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So I was building hammerheads in between playing halo and watching StarWars, and I got this awesome idea for a new Tau vehicle.

We know Tau tanks/Orca's use a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) system. But they don't look much like VTOL aircraft of today (Like this one.
I also thought that, given the scale of battle we play, a real-life battle of the same size would undoubtedly have helicopters providing air support.

So, I've designed this new Helicopter-type vehicle.
I''ll put a pretty picture of my design in now:
<table ><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td >From Tau Pictures</td></tr></table>

My quasi-3D sketches weren't doing too well so I discovered how to use Sketchup just for this.
Obviously the design isn't finished yet It features 2 hammerhead engines on the main wing, and 2 shortened piranha engines at the tail. The funny round thing at the front is intended to be the burst cannon turret but I can't work out how to do domes correctly :(.

Currently I am thinking of 2 designs based around the same chassis, in exactly the same way as the HammerFish. One (named the Condor, until I find a suitably fishy name for it) is a transport large enough to carry 3 Battlesuits / 12 infantry. The other (working-name Marlin) is a helicopter-gunship style thing. Obviously my custom rules don't matter and they could easily be subbed in for devilfish, hammerheads or even a Barracuda.

I'd really like some feedback on what you think of the design. Compliments are awesome, constructive criticism is better. Insults help too if enough people think i'm crazy so i don't waste any more time.
Enjoy?

<table ><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td >From Tau Pictures</td></tr></table>

I like the idea but I would like to see it used in a completely different way to the vehicles that the tau already have.

Maybe fast drone deployment, or as a gunship. Actally give it stealth technology and flamers - hahaha

Also I think I would call it a Stonefish if you go the stealth route.

The under cab looks like it could have a smart droid controlling the weapons.

To make it more Tau-ish I would take he back remove the tail fin(the jets have enough power to keep the ship strait ant its not really Tau-ish to me), mount the Tau jet things (forgot name) mounted under a smoothed over top kinda like the tail of the Piranha with enough room between jets and hull with a swivel that turns the back jets left to right so it will give the 'Angelfish' (I like that code name even though it has no real baring) sharp turns.

Just my thoughts.

Wow! That looks awesome!!!

Now let's see a real one

I like the idea, but how are you going to build it? Piles of Plastruct?

You would have to make the front smoother in real life

but of course its on the computor ...

looks awesome !!!

I envisage the transport mode being used to drop off teams of broadsides on an enemies flank for awesome tactical nastiness; the gunship mode to be more like a crisis suit than a hammerhead: ie, a stable firing platform with a mix of Burst Cannons, Smart Missiles, Plasma Rifles and Ion Blasters. But rules aren't as important as seeing whether the design is feasible.

Thanks for the ideas Mr R4ndom. I want it to be a piloted vehicle like the DF/HH but i suppose it only really has room for one pilot/gunner. The tailfin I used to mirror the Orca design, but its definitely not essential.
Swivelling rear engines is a cool idea, i'm just wondering exactly how that would fit together.

I would probably build the main 4-5 panels of the hull from MDF and build then build the details up with plasticard and greenstuff. Overall the thing is about 18cm/7" long / 12cm/5" wide.

And the front will be smoothed down to a shape more like the piranha/hamerhead when i figure out exaclty what it needs to look like.

Thankyou for the help so far, i'll upload WIP shots of the design as I draw them.

Reminds me of the aerial Hunter Killer from the Terminator films!

I really hate to break it to you, but the Tau DO have an equivalent of helicopters. Those Remora Drone Fighters, the Barracudas, or any number of their aircraft fill in the role of air support.

Yeh, definately gives off the terminator feel.. but i think it would work really well as like a heavy lifter transport thingy. Kinda like the VTOL aircraft we have these days..

Ok, first off the TAu do not have Helicopters. They have Vtol craft. Helicopter literally means turning blade. There is no Tau vehicle wiht a turning blade on it.

Secondly, I really like this concept. I look at it and see a modular craft. The bit behind the main body can be fitted with a number of diferent bits. Such as a troop carrying "box", or clamps to hold suits, or a thing containing lots of drones. A kind of jack of all trades ship/plane/thing.

Meta.

Make a really big Tau transport vehicle, non-VTOL and call it a Guppy. Or a Super-Guppy. Please. PLEASE!

I know it's not technically in any way related to a helicopter in the way that it works, but it is similar in the hovering gunship / battlefield light transport role that it ideally would fill.

meta-ridley is onto the right track with how it would function, though my vision places it as an open transport just so it can fit more troops on. Drone rack is definitely something that could take its place.

I think it's a good start, but can be made more Tau-ey by extending the body backwards and making the tail look more like a part of the fuselage. I'm imagining the body going all the way to the end of the tail, gently rounding off and tapering slightly at the back. There can be a crew access door in the back as well. I'd rather not see many weapons on this, perhaps that turret mount in front as the only weapon. Or maybe no weapon at all, but a mount for civilian tools and perhaps a place for a drone to hitch a ride.

It looks to me like a non-military vehicle. Like a civilian transport manned by the Air Caste used to ferry people in non-combat roles from place to place outside a battle zone. I'd can imagine the Tau war correspondent flying in one of these. In game terms I could easily see it as an objective in a scenario, but it doesn't look like anything the Tau would send into battle. As it is it just looks too frail.

I like the idea, and i like the design, but what would you do with it? All tau vehicles are kind of VTOL, so you couldn't count it as a flyer for apoc without them being flyers. You could just count it as a new kind of stealth/recon vehicle.