FWIW -
I also use Sheet Set Manager to access my Civil 3D project models (i.e., Aerial, Alignment, Pipe Network, Surface models, etc.), however, rather than using the Model Views Tab, I simply add an aptly named 'Models' subset to my Sheet Set, with 'Publish Sheets in Subset' set to 'Do Not Publish Sheets'.
Then, as Sheet Set Manager will open these drawings to the Layout, I add a simple snippet of code to AcadDoc.lsp that checks for "*\\Model*" in the file path, and automagically sets the Model tab current:
Code:
;;;--------------------------------------------------------------------;
;;; Activate model tab when opening models from ssm
(if (and (wcmatch (strcase (getvar 'dwgprefix)) "*\\MODEL*")
(/= 1 (getvar 'tilemode))
)
(setvar 'tilemode 1)
)
;;;--------------------------------------------------------------------;
HTH