Source Material Design Directions for the Team Fortress 2 Sentry Gun

I've been mulling over the past week or so wondering what was Valve thinking when they were designing the sentry gun model. The stand isn't really proper, there's redundant supports, and the ammo feed housing is ill supported by a thin network of struts. However, I've come across something that probably was part of the source inspiration behind the design of the sentry gun.

The Maxim MG-08. The significant difference between the stylized counterpart on the top and the real world World War I sled mount is the fact that the real one doesn't fall over. There's a lot more mass, and locking grooves for positioning the foreward legs. Apparently, the design of the Maxim MG-08 mount is to serve as a sled for pulling it along, which explains the curved form on the front, and the near negligible legs on the back. Quite amusing that the Engineer chose an antiquated German machine gun stand for such a sophisticated mechanism.