Stridsvagn 103

[Blouskall]

Moving on from my russian BMP-1, to building this Swedish marvel of armor. I was going through some of my old 3d-projects and found a folder with one render and realized I'd totally forgotten about this model. According to windows explorer the file is from 2008.

The old render showed a model with very hard edges, some inaccuracies, and it was far from finished. So I decided to have a new go at it now, with all new techniques I've learned in modeling, and this time with more and better ref pics for super accuracy.

The tank was developed in Sweden in the 50's-60's and have caused alot of debate and discussion if it was genius or a flop. It was discontinued in 1992 and has after that been scrapped except from a few numbers that sits in museums etc.The debate aside, I just love the design, and when I have this model finished I have a litte plan for it, we can call it an upgrade.

So, here's the original old render from 2008, and 3 renders of the revived, 2010 attempt.

[Karras]

Ey, my sweet Strid ;) It's a pretty tank, good luck with it. The pretty of this tank it's in the schemes camos, the winter it's very particular.

[Blouskall]

Ey, my sweet Strid ;) It's a pretty tank, good luck with it. The pretty of this tank it's in the schemes camos, the winter it's very particular.

Hehe you like the 103 too I take it? Yea the scheme is called m/90. It's been the swedish choice for camo since way back. I remember when I did my service, during the winter we had to paint the apc I was a gunner on. The paint was based on chalk I think, mainly because it would be easy to wash off, and it would easily run off the apc thanks to the snow. So all the vehicles looked pretty grimy after a couple of days :) But that didnt matter because it made them look pretty cool anyway.

[Pleistorm]

This tank is looking very interesting, I saw it before, maybe actually self-propeled canon?

[Blouskall]

This tank is looking very interesting, I saw it before, maybe actually self-propeled canon?

Yea I think so too, it has a very special look to it. When it was active it was called a tank, 'Main Battle Tank 103', and not a self proppelled gun. But like I wrote in my first post it was a lot of debate about this vehicle and one of the things discussed then was also about it not being a tank. Basically it's more a self propelled gun than a tank, at least that's what I think.

[Karras]

It was really a good tank, its limited ability to maneuver is complemented by a great suspension system. ;)

Here my model, done in 2006 :rolleyes: sorry if annoying. :rolleyes:
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6666/strv103winter3dmzh6.jpg

[Blouskall]

It was really a good tank, its limited ability to maneuver is complemented by a great suspension system. ;)

Here my model, done in 2006 :rolleyes: sorry if annoying. :rolleyes:

Yea it was good. But I disagree with you on the maneuverability though. It actually had the not so usual at that time function, where when turning the tank, the one track rdrove forward and the other track reversed. That is very efficient and saves the track and links a huge deal of stress. And now most tanks and apc's have that too.
Take a look at about 2mins into this clip and you'll se it has no problems maneuvering :)
http://www.flickdrop.com/viewvideo/80284/STRV_103_S_Tank_Documentary/
What was thought by many as a drawback with it having no turret resulted in alot of discussions of how good or bad it's ability to align itself to an enemy target. But that wasnt really a problem with it either because a well trained crew wouldnt have any problems with aligning the tank and destroying an enemy target, so.. really really sad it got scrapped :)

And wow, you did one of your one. Looking very nice, although the render is a bit bland (or blurred maybe?), but it looks like you got everything there.

[Blouskall]

Quick update before I call it a night. They sure put alot of stuff on top of this tank :)

[simyevil]

looking is very good & very nice tank & im with Karras say's

[Karras]

Small and agile, a good tank, with automatic charger I remember ;)

[dawestsides]

Interesting subject indeed and nice start.

[Blouskall]

I'm glad you like it. And Karras, yes it had 2 automatic magazines, pretty sweet :)

Here's what I have right now. I'm trying to build as much as possible of all the details which takes a lot of time, so even if it may look like I havent gotten much work done, I have :)

[simyevil]

great details Blouskall

[Blouskall]

Thanks simyevil.

Well here's some more progress. I'll probably get started on the wheels and tracks next.

[dawestsides]

This machine looks like a futuristic tank...Nice details so far.

[simyevil]

really very good just now i like

[Blouskall]

Glad you enjoy the details, I try to catch everything and build it. If you look at certain areas I even modeled some welds.
I got some more work done last night. The wheels and tracks took very little time to do, don't ask me why :) it just went fast. I also got the jerrycans done, and there's just some small details left to do in the rack that holds them.

Next up is rest of the details in the rear I think.

[simyevil]

wow nice details
great work Blouskall

[Blouskall]

Some more work on the details top rear, soon its time for the driver's and commander's hatches. Ohh I really hate the commander's cupola/hatch, there's too much stuff there.. ah well. :confused:

[dawestsides]

Too much stuff = more realism!

[Blouskall]

Too much stuff = more realism!
Very true :D
I meant that its too much to deal with when building it in 3d. I have lots of ref.pics but its very cluttery and alot of stuff put together. But I'll figure it out.:rolleyes:

[Karras]

Yessss, I remember that cupula :lol: but youe exhaust pipe isn't coarrugated :eek:
It'a perfect job, man. Go away !!!

[Blouskall]

Yessss, I remember that cupula :lol: but youe exhaust pipe isn't coarrugated :eek:
It'a perfect job, man. Go away !!!
Yea you probably know what I'm talking about :eek:
I saved it for last hehe.

No the exhaust isnt corrugated, its not even hollow either to tell you a secret, but seriously, I'm not done yet :D

[Blouskall]

More stuff. I also animated the driver's hatch correctly so I can play around with it.

Now onto the big issue, hehe, the tc's cupola.

[dawestsides]

You've trapped yourself now :lol:
If you say animated, you have to post a video!

[Blouskall]

You've trapped yourself now :lol:
If you say animated, you have to post a video!

Ha ha!! Did I say that?! I meant to say: "..and now I made the driver's hatch able to show in 3 different positions; closed/50%/fully open"... :lol:

[Blouskall]

I've been sick almost throughout the whole of december and have not been able to do anything on my 103, but now I'm back with a really small update.
I'm currently working on the commanders cupola. It's a hard area to build, mainly because all of the bits of detail. I have tons of ref. pics but it's still hard to see where all the things go and how they are supposed to look.

Anyway, here's what I got for now. More to come.

[simyevil]

great work right now Blouskall

[Blouskall]

great work right now Blouskall
Thanks! :)

Progress is a bit slow. I haven't had that much time to sit down with this, but I'm getting there.
And today it hit me that I haven't posted a render of what the tank looks like as a whole in a while now so here:

[simyevil]

nice looking & very nice details
im witting 2 fiendish the textures :)

[Blouskall]

Another small update. Still working on the cupola. I've taking this on bit by bit and soon I got it all where it's supposed to be. I got the hatch and some other details left before the whole cupola is 100%. And after that it's just the rest left :)

[simyevil]

good details Blouskall just tell me where is the gun ???

[Blouskall]

good details Blouskall just tell me where is the gun ???

Thanks! Oh you mean the MG? I was thinking of doing that last.

[Blouskall]

Got some work done.
I'm now finished with the commander's cupola, exept for the MG which I intend to build as well but since it'll be a project of it's own I wont be doing it right now, I have to much on the rest of the tank to do.
I've finished the gun. I tried out some rifling, and it looks good, I'm thinking of altering it a bit, but we'll see.
I've also finished the driver's station by adding the prisms. I've finished the rear, with hatches/plates/bolts and the two boxes. The fence is now also in place.

Left to do:
- a couple more things on top (shovels, hoses, towcable etc).
- floating gear (on the sides).
- the MG as mention above.

[Karras]

Incredible job, man. Five strars for you :eek:

[Blouskall]

Thank you!:salute:

Right now I'm trying to unwrap it but it's insane. I've never had this much trouble unwrapping before. I'm getting weird crooked distorted results while in the 'edit' window. :confused:

[simyevil]

O M G
amazing looking & very good details right now Blouskall :)

[Blouskall]

O M G
amazing looking & very good details right now Blouskall :)

Hehe thanks alot, I've never gotten an OMG before :eek:

Like I wrote before, something weird happened that have never happened before, and unwrapping this thing became monstrous. But last night and tonight I got through the worst part of the painting and I thought I'd share a render. It's not ready just yet but you can see some of the painted camo now.

Back to the paintshop :salute:

[simyevil]

nice color i like it :)

[Blouskall]

simyevil: thx. It has taken me a while to get the swedish camo colors right but now I'm very pleased with them.

Progress has been a bit slow but here's what I got right now. Almost done, just some minor final touches left.

[cobra6]

Nice and impressive modelling so far Blouskall. The camo looks good at the moment.

Cobra 6

[dawestsides]

Excellent modeling so far,I hope you will add some mud!

[Blouskall]

cobra 6, dawestsides: thank you!

Now I think I'm done with this one. And here's what it looks like. (I know I havent done the MG but I still have more armor that I would like to see finished, so I'm gonna take a raincheck on the MG and start building my next model. Maybe another swede? :) )

Hope you like it!

[simyevil]

wall done work

[Blouskall]

wall done work
Thanks!! :salute:

[Blouskall]

As promised: the mounted MG. :salute:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1850/strv103renderwipfinal05.png

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1194/strv103renderwipfinal06.png

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/4020/strv103renderwipfinal07.png