Leopard Concept

The Leopard is one of the first items I jumped on when the orders came down to finish all redesigns needed for TRO 3025. I wanted at least a few of the new redesigns to go through the usual full 3D process, and this had to be one of them.

There has been a lot of variation in Leopard renditions over the years. Some are more sleek, others are more boxy. Some long, some stubby. I wanted to balance a modern look with the old shuttle basis, and keep the silhouette clean and simple. I also wanted to maximize the use of proportional space, between the mech bays, bridge and aero bays, and rear engines/wings.

The mech bay locations are pretty self apparent, though I made the rear two doors a little more cramped at the wing to save a lot of space.
The aerospace fighters launch from the nose, where the entire front heat shield can hinge upwards.

Another intentional point, similar to the Union, was making sure the weapons were accurate, including firing arcs. The supposed turret up top has always been illustrated facing forwards, but if you were to assume those were "nose" weapons like the two PPCs, that would ultimately make them 360 firing weapons. Instead I made those the rear firing LL and 2 MLs, with armoring up front that keeps them facing the rear.
The wing LRMs are mounted underneath, while the nose LRM launcher is under the large hatch to the left of the bridge.

Interestingly while working out scale, the final proportions aren't too far off the originals. However, in order to reasonably fit mechs of FASA/Fanpro era scale creep (our new CGL plastics just locked it in and made it consistent) the dropship needed to be scaled up some.

If you're gonna be at Gencon, come say hi (I'm often at the Battletech game tables) and I might have something fun to show you.