Search the Community

Hi, I'm much more experienced in rockets than planes, but I wanted something to enter Laythe, look for landing place, land, and reach orbit. This thing just does that. It's really very very simple. Craft file is here: SP01 simple 01deg v2.craft It has wing AoA of 1 pixel rotation (is that a degree?), control surfaces and landing gear rotated back to 0°, very little clipping other than the pre-cooler which is offset into the adapter tank. It flies nicely. About 15 "presses" of elevator trim for takeoff and for the climb up to 9km. Down to about 8 presses of trim to hold a prograde angle of about 8 degrees on the start of the speed run, reaching 1450 m/s at 24km ready to switch to closed cycle and - then an only then - activating SAS. And for re-entry, maximum vertical trim keeps it at a decent angle. It makes LKO with very little spare LFOx remaining and about 100-160 LF spare for atmospheric flight. However, I can never, never get it to be "roll stable". I dislike SAS intensely, so I try to fly only with trim and fine control. And that works fine apart from the need to correct the roll every 4 seconds. Is there any way of getting a plane to fly straight without SAS? Are there any requirements for build order (i.e., place each wing part and control surface individually with symmetry, or build the whole wing and then place it as one piece with symmetry? I seem to remember there being a build order required for multiple engines and air intakes...)? Does the landing gear have an effect on stability (I'm pretty sure it is perfectly aligned, at least is gives no other problems on takeoff or landing)? I've tried using a rocket fin rather than the tail fin shown, but that didn't make any difference. I'm pretty certain the cargo is balanced. Help! Please!?!