Patrol Drone Concept

[Sangennaru]

Hi Everyone!
I've been working on a model i sketched a while ago, and now it's finally taking a better shape.
Still not sure about a few minor details, but i like the overall look it's getting.



Any suggestions at this stage?

Thanks
Jack

[Malebolgia]

It looks very cool, but the location of the gatling makes me giggle a bit...it's just too close to the groin IMO.

[OSHIROmodels]

I agree about the location of the belly gun. Not much of a field of fire either. Although very popular in the mechs genre, maybe a shoulder mounted version would be better?

The rest looks good though.

cheers

James

[mcfonz]

Yup, I would agree with that.

If the drone is to be around human sized or perhaps a bit bigger, you wouldn't want any weaponry there. Primarily because anything such as a wall or a parked vehicle is going to block it's line of fire entirely.

Also, it prevents the drone from making use of cover to take up a position and pretty much dictates it must be more of or less in the open to engage the enemy.

Shoulder mount is a good call - that might interefere with the missile pod though. My advice would perhaps be underslung on one of the hands/arms.

Ideally as a seperate piece allowing you and folk to customise load outs for things like railguns, energy based weapons as well as anti-armour stuff.

If it is human sized, perhaps even traditional style human weapon load outs as well - as it has hands.

[gamer Mac]

I think the missle head could do with some sensors so it cam  take advantage of cover

[mcfonz]

The chin mount actually gives it a pretty good field of fire except upwards. That being said holding a weapon in its otherwise empty hands would give it the best field of fire possible. If it (the gun) is going to be a shoulder mount then lose the big armour plate on the shoulder. In fact ditch the big armour plates regardless. The second they go the platforms missile pod can then fire in a 360o arc also. Important if they are anti missile missiles or a SAM swarm.

One of the nice things about 3d modeling is it is less of a pain in the bum to modify things in mid development than pretty much any other medium in the hobby. (while still actually being a pain in the bum.) While overall I think your robot is neat, I do agree there is room for improvement and the best result will be if you imagine the drone in combat and start looking for flaws like arcs of fire etc Then modifying the design to eliminate as many of those flaws as possible just like a real weapon platform designer.

To be honest, I couldn't disagree more.

Not sure how you see the chin mount has a good field of fire, it only does so if the mech is in the open and without any intervening terrain. If it can swivel left and right, with arms, they would also possibly obstruct view. IMHO it's the worse place to locate it, too many limiting factors. Should the drone kneel to take advantage of a ridge or cover the weapon is useless.

As for the armour plates - I like them. Shoulder mount could be more like the predator style shoulder cannon meaning the plates could stay as is. I like the idea the drone could act as a shield or to draw fire away from it's fleshy counterparts.

As for the missile pod, it's better placed and depending upon the tech supporting it, wouldn't have to have a 360 field.

I like the outline and overall design, just a change of that chin mount would make it a more viable weapon. At the moment it could only realistically target enemies directly to the front.

[Hobby Services]

It looks very cool, but the location of the gatling makes me giggle a bit...it's just too close to the groin IMO.

See, I don't think it goes far enough.  The world really needs a mech with a giant rotary crotch cannon that has handgrips on either side of the barrel cluster for extra stabilization when firing at full auto.  Might as well take the male power fantasy message all the way. 

[Elbows]

Not a huge fan of the crotch-gatling.  One thing I think would look good is to shift the small secondary lense (above the main one) to the left or right.  I think small asymmetrical touches like that can really work on something like this mech:

[YPU]

I like Elbows suggestion, a touch of asymmetry does often do wonders.

[Sangennaru]

wow! Thanks guys, a lot of very VERY good input here! I love LAF!

So, with a very quick and dirty edit i came up with this. A lot of work to do, but i like the idea. I will go with asymmetry, shoulder gatling but i'll keep the shoulder pads (which are a distinctive trait of the whole "set"). Something like this.



Of course, the lot of work is mostly the design concept, the modelling itself took a very few hours so far.

Thanks again to everyone! Really a lot of good suggestions!

Cheers
Jack

PS:

See, I don't think it goes far enough.  The world really needs a mech with a giant rotary crotch cannon that has handgrips on either side of the barrel cluster for extra stabilization when firing at full auto.  Might as well take the male power fantasy message all the way. 

I visualized it in my mind. You are a genius!

[Billchuck]

Much better. However, that gun will need a lot of support structure to keep it from tearing off when it fires. I suggest these changes:
Mount the gun top-center where the missiles are now.
Place the missiles in a vertical-launch mount to one side of the gun. That back panel on the left torso looks like a good spot.
Put a sensor unit for targeting the missiles on the upper torso opposite the missiles.

[Malebolgia]

Way cooler

[beefcake]

Nice work. The images remind me of the game "Borderlands" (which is great IMO)
Definitely better with the shoulder mount. Nice work.