VTOL Roadster

[Lunar Sea]

Only been playing a few months now so not quite confident in my build skills yet, but this is the first craft I've had a blast flying/driving AND has been a successful test. 

Had the notion to make a science rover for Duna and wound up with this before the day was out. Put the Twitch engines on almost as an afterthought when I recalled some bitter disappointment of my first rover being trapped in a Mun crater. Kind of surprised how well it turned out, it can even fly on Kerbin. Very useful for crossing craters and canyons instead of having to divert around them. 

New version with upgraded wheels and a docking port up next. 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2016 by Lunar Sea

[Choice // SLOTH Airlines]

Nice! But if the fuselage on the back is jet fuel, then switch it to the rocket fuel tank (FL-T400). Then you will have more fuel to the vtol engines instead of wasting weight by having a jet fuel tank :-) Sorry if i'm wrong though

[Lunar Sea]

Thanks! The rear fuselage is just the structural part - no fuel there. I did think about putting the rocket fuel tank there but that creates some pretty gnarly center of mass issues that I just didn't want to deal with. It actually doesn't need that much fuel on low-G bodies and you can do a fair amount of flying around before it runs out, certainly long enough to cross whatever obstacles impede ground travel. 

[Choice // SLOTH Airlines]

13 hours ago, Lunar Sea said:

Thanks! The rear fuselage is just the structural part - no fuel there. I did think about putting the rocket fuel tank there but that creates some pretty gnarly center of mass issues that I just didn't want to deal with. It actually doesn't need that much fuel on low-G bodies and you can do a fair amount of flying around before it runs out, certainly long enough to cross whatever obstacles impede ground travel. 

Oh, okay! :-)

[Lunar Sea]

I am however having a devil of a time getting the next one into orbit... LV keeps tipping over

 I'll have post a picture of it soon and solicit some advice.

[Lunar Sea]

Roadster 2.0 (finally got the sucker launched. For some reason it's a major PITA to deliver this particular payload).

 

 

Upgrades include new wheels, twice the VTOL fuel, mobility enhancer, docking port and tweaked action groups . Can average 20m/s over most terrain. Inadvertent flips can sometimes be corrected with reaction wheels if you're quick.

 

 

Orbital mode. Actually I tend to keep the primary engines attached for surface travel too, useful for suborbital flights across the surface but alas the VTOL won't work until they are ditched.

 

 

Set down just shy of the terminator to allow for a full munar day of operations. 

Edited May 22, 2016 by Lunar Sea

[Lunar Sea]

I'll link to the craft file soon if folks are interested. Surface operations have been going well - I set it down at the north end of the NorthWest Crater, roved to the Northern Basin, and have just crossed into the Highlands surrounding the Polar Crater. From there it's to the Poles and Polar Highlands. I will admit sometimes it is a bit tedious but other times there is some interesting navigation and good scenery to be had, especially crossing into the Highlands. 

[Heckspress]

i'm surprised that not many people are interested in this, these are clever creations.

[Lunar Sea]

On 5/25/2016 at 1:47 PM, Heckspress said:

i'm surprised that not many people are interested in this, these are clever creations.

Thank you!