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EvenFlow

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  1. I absolutely loved this video when it came out! Really few people care to take on this semi-realistic approach to such creations. It inspired me quite a bit when making this one tbh!
  2. The Baltic Sea Incident A Cold War gone Hot story project. Back in July of 2017 I came up with an idea of making a relatively realistic, story driven creation consisting of multiple military craft replicas which would mimic a possible real-life tactical NATO-USSR skirmish as closely as possible. The scale was quite grand - The plan was to include as many detailed, full scale replicas of aircraft, ground forces and naval vessels as possible. Sadly, alot of the non-backed up craft files, about 100 carefully set-up screenshots and custom scenery got irreversibly wiped during my transition to a new computer at the end of the month. The project was about 70% completed at the time of the wipe, and some material was salvaged. While what is left doesn't quite represent the finished product, after a long wait caused both by university duties and KSP hiatus I've decided to release what I've managed to keep for you all to enjoy. This is what I've made over about two and a half weeks in July. I hope you will enjoy looking at it as much as I've enjoyed making it. Was good while it lasted. LOCATION: Heavy water production plant, coastal area of the Estonian SSR TIME: 16-17.03.1985 ALBUM LINK: Two-man team of SBS operatives tasked with infiltrating a deuterium production facility, after a succesful sabotage attempt prepare to leave the plant and head for the coast to get evacuated under the cover of darkness. They reach the coast and board a small civilian fishing vessel tasked with delivering them to the open waters where they are scheduled to rendezvous with a Los Angeles-class SSN in the area, their ultimate evacuation vessel. Due to rising tensions in the region over the past months, the coastal area has seen heavy Soviet Navy patrols. The SBS team eventually manages to reach the rendezvous point and board the Los Angeles-class. Soviet surface radars catch a glimpse of the unidentified fishing vessel in the area and dispatch a Tu-142 navy reconaissance aircraft to assess the situation. On arriving, the Tupolev manages to spot the submarine at periscope depth. The SSN crew promptly initiate emergency dive procedures. Luckily for the sub crew the Tu-142 doesn't carry dedicated submarine weapons at the time of their encounter and is forced to turn back to base soon after making contact due to lack of fuel. With the location of the US Navy sub compromised, Soviet forces in the area are notified of the vessel's presence and dispatched to it's location. The hunt for the elusive target begins. Closest to the submarine's location are two dated but recently upgraded Soviet Navy vessels - the Kanin-class destroyer and a smaller escort - a Grisha corvette. Due to their heavy use of active sonar their location is quickly estabilished by the Los Angeles crew and passed over to the command. A small-scale evacuation has now turned into a rescue operation. Los Angeles-class is ordered not to return fire unless directly attacked. With Soviet vessels on pursuit, time is of highest value. West German airbases are best-suited for anti-shipping operations but they are too distant to be able to react quickly enough. A small Swedish Air Force airbase is chosen for conducting the surgical strike on Soviet vessels. AJ-37 Viggens are very well suited for ASW. Their systems were designed with focus on utilizing the RB-04E missile to it's full potential. While it might not excel at anti-air warfare it may prove to be just enough to do the job in this scenario. The craft are hastily armed and dispatched. Due to their limited range and possibility of enemy interception they only get one approach at the target. To save time and fuel they are ordered to fly at high altitude until the final attack approach which renders them more vulnerable to SAM fire and being spotted. Soon after getting inside the Pact-controlled airspace they are spotted by a coastal 2K12 SAM battery. Mud-spiked Viggens are now diving to the deck to minimize the chances of interception. Two missiles are fired off, both missing due to their radars getting confused by ground clutter. Soviet Air Force, now alerted of the Swedish attackers, dispatches a flight of MiG-29A Fulcrums to deal with the threat. A F-15C Eagle patrolling the area is now tasked with fending off the Fulcrums. Due to it's altitude advantage it manages to reach the target area quickly. Two AIM-7 missiles are fired off at BVR ranges which don't allow the 29A's to return fire. Although they both miss, they force the Fulcrums to scramble and switch their focus to the F-15. The AJ-37s are now capable of approaching the pursuing vessels close enough to fire off their RB-04s. Due to the dated CIWS systems on the Kanin-class, they manage to score a direct hit on the destroyer and cripple it's mobility. The small Grisha-class is unable to continue attacking on it's own. Viggens head for Sweden, now flying at deck level to avoid being spiked by SAM batteries. The attack allows Los Angeles-class to retreat into international waters. The evacuation is successful, albeit diplomatic stability between NATO and the Soviet Union is significantly strained due to a Soviet vessel being damaged by Swedish fire in a Pact-controlled area. Intel gained by the SBS proves to be highly useful in assesing Soviet nuclear capabilities. END LOG So here you have the story and all the images I've managed to salvage. All the craft are built in 1:1 scale with as much detail as i could fit in. The naval vessels were especially exhausting to complete, each consisting of a few hundred parts and being over 130 metres long in the case of Kanin-class destroyer. I have copies of the Kanin and Grisha backed up on Dropbox so if any of you guys would be interested in checking them out please let me know. They require Vessel Mover to be put into the water but are fully functional and can move through water under their own power. Files for the 100+ meter long submarine, the Viggen with it's functional RB-04s and all featured ground vehicles are sadly lost. Not all of the images depicting the events of the story are there either. I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless. Thanks for checking it out. Cheers.
  3. First things first, for the proper ambience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKmj3hj3WY DOWNLOAD: https://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/X-49
  4. About the unplanned explosions, I don't know whether that is the issue, but ever since 1.2.2 I've been getting some odd behavior with clipped parts which did not happen before. I've also been doing some limited research on using generously clipped SAS rotors for creating high-performance compact helicopter rotors, and I've encountered similar behavior with the assembly suddenly becoming unstable and falling apart, just as if the parts suddenly decided they refused being clipped in any way shape or form. In my case, autostrutting the assembly to the grandparent part and strutting the blades to the shaft helped alot, although I haven't mounted the rotor on anything practical yet so it's hard to say how effective this fix will be. KSP definitely seems to apply stricter clipping rules now though, at least from my experience.
  5. Well, now that I'm done hyperventilating from excitement, how do you think those RCS-on-RCS bearings compare to more traditional RCS-thermometer bearings in terms of withstanding high RPM and stability under warp / when loading the plane after detaching the prop assembly from the plane? Those bearings looks really elegant and clean, but due to RCS ports having relatively small hitboxes I'm kinda worried about their durability, especially if they were to be used with some heavier propellers.
  6. One of the best replicas I've seen in my 4 years of playing. The drag issues just show how much KSP needs voxel-based drag calculation the likes of FAR, perhaps limited to drag calc only, without modelling the complex airflow and stalling mechanics which would make the learning curve a bit too steep for the newcomers. Despite all the limitations of the physics engine, this replica is a true gem. Congrats on building something straight out of KSP engine's worst nightmares and making it work. EDIT: If any FAR player tried this thing out it would be great if he posted the performance results he achieved, no?
  7. Do you want the Soviet surface fleet to go with your submarine sir? Coming Soon-er
  8. Hah, honored to hear words of praise from a guy who pretty much started the stock propeller plane boom in KSP! Quite a coincidence too - I've also first encountered the Kukuruznik back in my days of playing the original Il-2 Sturmovik on my old computer with a twitchy flightstick. It was one of the few aircraft I could actually control decently thanks to it's turtle pace and great handling which helped make up for my god-horrible flying skills. And they really were horrible considering I was in the 1st grade of primary school back then and the closest I usually got to flying was through operating the flaps and landing gear as a co-pilot on the 737s my dad was flying out in FS 2004. Good times! c: The RDS-37 was missing from Po-2's payload options in Il-2 though a far as I remember. Quite a significant flaw, really!
  9. Loving the way the cockpit is modelled! Are you perhaps planning to include a carrier vessel for the Spiral? There are some concepts floating around online even if the carrier vehicle itself never left the planning stage. Just as an example, despite the horrible resolution.
  10. Meanwhile, somewhere in the Baltic Sea, a Los Angeles class submarine is setting off on a covert operation... Coming Soon.
  11. INTRODUCTION "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." ~Nikolai N. Polikarpov after preliminary flight testing of the Po-2, circa June 1927 A.D. Well, so out of all the high performance, cutting edge propeller aircraft I could build, I've decided to recreate this. Speed of a caffeinated YF-12, maneuverability of a F-15S/MTD, firepower of an Iowa-class battleship. The true top tier airframe from a more civilized age. On a serious note, the Po-2 was initially designated U-2, and was created in late 20s in the USSR as a general-purpose aircraft. During the WWII it was usually used as a reconaissance aircraft, but low-level night bombing runs were also quite common, made especially famous by the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, composed of an all-woman pilot and ground crew complement. Suprisingly, the Po-2s combat usage did not end in 1945. Polikarpov biplanes were spotted over the Korean skies in the early 50s, mostly used as reconaissance and light bomber aircraft. Frankly, the USAF pilots reported the Po-2 to be notoriously hard to shoot down due to it's extremely low, sub-200kph top speed which sat below the stall speed of most US jet aircraft. Apart from combat use, the Po-2 has seen service among many airforces, serving as a trainer and utility aircraft in the miitary. It's 5 cylinder 100HP Shvestov M-11 radial engine was incredibly low-maintenance, making the Po-2 extremely well-suited for service in rough conditions. Albeit unarmed at first, later variants of this aircraft recieved a ShKAS machinegun as a rear turret and a small bombload of 250kg. FEATURES Not all that much in the way of features on this one due to it's small size. There are a few though: 1. Fully functional, spinning propeller, along with a semi-detailed Shvestov M-11 engine. 2. Flaps, toggleable with AG 1 3. Some nice little details, such as the gear assembly, the wing spars and the ShKAS MG in the back. 4. 1:1 scale, which is a feature considering how small the whole thing is! (only 8m long, that isn't much space to fit alot of detail in, really.) HOW TO FLY Due to it's relatively low-power engine, the Po-2 requires some special care while flying. Startup procedures are identical to all my other prop planes, namely: 1. Startup and takeoff Idle the throttle and engage brakes. SAS needs to be off. Stage the first stage. The ring securing the propeller in place will come off. Switch to the propeller with " ] ". Start up the propeller. Hold down ALT and either Q or E. Hold the key until the roll indicator in the bottom left corner of the screen will reach it's limit. Remember to have SAS disengaged in this stage if you want the propeller to work. SAS, along with neutralising set roll trim with ALT can be used to stop the propeller post-flight. Switch back to the main vessel, engage the SAS (although the craft is perfectly flyable without it of course) and disengage the brakes. After the propeller has started rotating sufficiently quickly you can add throttle and begin the takeoff. Allow the plane to gain speed. It will, albeit rather slowly. Wait until the plane hit's AT LEAST 21m/s, then you can ever so slightly apply elevator. Now is the hardest part of the whole flight: Manipulate the elevator and keep the plane level, so that your speed starts to increase. Once it's above approx. 30-35m/s you are fying safely. 2. Flight Turn gently and dont bank too much, since the rudder response is average at best, and if you find yourself low on speed (sub-20m/s) while banking, you might find yourself unable to level the plane out before it loses too much altitude. Watch the speed and keep it above 20-25m/s, preferably even higher. Under 20m/s the plane will stall out. Apply elevator delicately, don't bleed speed if not necessary, climb at a shallow angle. Watch out not to clip the propeller into the ground while landing. Here we have an entirely historical photo of a Po-2 carrying a RDS-37 thermonuclear bomb since, as we all know, the Po-2 was the backbone of Soviet strategic bomber force during the Cold War. Fly safe and enjoy. Feel free to leave suggestions on what i should build next. The plane is built out of 133 parts btw. All stock. DOWNLOAD LINK https://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/Po-2 Updated on 24-07-2017, V1.0 CHANGELOG 1.0 - initial release
  12. Major structural update done! Redownload highly recommended for anyone owning the old version! c:
  13. F-22 has been on my to-do list for ages now. I just can't seem to think of how I could accurately represent some of it's features (e.g engine nozzles) with stock parts while maintaining the Raptor's "slickness" and keeping it true-to-scale. It would be an ambitious undertaking though, and I can't say no to a nice challenge. Will give it a try after I'm done tweaking some proportions on the F-15C which I am doing right now.
  14. I've been thinking about doing just that, but i don't have all that many sufficiently high-quality craft racked up yet. I've recently sorted out some university stuff IRL, and thus I should have more time to create content. The Wyvern and 190D are practically the only brand-new craft, the Tu-95, F-15 and MiG-29 all just got revamped and recieved some detailing to make them higher quality. After about two, three more craft which i should be releasing sometime this week i will probably create a repository to keep stuff neatly organized. c:
  15. INTRODUCTION Yet another revamped version of my MiG-29A replica i made about a year ago or so. This one undergone some considerable changes which added some important details present on the real 29. The MiG-29 was the Soviet answer to the rising threat of US frontline fighters such as the F-16 being fielded on a large scale. The Soviet Air Force needed a light, easy to maintain and competitive fighter to support the Su-27 and thus, the MiG-29 was born. It was the trademark 4th gen frontline fighter of the Soviets and, over the years, it underwent many modifications which ensured that it remained competitive to this day. The A version was the initial production variant fielded by the Soviet Air Force in 1982. It is powered by twin Klimov RD-33 turbojet engines which, given the small size of the airframe, allow the MiG-29 to achieve a whopping TWR of 1.09 on reheat. The power outputs of the engines are, just like on the Eagle posted earlier, modeled correctly down to 0.1kN of static thrust. The weight is also very representative of the real Fulcrum and thus, this aircraft approximates the real aircraft's performance well. FEATURES Just to name a few: 1. True to the original engine performance and weight. (Activate the reheat with AG 1) 2. Functional flaps activated with AG 2 3. Correctly placed airbrake mounted in the rear activated through AG 3 4. Correctly placed drogue chute activated through staging. 5. Alot of minor detailing with antennas, the infrared sensor bulb on the nose etc. HOW TO FLY Quite similar to the Eagle, but lighter and perhaps a bit slower at some altitudes. Airbrakes and flaps can be used for slowing down the airframe. Take off at approx 55m/s, land at a similar speed. Watch out for stalling since the aircraft can drop it's speed very low through turning due to how agile it is. Fly safe and have fun. I am eagerly waiting for your feedback so if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them here! DOWNLOAD LINK https://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/MiG-29A Updated on 22-07-2017, V1.1 CHANGELOG 1.0 - initial release 1.1 - fixed the main landing gear not being straight which caused problems on takeoff.
  16. INTRODUCTION As a relaxing little break from creating propeller aircraft I've decided to recreate one of the most prominent 4.5th gen jet fighters of the modern era - the F-15C Eagle. Not a single Eagle has ever been lost to enemy fire and the airframe itself, although almost 40 years old by now is continiuously proving itself to be a formidable foe to every modern jet fighter. The F-15C is currently the definitive variant suited for air-to-air combat and maintaining air superiority. It is a heavy airframe weighing in at approximately 20 tons loaded, powered by Pratt and Whitney F100 low-bypass turbojet engines, each putting out approximately 100kN of thrust when running reheat. The plane is capable of reaching over Mach 2.5 at it's operational ceiling. The Eagle is extremely capable in terms of it's maximum loading and can achieve an operational range of over 5500km when used with it's conformal FASTPACK fuel tanks. This replica is an attempt at creating a detailed and correctly performing Eagle. The weight is about right, and the engines have been tuned to provide the exact same amounts of static thrust the real F100s would provide. I managed to get the values down to 0.1kN accuracy. The replica is fully stock. I hope you will enjoy flying it. FEATURES Here are some basic features included with the replica. 1. Correctly performing recreations of P&W F100 turbojets producing exactly 64.9kN of dry static thrust and 105.7kN of static thrust wet (toggle with AG 1). 2. Retractable flaps (Toggleable with AG 2) 3. Functional airbrake (Toggleable with AG 3) 4. Realistically modelled drop tanks, the centerline tank is exhausted first. HOW TO FLY The flight characteristics of the Eagle are rather standard. If you can fly any other jet in KSP, flying this one should also be relatively easy. Flaps and the airbrake can be used to slow the airframe down. The top speed at sea level with the drop tanks on sits at Mach 1 and gets better with altitude. Keep in mind that the drop tanks add considerable weight to the airframe and they should be ditched when entering combat. Take off at about 70m/s, land at approx 65m/s. Keep in mind that the airframe, although agile, is rather heavy and has plenty of intertia, especially when performing low-level maneuvering with drop tanks on. Have fun taking the Eagle to the skies and fly safe. Feel free to leave requests and suggestions down below so i can improve my replicas! DOWNLOAD LINK https://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/F-15C Updated on 22-07-2017, V1.1 CHANGELOG 1.0 - initial release 1.1 - major structural tweaks done which make the craft more similar to the original in terms of proportions. before, the ratio of lenght to width of this replica sat at about 1.52:1 (14.2m x 9.3m) and the horizontal stabilizers were unproportionally big when compared to the main wing. now this issue is fixed and the replica has the exact same length-width ratio as the real plane (1.46:1 14.2m x 9.7m for the replica and 19m x 13m for the real Eagle). pictures were changed accordingly, but here is a gif to portray the changes I made better: (old one in the first frame, fades to the new one which is visibly wider and more proportional) (i think it just goes to show how bad my OCD is with those replicas. WELP, GOOD FOR Y'ALL I GUESS)
  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-141 The Yak-38 was an earlier VTOL aircraft.
  18. In terms of replicas, I can consider trying to make something along the lines of the Harrier or Yak-141 (or perhaps some experimental German design) later on. It would be kinda hard to create though, given i would probably have to create a new kind of bearing which could lock up to allow for a tilting fan (in case of F-35/Harrier/Yak-141 at least). I might look into it in the future, but there are some stuff on my current to-do list including an American warbird, a Japanese warbird, and an experimental what-if fighter powered by an NK-12 engine, which i am currently doing some research on.
  19. INTRODUCTION Hey there again. After finishing building and tweaking the Wyvern which was my first attempt to create a single engine propeller airframe replica. Right away, I've started working on yet another one, this time recreating a weapon from an earlier decade, when the world was engulfed in conflict. The 190 was a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Focke-Wulf 190 Würger became the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Dora version, unlike the earlier Anton and Friedrich, was powered by an inverted 12 cylinder Jumo 213A engine (which is quite in-detail modeled in this replica!) which was fit for better performance at higher altitudes. The inline engine brought some design changes, e.g. different exhaust pipes and the distinct lenghtened nose section. The Dora proved to be a formidable opponent to all Allied counterparts from 1944, but as with the majority of German arsenal in the later years of WWII it was troubled by being outnumbered and hard to maintain. Even the fearsome armament of 2x MG151 root-mounted 20mm cannons coupled with a pair of 13mm MG131s in the nose couldn't stop the oncoming onslaughts of B-17 bombers. Even although the plane itself didn't change the tide of the conflict, you can now take it to the skies yet again in KSP with this replica. It consists of little over 150 parts and has some neat features which make flying it out exceedingly fun compared to other craft. FEATURES Features of this aircraft are mostly all the standard stuff you see on my other replicas, coupled with the detailed engine interior. Just to name a few: 1. Functional flaps, activated with AG 1 2. Openable engine cowling which reveals a detailed replica of the inverted V12 Junkers Jumo 213A engine. (Toggle with AG 2) 3. Functional, spinning propeller which adds alot of immersion to the replica. 4. Correctly placed guns and antennae, alot of little details here and there. 5. Actually useful drop tank which gets drained before the rest of the tanks. Ditch it with staging. HOW TO FLY Pretty much the same things that apply to the Wyvern, apply here. The Fw-190D has a little bit less torque at low speeds, that is the only real difference. 1. Startup and takeoff Idle the throttle and engage brakes. SAS needs to be off. Stage the first stage. The ring securing the propeller in place will come off. Switch to the propeller with " ] ". Start up the propeller. Hold down ALT and either Q or E. Hold the key until the roll indicator in the bottom left corner of the screen will reach it's limit. Remember to have SAS disengaged in this stage if you want the propeller to work. SAS, along with neutralising set roll trim with ALT can be used to stop the propeller post-flight. Switch back to the main vessel, engage the SAS (although the craft is perfectly flyable without it of course) and disengage the brakes. After the propeller has started rotating sufficiently quickly you can add throttle and begin the takeoff. The plane will take off by itself after reaching approx 65m/s. Tailwheel and rudder can be used to counter the torque generated by the engine which can be felt while the plane is low on speed (this also applies to real life propeller engines) 2. Flight Flying the Dora is rather easy. The plane is stable at any speeds above it's stall speed (which sits at about 50m/s), will reach speeds of up to 145m/s (and over 220m/s in a dive), and the fuel will last for a while. The drop tank is expended first, after it runs dry you can jettison it with staging. Turning is safe at any speed within it's flight envelope, but due to compression not being modelled it will lose speed in high speed turns rather quickly. Mild turns are advised if you are planning to keep your speed up. Just like in real life, roll rate of this plane gets rather sluggish when your speed is too low. Keep an eye on your speed during tight turns to prevent stalling. Optimal climb can be achieved at approx 90m/s TAS at most altitudes. 3. Landing To drop your speed quickly, feel free to pop the flaps. Get your speed down to about 70m/s, retract the gear and lower the throttle. Watch out not to come in nose-first, since this could damage your propeller. Engage brakes after touchdown, use the tailwheel to taxi into a desirable position. Engine can be turned off with methods described in "Pre-flight procedures and startup" section. I really think this is one of the better replicas I've created. I hope you will enjoy flying it as much as I did during all the testing. DOWNLOAD LINK https://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/Fw-190D-9 Updated on 22-07-2017, V1.0 CHANGELOG 1.0 - initial release
  20. Layout updated, Fw-190D, F-15C and MiG-29A coming up in a second.
  21. Fixed some minor bugs assosciated with switching between distant craft mostly. Also, here is a little sneak-peak of what is to come next. Stay tuned.
  22. Powering the prop would probably be as simple as adding more SAS units for torque and tweaking the prop pitch for optimal performance i suppose. The visual detachment of the propeller blades is what puts me off really . I might actually try to make a proper prop powered replica of a longer-nosed fighter such as the german Dora variants of the 190. Also, does anyone knows whether rigid attachment helps with keeping the blades attached to the assembly?
  23. With enough tweaking there could possibly be some space left for another mechanism to allow for a contra-rotating propeller, but there are two things that make it unlikely to actually happen. First, if the propeller was to actually provide any considerable amount of power to the airframe, there is the problem of elevons visually "disconnecting" from the shaft itself after reaching high RPM which - while increasing functionality - decreases the overall value of the craft as a replica. Second of all, additional mechanisms would require a complete engine redesign, during which some of the visual smoothness of the airframe would certainly be lost. My doctrine of building propeller aircraft differs vastly from, say, Azimech's. He builds brilliant actual propeller engines, but just look at the size of most of his stuff. When I'm building a replica I want it to look and perform as close as possible to the real life counterpart and due to KSP having sketchy (at best) aerodynamics, I sometimes have to sacrifice some of the mechanical fidelity. I would love to make a compressor-driven turbine with functional fans, trust me. It's just that KSP won't allow me to do that in scale this small and with the current physics engine. EDIT: If anyone would like to try making this thing actually run on it's propeller and even utilizing contra-rotating props to negate torque then feel free to do any modifications you like and post them if they are successful. Would be incredible.
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