Hinges and Doors in Stock

[CoreI]

In my career game I have gotten to the point were I will begin to exploit the Kerbin System of its valuable resources (ore). To do this, I am going to build a rover which will search for the best spot once I have done the orbital survey. However, I would hate to have to drive all over Minmus to find the best spot. So I figured that I would make one faster, larger rover which would carry a couple smaller ones, which could go out and come back.

Here's where the doors come in. I would like to have the front half of the river to be science, then the back half be a garage with a ramp. So that the ramp does not drag along the surface, it has to be on a powered hinge.

I have experimented with a couple ideas, none of which have been reliable. The best one uses antennas to rotate and landing gear to go up and down. My problem has been keeping both antennas in their sockets.

Thanks in advance!

CoreI

[Foxster]

I'd have thought the stock Mk3 ramp/door part would have been good for this but perhaps Mk3 is too big?

[CoreI]

7 minutes ago, Foxster said:

I'd have thought the stock Mk3 ramp/door part would have been good for this but perhaps Mk3 is too big?

Bingo.

[linuxgurugamer]

Tweakscale it smaller

[Snark]

Another option is to just dispense with the garage.  Why do you need an enclosure, particularly?  Bear in mind that on Minmus, in particular, it's really really easy to build things that can fly, at least for short hops.  Instead of having a hinged ramp, what if the little rovers had the ability to "hop" a little, with RCS or a small liquid-fuel engine?  That would open up various design options.

• Example 1:  the big rover has a lot of ground clearance, and a docking port on the underside.  Little rover (which has a docking port on top) drives under it, then hops up to dock.
• Example 2:  big rover has a flat "flight deck" with an upward-facing docking port on it.  Little rover (which has a docking port underneath) hops up onto the deck, then drives over the docking port to hold it in place.
• Example 3:  No docking ports at all.  The big rover has a "corral", i.e. a flat deck space with a low wall around it.  Little rover hops into the corral and just sits there.  (This one's less stable if you're going to be going fast on a low-gee world and are likely to get some "hang time" in free-fall when you go shooting over the lip of a hill, so maybe not super practical... but it could be fun to play with.) 
• Example 4:  If you don't mind using mods, install KAS (Kerbal Attachment System).  Big rover just tows the little rover with a winch & cable.

One thing I'm kinda curious about... if your big rover is so big and fast, why not use it as the primary explorer?  i.e. is there a particular reason you need to have the little rovers at all?  Or is that just a fun thing to do "for the heck of it"?

[Hotaru]

Airbrakes can make good doors, and it's not too hard to make a nice little box out of wings or structural panels. The "deploy" function of control surfaces might be helpful as well.

[CoreI]

9 hours ago, Snark said:

Instead of having a hinged ramp, what if the little rovers had the ability to "hop" a little, with RCS or a small liquid-fuel engine?

Great idea, and I considered it, but I can't fly a VTOL, even a rocket powered one, to save my life.

 

9 hours ago, Snark said:

if your big rover is so big and fast, why not use it as the primary explorer?  i.e. is there a particular reason you need to have the little rovers at all?  Or is that just a fun thing to do "for the heck of it"?

Now that I think about it, I am really doing it for the heck of it, but give me a minute...

*one minute passes*

Ok got it! So since, as you mentioned in your reply, things tend to go airborne (spaceborn?) on Minmus, if I have one rover, and something happens to it, goodby Mission. At least with one mothership and several smaller ones, if a small rover is destroyed all is not lost. If the mothership crashed and is disabled, the smaller rovers should survive.

[Snark]

44 minutes ago, CoreI said:

Great idea, and I considered it, but I can't fly a VTOL, even a rocket powered one, to save my life.

Me neither.  But I'm talking about a little hop, not a sustained hover.  For example, stick an engine on the belly of the little rover and a quick blip will make it go straight up a little ways; not much control needed, especially if all you're doing is raising it a meter or less.

Also, Minmus is awfully forgiving in this regard.  Everything happens in slow motion.

46 minutes ago, CoreI said:

So since, as you mentioned in your reply, things tend to go airborne (spaceborn?) on Minmus, if I have one rover, and something happens to it, goodby Mission.

My solution to that problem is to put an engine on my rovers.  If I end up shooting off a cliff or something, I just flip SAS to "hold retrograde" and activate the engine to slow down.  Lowers it gently as a feather to the ground.

Main thing for roving around Minmus is to have a decent amount of reaction-wheel torque; keeps the rover from flipping/tumbling in the low gravity.