Designing an Industry Staple.
Tangent partnered with Goshen, Indiana based RV manufacturer Keystone to design, develop and model the exterior fiberglass cap range for Keystone’s premium 5th wheel offering, the Keystone Cougar. Tangent designed fiberglass caps for the full Cougar line-up of 5th wheels and travel trailers, including their half ton and full-size truck models.
Tangent was tasked with developing 6 caps in total, each featuring windshield and non-windshield variants to accommodate the client’s various line-up and configuration needs.
Beginning with a 3D data underlay supplied by the client’s engineering team, Tangent set about developing 2D concepts that would accurately convey the client’s desired styling direction while incorporating mounting hardpoints and the necessary window and lighting content for each model range, including DOT marker lights and LED accent lighting.
After settling on a 2D direction that fulfilled the clients’ design and packaging requirements, Tangent began modeling the various 5th wheel caps in Autodesk Alias, making sure to carefully consider the production needs of the fiberglass supplier while doing so. By moving into the 3D stage of the design process, Tangent was able to gather critical insights into the proportions and scale of the cap’s various design features, through use of our in-house virtual reality set up, allowing Tangent’s designers to review the CAD data in accurate, full scale lighting environments.
With further CAD refinements, Tangent was able to produce photo real renderings of the product, incorporating paint schemes and graphics from the client’s graphics supplier. These VRED powered CAD renderings allowed the client to accurately visualize their future product without the use of costly prototypes or scale models.
With a 3D design in place, Tangent, working closely with the fiberglass supplier, was able to produce pattern ready molds for each of the Cougar’s 6 cap variations.
You can learn more about the Keystone Cougar, and its various configurations at Keystone’s website.