[WIP] Challenger 2 MBT UK

[McKeewa 7]

Looks excelent. Can't wait !

[pulstar 55]

Next up will be the tricky part of how to configure the armour hitpoints to represent the RL MBT. I hope you got your bases covered =D

[drakedaeron 13]

You going to make a "futuristic" version ? Or actual version ?

Good luck !

[Yoshi 10]

Well, the only version I'm doing of the challenger will be the current Challenger 2 that is in service at this point. The next mod I'm aiming at is a war scenario mod, but I can say that the Challenger 2 will have a few new features that will increase it's combat effectiveness, such as new ammo types, weapon addons and if I can different camo netting's.

[superfluid 10]

Wow, that looks like amazing progress! Great to see more people doing Arma work in Blender and helping to push that method of development further ahead. As someone who tried to use Oxygen after becoming reasonably adept at Blendering, I found it a bit lacking. Good on you and good luck!

[doln 10]

Will you be giving it the same NATO tan texture like the rest of the ingame NATO vehicles? Will you make an AAF or CSAT texture for it?

[R0adki11 3948]

Will you be giving it the same NATO tan texture like the rest of the ingame NATO vehicles? Will you make an AAF or CSAT texture for it?

As its a British Armoured Unit, perhaps it would be better to have it in British Armoured Colours. Other colours could be added of course though.

[Yoshi 10]

In reply to Doln, I'm thinking these two textures.

http://img7.imagebanana.com/img/bzt1ti27/Challenger2BergenHohneTrainingArea2.jpg (310 kB)

http://s3.goodfon.ru/image/541155-1680x1050.jpg (276 kB)

And I'm not doing this tank for the AAF or CSAT, it's Bluefor only. But I might do CSAT + AAF their own tank.

I'm also releasing an image later today to demonstrate the details me and my cousin are currently working on, At the moment I'm working on the tracks, but can't seem to find any decent reference images of them.

[mihikle 2]

Is there any plans for other vehicles that use the Challenger Chassis? I think there's a REME tank recovery vehicle (Titan i think it's called) which would be pretty cool to use, pull the damaged tanks back then repair them or something. Although this would be a bit of work to get working and I would rather have a good tank than two average vehicles! Keep up the good work mate!

[JackusCTB 10]

How will you implement sound in this masterpiece?

[Yoshi 10]

Well my hope is to have several new sounds to go with the tank rather than using the in game sounds, I want sounds for each of the following things, and there is a long list :)

New engine sounds

New track sounds

New ammo loading sounds

New turret traversing sounds

New firing sounds

New ambient sounds

All of these are to be as accurate as possible.

Each of these categories have a few sounds each to add more depth to the tank, what I will ask is if there a pre-made sound files for random chatter between the crews I could get a hold of? I want the crews to chat between engagements and stuff like that, some funny moments and stuff like that :)

Some thing like these:

Interior sound

Engine Start up sound

Turret traversing sound

I would like to know how I would do these? or if someone can help me with that?

Edited January 11, 2014 by Yoshi

[Yoshi 10]

Ok so here a few pics of the detail, I haven't added a lot as of yet but I'm not finished, I'm adding detail in 3 separate files. I'm still working on the tracks and hopefully I will have an update soon.

Hope you guys like it

[nodunit 397]

Very impressive jump with you and your family member, and in blender no less... I'm going to look to this as an inspiration.

[Yoshi 10]

Thats kind of you to say, but the time was greatly reduced due to the fact that the details are basically lot of the same thing spread across the tank, so all I had to do I model one of each and then Duplicate the result and position the rest where I needed them.

[friznit2 350]

FYI both the coax chain gun and pintle mounted GPMG are 7.62mm (not 7.76). The latter is on the Loader/Operater's hatch on the regular CR2 and can only be operated opened up. The Theatre Entry Standard has a RWS (either 7.62 or .50 cal). You may want to revise your load out too, since it can only carry 49 CHARM rounds total. Wiki isn't actually a bad reference, it's accurate enough for what you need.

Previous modelers of the CR2 (Pathy, Rock & Trouble) have always found the tracks to be the hardest part to get right. RKSL forums are pretty quiet right now but if you register there and ask to join the British Forces modelling group I'll give you a ref. You may be lucky and get some help from the guys with previous experience on this, including lots of reference photos and technical details.

Best of luck!

[Yoshi 10]

Ah yes, the caliber of the gun was my fault, I forgot it was .62 not .76. Keep getting mixed up with the amount of things I'm doing. And as for the forum I can't seem to get the right answer on their stupid test question... 'What is .Bohemia Interactive's first game?' I looked it up because I didn't know and it said Operation flashpoint, but apparently I was wrong tried every other game and still wouldn't let me register so I'll wait for now.... So not impressed :mad:

---------- Post added at 02:49 ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 ----------

And I'm pleased to announce that while I've been searching for more reference material on the Challenger 2 tracks, I have taken a 5 minute break and modeled my new ammo types, nothing spectacular but New none the less.

Here you go, The One on the left will be the AT round for the challenger 2, the middle one is the High explosive round, and the last one is the new HEAP round I mentioned in a previous post or at least I hope I did. (High Explosive Armor Piercing)

[lincolnlou 10]

Yoshi you are doing a amazing job man

[Lala14 135]

are you going to also include sabot round? I know that they are not in the vanilia arma 3 and nor do I know if you need some special way to set them up ...

[bakerman 247]

@ Yoshi

You can put a lot of small detailed shapes that do not form part of the outline into proxies and hide them at a certain range. It is very similar to the way you would do LODs, except that you can have more faces at close range.

are you going to also include sabot round? I know that they are not in the vanilia arma 3 and nor do I know if you need some special way to set them up ...

What do you think the APFSDS (Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) rounds are in the game?

[pulstar 55]

it's easy to confuse the two if you're only into casual wargaming.. but you read up things as you go along :p

[mjolnir66 48]

Ah yes, the caliber of the gun was my fault, I forgot it was .62 not .76. Keep getting mixed up with the amount of things I'm doing. And as for the forum I can't seem to get the right answer on their stupid test question... 'What is .Bohemia Interactive's first game?' I looked it up because I didn't know and it said Operation flashpoint, but apparently I was wrong tried every other game and still wouldn't let me register so I'll wait for now.... So not impressed :mad:

---------- Post added at 02:49 ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 ----------

And I'm pleased to announce that while I've been searching for more reference material on the Challenger 2 tracks, I have taken a 5 minute break and modeled my new ammo types, nothing spectacular but New none the less.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/824/zsz1.jpg

Here you go, The One on the left will be the AT round for the challenger 2, the middle one is the High explosive round, and the last one is the new HEAP round I mentioned in a previous post or at least I hope I did. (High Explosive Armor Piercing)

This is the inert version of the Charm 3 APDSFS round currently used as the anti armour round:

The ammo fired by Challengers is 2 part, the warhead and the propellant, this is just the warhead and in flight the blue collar (or Sabot) cracks apart and comes off, leaving a long thin dart as the projectile.

[friznit2 350]

Drinking my morning coffee so I'll splurge for interest's sake, because unless something radical has changed in the last couple of years, what you've modeled there is not CR2 ammo! In fact the left one looks more like a 155mm arty shell and the other two are for smaller calibre weapons such as 12.7mm and 30mm.

L27 APFSDS - Armoured Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot (also known as Fin) is the primary tank killing kinetic energy round for CR2. It's a hardened tungsten rod with a depleted uranium tip. Performance criteria was for 99% accuracy at 2KM, hence the choice to go rifled barrel for greater accuracy. Tech specs actually say effective killing range out to 4km, but theoretically it would still kill a tank 7km if you could see that far to shoot it (in practice, 4km was about the limit in the desert against T55 and T72). The pic above is the practice round (hence coloured blue), which is a steal rod with a lead tip. DS PRAC = Discarding Sabot Practice. As you say, the sabot is only there so the rod can fit snuggly in the 120mm barrel and flies off as soon as it leaves the pointy end of the gun. The second round used by CR2 is the chemical energy HESH - High Explosive Squash Head. This is lobbed (arcing trajectory) and makes a big bang at the far end. Also very capable against light armour such as BMP but it can only be fired from a rifle barrel. The practice round is a lump of concrete, but it still hurts if it hits you.

CR2 rounds are technically "3 piece" ammo - the round itself, a bag charge (big tube full of granular explosives in a tasteful orange casing for Fin; literally a bag full of cordite rods for HESH) and the TVE - Tube Vent Electrical - which looks a bit like a large brass round without the bullet. These are loaded into a magazine of 10 that slots into the back of the breach and is used to detonate the bag charge. A full bomb load for conventional ops was around 30 Fin, 16 HESH, 3 Smokes, 4200 rds 7.62 Coax. Slightly less on a command tank on account of the extra radios.

Edit: ironically the campaign to ban DU weapons has some good info on the L27: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/l27-120mm-apfsds-round-charm-3

Good reference pic of a HESH round (obviously without the 'Instructional' stencil): http://www.specialistauctions.com/auctiondetails.php?id=1135936

Edited January 12, 2014 by friznit2

[Yoshi 10]

I think rather than have the current Sabot round I might model a 2035 style instead, no idea what that would look like but hey it's worth a try :)

Also I'm starting on the tracks for the Challenger 2 today, and hopefully I will have an update for you later on today.

---------- Post added at 10:41 ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 ----------

@Friznit

I'm sorry if I didn't model it to your expectations, but as the designs are based on the game being set in 2035, I didn't think it would be much of a problem. Seeing as technology changes, as seen in the fact that from ww1 - ww2 we have one hell of a leap in military technology alone, so theoretically speaking it is possible that new types of APFSDS ammo might come into play, but if it pleases your morning of coffee indulgence then I shall attempt to model an actual Sabot round for you.

[friznit2 350]

Entirely up to you Yoshi! I just figured it would help if you wanted to model realistic/accurate stuff but if that's not the way you want to go, then your call!

[Yoshi 10]

Don't get me wrong, I wan't realistic ammo with the tank and I am in fact, but as I did say the tank will have a few more futuristic features as well as the current aspects. If you want you can help or sit there picking at what I'm doing. Up to you, but I'd rather have help than someone constantly picking faults.

---------- Post added at 13:11 ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 ----------

Ok so I've been modeling the treads, the last hour or two and I'm happy with the end result.

http://imageshack.com/a/img811/8738/nrza.jpg (234 kB)

I'm going to start to model the wheels or big metal.... things. ¬_¬!

Ok so the terminology sometimes escapes me.