[WIP] Stoferr's Kinger Tiger Tank Project

[HLeandre]

Excellent ! 
I look forward to seeing more.

[feher]

Great modeling ! This is looking good. Can't wait to see more.
Tim

[Stoferr]

Wow, thank you all, I had never imagined such feedback, it is truly humbling and highly motivating. I really do look forward to show you some more, but since im doing my bachelor right now, all my time is dedicated there. I will atleast, answer a few questions in the meantime, its the least I can do.

im not really sure what to say, genuinely speechless! This is a huge undertaking, my hats off to you! It seems sad that in the end all you work and impeccable detailing will just be images. What I mean is... no single image can ever describe just how much work has gone into this! There is enough here to produce a big ol' coffee table book, with glossy close ups of just about every single component. Or even better... a series of animations all edited together into a beautiful 1080p movie - and youv got enough content here to make that movie feature length!

Thank you, I never thought of it that way, I mostly do this simply because I love the whole modelling/rendering stuff, and never considered what I would do the day the model is actually finished. But I think some iPad/Tablet app would be awesome, where people could tap on a component and see close up renderings and some description/specs. I know I'd love such an app to learn more about mechanical stuff and how they work. But again, this is way in the future.

Ok, I'm amazed that you did what you call your low-poly model in sketchup? looks more like SolidWorks or Creo.  What kind of documentation are you working from to get so much detail?

Thanks, its entirely made in Sketchup, I know that a lot of "Pros" bash it, but I think its a very versatile program as you dig into it and get a few plugins, as long as you dont want to do SubD.
About the documentation stuff, its very difficult. For such a popular tank theres hardly any blueprints or section drawings of the interior, I've tried calling the 3rd Reich for some prints, but they dont pick up their phones. SO what you have to do is basically scout the internet for scatteret information, sometimes you might be lucky to find a technical drawing, but for something this complex, you're ending up mostly looking and pictures, doing guesswork of dimensions, and when there's no material at all, you have to just use some artistic freedom and hope its atleast somewhat accurate.

Now you need to buy a MakerBot (or similar), and print yourself a Tiger Tank!!

Heck yeah! Waiting for a version that can print metal though, then i'll make it in scale 1:1 and go invade Poland!

Awesome work.
Could you tell me what format do you use to export from mac to keyshot, and also if you use turbosmooth/meshsmooth? I have problems exporting

Thanks, well, as said im stil la noob, I've tried downloading the Keyshot Max plugin, but I have no idea where to install it (Default is the Keyshot folder, which sounds wrong). So what I do right now is to just export to.obj which is hell. The renders of the tank tracks + wheels was 2.3 Gb alone, with a SubD iteration of 3, so if anyone knows how to install the Keyshot Max plugin, you'd do us both a favor! Thanks you, in advance, my future hero!

[thomasteger]

You will need to have 3DStudio Max installed in order to be able to install the plugin.

[Stoferr]

Allright, new update, today I worked on the turret top plate.

Here is the basic plate, the large round hole is the commanders cupola, the 7 holes in the ring around is for periscopes giving i 360 degree view.
The small round hole is for air ventilation, the square is for the loaders hatch. The last hole is for shell ejection.


Periscopes.


Loaders hatch, I still miss a few details on this.


Here we see the cover for the commanders hatch, and the small hatch covering the shell ejecting hole.


Everything put together, hatches closed.


Hatches open.


Finally, here is the turret assembly with front and side plates.


Next up is the details on the bottom side of the top plate. Have a nice day!

[TpwUK]

Very nice modelling again Stoferr ... Keep em coming

Martin

[Dylan]

Your tank made me go onto YouTube and look for references, and while there I found lots of videos about people going out in Germany and other countries with metal detectors and finding all sorts of stuff from the war. Much of the finds are rusted to bits but the hunters are still able to identify what they are. Some of the finds are in great condition, they found a couple of tank tracks in one place and were able to tell what kind of tank they were from.
The point being, it could be worth the time contacting them through YouTube and seeing if they can help with reference drawings.