Though I'm by no means as expert as many others here, I thought I might add a few thoughts too (since I'm not too late, at least
).
With things like suspension and track sizes, I've always figured that the ridiculous designs of 40K tanks (by modern standards) are ameliorated by the commonplace advanced technology around. After all, the biggest issues in the 41st millennium are surely things like space travel (inertial dampeners, shielding against micro-impacts, FTL—bad tanks can actually exist, those three we don't have any way of making today). For the mobility issues, is the tank supposed to be able to traverse rough ground independently, or is there maybe an army of mooks digging it out of holes? Or perhaps it's supposed to get to a static firing position and act as a bunker? If not something like that, maybe SquatWarlord's suggestions would make it look more mobile?
The shell trap spot (hard to miss once it's pointed out
) could be another one of those technology things, or perhaps the strongest armour is, in fact, over the turret and the side projections are more deformable (so they direct fire less effectively)? I wonder if a mantlepiece might be more in character though?
On the turrets, I actually like the idea of them being in the above-hull position: it seems to make more sense for general tank designs to give them better fields of fire (so long as the turret is high enough). Their positioning could use some tweaking though, to my humble eye, but to me the design looks more in-character without the side sponsons.
For the top hatch, I think we might assume that the heroic commander either doesn't pop their head up when missiles are firing (that seems sensible with today's technology
), and that they only need to pop out for heroic, inspiring moments, and have some sort of detection gear inside.
Anyways, perhaps some food for thought! (: Thank ye to SquatWarlord for sharing the expertise, too!