KSP Challenge: Crosswise the Sea!

[Azimech]

Grabbed an old prototype racer from the HD. Usually I race with modified drag values or FAR but this time I've done it the slow way.

This is Gee Bee test 2, stock turboprop. It uses a modified Chakora II engine with 60 blowers and 8 turbine blades. It has a variable prop pitch and a multi-stage turbine using eXpanding Blade Tech with high power and economy modes. This all uses 4 of my own inventions: the double sided open bearing, the variable prop pitch, XBT and last but not least, the turboprop itself.

The Chakora II engine is what made it possible to circumnavigate Kerbin and the only stock turboprop to ever do so. They're pretty sturdy unless overreved, then they starts spitting out turbine blades and thrust bearing elements. There's a limitation in KSP or Unity, angular speeds cannot be higher than 50 rad/s or physics go gaga.

Exactly what happened with my first attempt, I wanted to fly over the mountains and land in the desert on the next continent. I set the autopilot to maintain a fixed speed and set the propeller to cruise. Then I saw I wouldn't make it over a mountain and set the autopilot to climb. It increased engine power to maintain speed and before I knew it I saw stuff flying out the side of the engine. Often it can continue to run even if damaged but this time it "ate" the thrust bearing in seconds, resulting in complete loss of power.

Okay ... next attempt. I'll land at the island runway then.

Engine running fine at 49.5 rad/s (472 RPM).

Almost there, setting prop pitch to coarse for some aerobraking.

Very easy to fly, very easy to land.

 

I took off again for a speed test with adjusted aero. Not bad but i think I need another propeller blade.

That's all folks! If you want to know more about stock turboprops, see the link in my signature.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Azimech

[TheEpicSquared]

25 minutes ago, ave369 said:

OK, I get it. It's an engine that was added in an older version and later removed.

Um... no. The Goliath was added in 1.0.5 and remains in stock to this day.

[ave369]

59 minutes ago, TheEpicSquared said:

Um... no. The Goliath was added in 1.0.5 and remains in stock to this day.

Why I don't have it if it is still stock? Never had it in 1.1.3, don't have it in 1.3.0. The entire stock tech tree is discovered. No trace of it.

Edited June 22, 2017 by ave369

[TheEpicSquared]

36 minutes ago, ave369 said:

Why I don't have it if it is still stock? Never had it in 1.1.3, don't have it in 1.3.0. The entire stock tech tree is discovered. No trace of it.

Not sure. Maybe you accidentally deleted the Goliath's file in GameData/Squad?

Anyway, back on topic, here's the plane I'll use for the challenge: 

704 passengers and 4 crew, powered by 24 Panthers.

Edited June 22, 2017 by TheEpicSquared
Corrected numbers

[ave369]

I never delete anything in the Squad directory. In fact, I never touch it at all. But I see this engine today the first time in my life. No, I could not "accidentally overlook" it, I have an interest in big planes, airships and stuff like that, and if it was in my game, I would definitely use it, rather than tweakscale normal engines to bigger sizes. That's why I thought it must be some kind of mod.

 

Okay, let's back on topic. The Tiny Tot is on Laythe, and now I have to actually, well, cross the sea.

Let's start!

 

Oops, it appears that I forgot to pull the landing gear in.

 

View from the cockpit. Sea, sky, clouds... Boring. Where is land?

 

Here it is! But this round island is no way as level as the KerbNet advertised it to be. Guess I'll have to fly around and look for a landing spot...

 

It is hard to find...

 

This landing here is challenging as well, here I have to adjust my roll before the wheels touch the ground...

 

Ta-da!

[Azimech]

23 minutes ago, TheEpicSquared said:

Not sure. Maybe you accidentally deleted the Goliath's file in GameData/Squad?

Anyway, back on topic, here's the plane I'll use for the challenge: 

704 passengers and 4 crew, powered by 23 Panthers.

That's big.

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, ave369 said:

Well... Let's begin the Long Story of the Laythe Sea Flight, Part One: Reaching the Beginning of the Way

That was fun... and also my first chance to see the game in Russian!

Very cool!  

Edited June 22, 2017 by Just Jim

[ws513]

Top speed over 1000 m/s, still enough fuel to come back.

 

[siimav]

So here's my entry - The Flying Goliath. Just take the Goliath engine, strap on a couple of wings, small fuel tanks, a seat for the pilot and it's a go. 

It actually flies pretty well for what it is.  It does require quite a bit of trim to fly straight but then again, it doesn't really need SAS at all. When at altitude all pitch control was done with trim.

Spoiler

 

Quickly climbing to altitude. She doesn't look too happy about it  

 

The large peninsula when flying east from KSC. There's still more than half of the fuel left so why not continue further.

 

The next landmass across the sea. Should touch down somewhere here.

 

Lined up for landing on a nice-looking beach.

 

Almost there...

 

DONE!

 

That's where the craft ended up.

 

[Just Jim]

4 minutes ago, siimav said:

So here's my entry - The Flying Goliath.

Awesome!!! 

[klesh]

Okay, here you go.  A quick little jaunt to that bigger island nearish the KSC.

 

 

[Azimech]

13 minutes ago, klesh said:

Okay, here you go.  A quick little jaunt to that bigger island nearish the KSC.

 

 

That looks just like a Telefunken U47 ... with läther.

[klesh]

5 minutes ago, Azimech said:

That looks just like a Telefunken U47 ... with läther.

Its Fido 3, I remember you from last summer!

[Azimech]

4 minutes ago, klesh said:

Its Fido 3, I remember you from last summer!

I've still got the dust from the Grand Wazoo if you want it ... come to think of it, I stored it in my python boot so you might wanna rinse it off. I know ... filthy habit.

Mods, I'll stop now. Apparently this is what happens when Zappa fans find each other on a forum.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Azimech

[The_Rocketeer]

Ooo, goody... a chance to play with my toys

Here's Koncorde. If she goes up and stays there, she can do a whole lap of Kerbin in ~90 minutes:

[Just Jim]

26 minutes ago, Azimech said:

That looks just like a Telefunken U47 ... with läther.

 

18 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Apparently this is what happens when Zappa fans find each other on a forum.

Totally off-topic... but I'm a huge Zappa fan!!!  

10 minutes ago, The_Rocketeer said:

Ooo, goody... a chance to play with my toys

Here's Koncorde. If she goes up and stays there, she can do a whole lap of Kerbin in ~90 minutes:

Back on-topic...

Sweet!!!  

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

I did it!

 

Backwards!

Had this STOL cargo aircraft sitting in my hangar which had relaxed stability (to help it keep its nose up at low speeds), so I just attached some vertical boards at the front and off I went!

[Just Jim]

5 minutes ago, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

Backwards!

OMG... That is outstanding! And the soundtrack is perfect!!!

 

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

3 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

OMG... That is outstanding! And the soundtrack is perfect!!!

 

Thanks!  I wanted to do it in IVA but unfortunately there is no such thing as rear view mirrors in KSP so it would be more of blind luck as to whether I ran into a mountain or not.

Edit: does anyone know if there's a way to look out those two tiny windows in the top back of the Mk3 crew cabin?

Edited June 22, 2017 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[Just Jim]

Just now, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

Thanks!  I wanted to do it in IVA but unfortunately there is no such thing as rear view mirrors in KSP so it would be more of blind luck as to whether I ran into a mountain or not.

Maybe a rear mounted camera, if you're using RPM... but still, that was too funny!  And beautifully creative! 

[ave369]

2 hours ago, Just Jim said:

That was fun... and also my first chance to see the game in Russian!

Very cool!  

It was a pain. The Tiny Tot is so tiny and can be easily transported by all kinds of motherships, but the downside is that it has not enough wingage to prevent stalling at low speeds and not enough elevonage to have much pitch authority, Landing it on uneven surfaces is FRUSTRATING. During its maiden flight, I somehow managed to land it on an island on Laythe on the first try. No such luck this time.

Edited June 22, 2017 by ave369

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

Success! Sort of. I totally cheated. Went with a "jump jet" style. Put a couple of Darts on the bottom of the plane for VTOL. Worked pretty well.

 

 

Beginning forward thrust.

 

 

I don't really use planes, so I was takin' in the scenery. Looked pretty cool.

 

 

Movin' along.

 

 

Top speed reached.

 

 

Coasting in for a "landing". If you're wondering about the little engines up front, those are actually Juno's turned around backward to act as braking engines during the landing. Told ya I cheated.

 

 

And here it is sitting proudly on the ground. Full disclosure: it took about a dozen tries. The landing was easy, but I kept destroying the Dart's when I hit the ground. You can see they just barely clear the surface. Knew it would be a problem, and I was right.

 

 

Anyway, I crossed the sea and I landed, so I guess I'll count it.

 

 

And the plane's in one piece. That's a "World's First" for me. 

Edited June 23, 2017 by Cpt Kerbalkrunch

[*MajorTom*]

I really don't understand what sea I must cross (looks like it mean "any"), so just build Mach 3.4 plane that can cross "all" seas+oceans (can do circumnavigation 2 times, but fly in video 1 time... sorry not have any time IRL) 

 

[Sivonen]

My entry.

I hope it counts, because I cannot retract the heat shields, and jettisoning them causes an explosion... Who said the minion needs to be able to leave the plane intact?

 

 

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

17 hours ago, Tex_NL said:

Then the 'challenge' should be to do it as original and creative as possible. But it isn't. It's just 'fly a plane across the sea.'

It doesn't even rate as high as 'meh'.
It's a bout the same as an adult doing their shoe laces. Or pulling up your pants and not forgetting to wipe after taking a dump.

Personally, I agree but I'm not about to start ranting about it.

Also : (Xeriaq is my YouTube channel. I make KSP and Minecraft videos)

 

Edited June 23, 2017 by OrbitalBuzzsaw