A), because it involves one tread object that is duplicated and affixed to either side of the body (in grey). The problem with (A) is that you have used your backmost thin layer for the small connectors.

The solution, (B) involves detaching the small connectors and moving them to the opposite side (inside) of the tread (see leftmost tread). The easiest way to do this accurately is to copy and paste the thin connectors, rather than trying to move them around the larger tread pieces. Your tank's design is now symmetrical and occupies less space. However, it is a more difficult design.

Does this make sense now?

yeah, now it makes sense, nice pics by the way, i would probably do a because its easier, and also because i would have to rebuild my chassis with the connectors in the front making it very difficult to attach the wheels and suspension linkages. oh and also i only use one bolt and glue the other end, i think its stronger this way.

Thegide, just for the record, horwitzer is probably the most expert tank builder out there ;)

No need to explain treads to him or anything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by horwitzer

yeah, now it makes sense, nice pics by the way, i would probably do a because its easier, and also because i would have to rebuild my chassis with the connectors in the front making it very difficult to attach the wheels and suspension linkages. oh and also i only use one bolt and glue the other end, i think its stronger this way.

---

Indeed, it's a lot of work, but when striving for perfection, one can always take things up a notch.

I think you're right about glued connectors being stronger. I've only done treads once, but I've built enough rope bridges to know that the fewer bolts you can use, the better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Incinerator22

Thegide, just for the record, horwitzer is probably the most expert tank builder out there ;)

No need to explain treads to him or anything.

---

Great so this should be a walk in the park for hiim ;)