Fictional 6×6 IFV. Features all wheel drive, full independent suspension, illuminated piston engine, deployable side cannons, and tank-like turret with ability to shoot projectiles.
Datasheet:
Completion date: 31/05/2009
Power: electric (Power Functions)
Dimensions: length 61 studs / width 28 studs / height 30 studs
Weight: 2.78 kg
Suspension: full independent
Motors: 2 x PF XL, 4 x PF Medium, 1 x 71427
The initial inspiration for this vehicle was GoW’s Laverne APC. I did not regard its construction as realistic, so I’ve made many changes, including different axles setup.
There was a number of experimental features built into this construction. Among others, I wanted to see how a full independent suspension performs in a 6×6 vehicle with considerable weight. It turned out that only one steered axle in such a vehicle is a bad solution, because the wheels on the rear axles bend while turning. The axles #2 and #3 use 3 studs wide differential bracings I have developed some time ago, and they worked flawlessly. Axle #1 on the other hand is exactly the same module that has been used in my Hellbender model.
Another important feature is the turret. It’s ugly and large (which makes it look like the turrets of self-propelled howitzers) but it houses a firing mechanism developed by Duku and used previously in my Tripod Gun. The mechanism was initially supposed to shoot projectiles through the barrel, but the prototypical barrel made of 1×3 liftarms had so large internal friction that the projectiles couldn’t even exit it. Hence the barrel is non-functional, and the projectiles are being fired from above it. The entire mechanism along with the barrel can be elevated by a linear actuator, but since there is little place under the turret, the elevation is only by few degrees. It shows that if I want to use such a turret in a model of a tank, it needs to be partially ‘submerged’ into the hull to reduce its height.
There are two additional small turrets on the front part of the hull, which rotate accordingly to the front wheels’ angle. However, the synchronization with the steering mechanism is poor.
Finally, there are two deployable side cannons. The initial idea was to use links and a complex setup of several independently moved parts to make the cannons emerge from inside the hull. As the hull’s construction progressed, the available space was becoming more and more limited, so the cannons have eventually ended up in simple casings deployed like a drawbridge. This is a very simple solution, and both casings are moved by a single string and internal winch. In order to solve the problem of string’s backlash, the string was not fixed to the winch drum – instead, it goes through it. Thus the backlash is distributed evenly on both sides of the winch and reduced whenever the string is pulled up.
Personally, I regard this construction a complete aesthetical failure. Still, it featured a couple of new solutions, it was my first vehicle able to shoot and the first wheeled vehicle that used the Power Functions speed control feature.
