Focal Point - Intro to Hardware Design

For my concept, I chose to do Support. I wanted to accomplish this assignment by focusing on 3 areas: Historical possibility, mechanic plausibility, and narratively intriguing.

By studying WW2 history and available technology at the time, I discovered that infrared technology did exist though in its infancy stage. German forces would equip their tanks with small infrared lights and use them to engage in allied forces at night. However, these small lights were limited in their power resulting in diminished effective range capability of these tanks. To compensate for this lack of underpowered infared lights, Germany mounted extremely large and powerful infrared spotlights on the back of half-tracks to accompany tanks to help them see targets at night. This gave to the idea, what if a smaller Kübelwagen could be reconfigured to carry the large spotlight as well? This is where mechanical plausibility came into the picture.

If a smaller vehicle was to carry the weight of the larger spotlight some changes would have to be made. The first would be the loss of the rear bench to make room for the batteries to be placed in series to power the large light. Light would be the weapon of this vehicle and is an interesting concept for a weapon. To support the weight of the mounted light, you would need a thick base to place it on and the addition of braces as well. This weight would require new hardware to support the mission of this Kübelwagen. Larger and meaner tires would be added as well as reinforced suspension. To move all this weight a larger engine would need to replace the standard engine. The engine would be so large that the standard rear access panel would have to be entirely removed. In an effort to keep this already heavy vehicle as light as possible, there would be no amour added to this vehicle in favor of being quick and nibble.

A small narrative is placed around this vehicle that is all but unseen. The infrared lights in front and back are both more aligned to naval blue. Perhaps these lights were removed from a damged German warship. There is a fabric patch in the passenger seat where a bullet hole lodged indicating the death of a previous passenger. The body of the vehicle has wear and tear from previous encounters and bullet impacts can be seen throughout. The windshield is removed and no doubt due to previous combat engagements. The tires are larger than the standard Kübelwagen tires and by the tan wheels appear to be pulled off a desert painted truck. Finally, the marks in the door add up to 14. These could indicate days, week, confirmed kills, friends lost, who knows? The moon emblem indicated night operations. This vehicles is a night predicator, thats where it is the most lethal. Being able to see clearly at night puts its enemies at a huge disadvantage especially when paired with the strength of a tank. At the end of it all, this vehicle as seen plenty of engagements and is held together with canabalized parts from fallen vehicles brethren. There is no doubt this would have been in the final days of the great conflict of WW2.