Kill Mobil
Update, July 2009: For those of you who have already visited this article before,
I have updated the gallery with a number of images of the model rendered without profile edges and with
additional background, lighting and shadow tweaks. This gives the model a much more distinctive, realistic look,
almost like the real thing. If you're interested, please see Extra images below.
Some of you may assume there's a spelling mistake in the title. Incorrect. I have purposefully omitted the
e at the end of the word, so the name becomes both visually and rhymtically
ominous.
Gallery
Kill Mobil is a Command & Conquer style armored vehicle - it is unproportionally large and armed with a huge
arsenal of weapons, including (but not limited to) a main turret with lots of guns and missiles, two anti-personnel
turrets, a mortar, and seven machine gun ports.
In my professional estimation (i.e. random guess), Kill Mobil is about 14-15 meters long and weighs about 75
tons.
The heart of the vehicle is the large main turret, bristling with weapons. The main gun is an automatic 76mm
cannon, derived from the Oerlikon/OTO-Melera Rapid dual-purpose anti-air anti-surface naval gun, capable of firing
rounds up to 15,000 m away. Next to it, a 20mm M61 Vulcan six-barrel Gatling-type gun is coaxially mounted.
When buttoned up, the crew (the two gunners - cannon operator and missile operator) can use 0.5cal machine guns to
disperse crowds. A cushdy quad launcher of FIM-92 Stinger missiles mounted on the left side is used against
airborne threats both when stationary and moving.
Notice the 76mm smoke dischargers and the third hatch for the commander.
You can see there's a third machine gun mount on the rear of the vehicle, for use by the transported infantry
during loading/unloading.
From this angle, you can see the driver's port as well as fully appeciate the menacing look of the Vulcan gun.
Unseen in this or any of the previous images is the small, coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, on the right side of the
main gun.
The anti-personnel turrets are manned by transported infantry and manually operated. Each is armed by two
short-barrel medium machines and is used at close range and in urban theater where the mobility is limited and the
main turret cannot be fully traversed. In this image, you can see the humble barrel of the 7.62mm machine gun.
Kill Mobil has 7 machine gun ports, each armed with a twin 7.62mm machine gun. The ports are installed
asymmetrically, with three on the left side. A 81mm internal-loading mortar is mounted on the rear right side, next
to a detachable drum of fuel (I have borrowed this item from the Google Sketchup warehouse). The mortar can fire Merlin guided anti-tank rounds.
Not a very friendly view for someone outside the vehicle.
Kill Mobil is powered by a 1,500hp turbo diesel engine. Not much considering its enormous weight - but okay since
it runs on wheels rather than tracks. Here's a sexy exhaust of that massive engine.
A bit of strict gemoetry shots, right, left, top ...
Top view is particularly spectacular, I'd say. Given the crew hatches side, one can truly appreciate the size of
the vehicle from this perspective. It is definitely too wide for any practical road or bridge in the modern
world.
Kill Mobil has two doors on the rear side. The larger one is used to load ammunition (including missiles for the
mortar). There's a tiny fuel canister on the left side.
Kill Mobil has very wide wheels to reduce the ground pressure as well as maximize the run-over surface when it's
used in the melee mode (another Command & Conquer feature).
And for the finale, a few semi-distance shots. The Stinger launcher does leave an impressive shadow on the
ground.
I have created this model almost a year ago. It is the first model that I have truly started to appreciate the
software and utilize all of the tools properly. Looking back, I'm impressed with the quality of my own
creation.
If you fancy more pictures/brainwashing, feel free to contact me.
Cheers.
Extra images
Here you can find the ultra-realistic looking images of the model, tweaked to look their best with improved
background colors, lighting and shadows. Almost like in real life.
OK, so here we go:
Dagnabit, you could not make it any better looking even if you tried!
Enjoy!
