We no need to make profesional looking models, but we need to make lots of good fresh models (or new models for new mods).
The easiest way to accomplish what you're talking about is to get people to grab OTA models from UnitUniverse, et al, import them into UpSpring, convert to S3O, and redo / revamp the textures. It's not hard, and there are no modeling skills involved, really.
The hard part would be taking the resulting models and then making them look halfway decent, and you'd need skilled animators to get them working.
There's where most of this idea of yours actually falls flat: while any idiot can script a typical four-piece tank, it takes a lot of expertise to do really good work on complex animations, like walkscripts, deploy animations, and other stuff.
Many of the units you can download from UnitUniverse are OK geometry, but have scripts that are terrible, or don't work right in Spring for various reasons.
Your idea as proposed, though, is pretty much a non-starter- I've been here a lot longer than you have, so please hear me out, before writing off what I'm going to say as mere cynicism- I would be very pleased, if you could get a grassroots modeling project working, but you're not going to make it happen if you try going about it as you propose.
If you really want this idea to fly, then I would suggest that you realize first and foremost that:
A. Good artists and animators for the 3D format / animation format Spring uses aren't terribly common- there are maybe 15-20 of us. And of those people, about half are lazy, or too busy IRL to do much. And the other half are all engaged in projects of their own, or with a team. We're not very likely to help you directly, other than minor stuff- if you start learning how to import / manipulate 3DOs with UpSpring and convert to S3O, you will start to appreciate how much time that it will take, and why we're likely to be very reluctant to help out much.
B. If you want to grow the number of people making art, the best way to do it is to have open discussion about how to build basic stuff using OTA model pieces, applying different textures, and then conversion to S3O (I'm really surprised nobody has done this- copy/paste in UpSpring is totally awesome).
Create "artists" who basically just recycle existing geometry and make minor changes. Ok, it won't be wonderful art, for the most part (although I'll bet that some of it will be, when people learn how much they can do with simple scale / move / rotate / copy / paste / better textures, tbh).
C. Put these "artists" in charge of the process, or subordinate them to experts in their fields, not the public. Artists should just submit work to a common "collection", and if it's cool, it will get scripted. If not... it won't. You don't get any benefit from public input, the real decisions on what gets modeled + scripted are between two people, and that's all there is to it.
The idea of a completely democratic artistic project, run by a benevolent public, is just a fantasy- any of the experienced folks here would say it's a sucker's choice, I think- even SpikedHelmet. And even the more democratic mod projects have people who make final decisions. And they aren't the "community".
Too often around here, I've seen somebody say to the community, "hey, I'm gonna re-make X unit"... then they spend
hours or days of their lives on the project, to have the "community" dump on them in various ways, and then they waste
even more hours trying to please the "community", and then ... they never finish the geometry, let alone present a final, animated model.
Artists participating in your project might want to submit their work to a master artist, if any of that very small number wants to critique / repair their work. But the general public should be told, gently but firmly, that if they aren't happy with a piece, that the final decisions are the artists', not theirs, and that no piece of art produced by your project is even guaranteed to be used by anybody, ever, unless an animator animates it, and a game designer likes it enough to use it. That should be more than enough review.
Oh, and last thoughts...
1. There are plenty of people around here with the relevant skills to do concept art, they just don't bother, mainly I think because they don't see any point in making concepts for stuff, if there is no demand from 3D artists.
Most of the high-end modelers don't really need concept artists- I can't speak for Smoth, Spiked, Warlord, and all of the other talented folks here, but I usually draw my own concept sketches, for original design work, and many of the other projects around here are using IP that is not original, so they are working from reference sources. IOW, the few people like me, KDR, and a few others, who are doing wholly original stuff, don't really need concept artists (the guys working with me on PURE are sent vague descriptions of what the unit does and should look like, screenshots of what I have done already, and then I let them do whatever they think will fit and look awesome).
For your project, concept artists might be a good idea, but only insofar as they provide sources of inspiration and concepts. Concepts are great for getting people excited about a topic. One of the best ways to get excitement going is to have contests, like "draw me some tanks", and
let the community have its proper place there- their comments on concept sketches, which are a much lower time-investment than a 3D model with a good skin, would be useful in weeding out the obvious duds.
If you expect more than that (i.e., modelers working to spec.), you're basically asking to become an art director, and
you're not qualified to do that, unless you have some serious prior credentials- and if you actually had those credentials, we wouldn't be having this conversation, I guarantee
2. If you really want this idea to get going, you will be 100% more credible, and sound less like you're just fantasizing, if you start immediately grabbing old 3DOs, importing into UpSpring, and starting to make combined models, etc., while teaching what you've learned, instead of writing long posts that are full of vague ideas, and very short on actual work. I know that most of the serious people here take a very dim view of all of the lazy "idea people" who always seem to have something to
say and
do nothing.
Be a doer, not just a talker, and I will help with advice, if you get stuck, and I'm sure other people will, too.
