DES311 Futuristic Weapons Research

I've decided to go with the Futuristic weapons brief, Mainly cause it sounds awesome. I want to design my own mounted rail gun, A weapon which while entirely real, is very popular in Sci Fi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

What I want to Create is a mounted version, On a kind of Tripod base. This allows me to animate several things, Such as targeting, the firing sequence, venting heat etc.