[1.12.5] Cormorant Aeronology - Mk3 Space Shuttle

[FlyMeToTheMinmus]

Uh, by the looks of things Pak just used a stock mk3 cockpit. The only changes he made was to the rcs nose cone. I imagine you could use it over DECQ's Buran cockpit, unless Pak does plan to do a reskin of the cockpit, as he mentioned in his last post.

[Pak]

How do you space? Look out, Jeb!

[StevieC]

Also, from what I've seen, at least one version of the Buran was designed to have a docking-tunnel to a docking-port built into the tip of the nose, as seen on this page. http://www.buran-energia.com/bourane-buran/bourane-but.php

[Chris P. Bacon]

Ya nailed that OMS model, nice work!

I had a bit more of a go at editing textures (not trying to step on your toes or anything Pak, just something to do while waiting for the hype train to pull into station).  The Buran nose has a scale of 1.0, 1.1, 1.0 in the cfg to give it a bit of a stretch in length, not sure if it's the right thing to do, but I thought it made it look a bit less stubby, and more like the real Buran.   Added a textureswitch module to the Mk3 cockpit and refined that texture some more.  Removed the black tiled ares between the windows, squared up the window borders on the top of the cockpit, whitened the hatch border (Buran only has the black outline on the center circle) and removed the window in the hatch.  The white areas also have some very faint tile outlines and less pronounced panel seams.  Also tried to replicate the asymmetric tile pattern on the nose.  I play with these in RSS/RO, so they're just to satisfy my own pedantic nature. I'll leave the textures here if anyone wants to make use of them (keep in mind the tiles line up best with that 110% scale in the Y-axis on the nosecone).

 

 

1 hour ago, StevieC said:

Also, from what I've seen, at least one version of the Buran was designed to have a docking-tunnel to a docking-port built into the tip of the nose, as seen on this page. http://www.buran-energia.com/bourane-buran/bourane-but.php

The Buran airframes with the nose docking ports were just a cheap way of throwing a few space tugs in orbit.  They weren't really a variant of the Buran, but more of something to do with the leftover junk from the program.  They were going to be reused test articles (similar to Enterprise and the other wooden space shuttles) with an OMS system slapped on and a cargobay full of bombs.  They weren't meant to reenter, and were disposable.  Having a nosecone like that beneath a heatshield sounds like a pretty sketchy proposition, but it would be neat.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Chris P. Bacon

[StevieC]

well, as you said, maybe as space-tugs, built to be 'reusable' upper-stages? (reusable as in, left up in orbit for reuse)

Edited June 9, 2016 by StevieC

[tg626]

1 hour ago, StevieC said:

Also, from what I've seen, at least one version of the Buran was designed to have a docking-tunnel to a docking-port built into the tip of the nose, as seen on this page. http://www.buran-energia.com/bourane-buran/bourane-but.php

Ah yes, they crazyS applications page...  LOL

[StevieC]

which on Kerbin is simply called "the applications-page" :-p

[Pak]

55 minutes ago, Chris P. Bacon said:

Buran stuff

Nice, Chris. Your RO Shuttle is looking great.

I can pull the Buran nose out a little bit. I'm just using the 'shell' for the mesh switch so all the RCS engines have to stay in the same place, but I should have enough room in the model.

[Chris P. Bacon]

1 minute ago, Pak said:

I can pull the Buran nose out a little bit. I'm just using the 'shell' for the mesh switch so all the RCS engines have to stay in the same place, but I should have enough room in the model.

Sounds good man.  It's all personal preference really, since they are stock-alike parts after all   All I did was make a duplicate part.cfg and edit the scales in the model {} section.  A mesh switch is a much more professional way to do it.

[Angelo Kerman]

Been having fun learning to fly with these parts. I ended up adding a couple of part modules to the shuttle body long and nose cone to reflect their lifting body nature through For the shuttle body long:

    MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleLiftingSurface
        useInternalDragModel = True
        deflectionLiftCoeff = 9.0 //Big S is a 5
        dragAtMaxAoA = 0.5
        dragAtMinAoA = 0.0
    }

And for the nose cone:

    MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleLiftingSurface
        useInternalDragModel = True
        deflectionLiftCoeff = 2.0
        dragAtMaxAoA = 0.5
        dragAtMinAoA = 0.0
    }

Makes the orbiter fly a bit better.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Angel-125

[tg626]

Question is does the presence of these parts "block" the body lift of the mk3 stock parts?  If not we may end up with excessive lift...

Edited June 13, 2016 by tg626
Because this forum software on mobile sucks ***

[Grunf911]

I have created a pull request for Cormorant Aeronology to be added to ETT tech tree, let me know when you release buran stuff, so i can re-add it

[Pak]

10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Been having fun learning to fly with these parts. I ended up adding a couple of part modules to the shuttle body long and nose cone to reflect their lifting body nature through For the shuttle body long:

I used to use module lifting surface but removed it once KSP had stock lifting body calculations which is broken again in 1.1.2. Claw's Stock bug fix adds it back in if you're not currently using it.

In terms of KSP I think the bodylift is a better representation of how a lifting body works. While wings generate constant upward lift, the bodylift will only help if your craft is pitched up from your prograde

9 hours ago, tg626 said:

Question is does the presence of these parts "block" the body lift of the mk1 stock parts?  If not we may end up with excessive lift...

It doesn't. If you mean the extension pieces the difference isn't very noticeable. I made a normal sized shuttle out of all the small sections and it did seem to glide a little better, but I think it was because it distributes the lift evenly across the whole body instead of piling all of it in the CoL of one part.

2 hours ago, Grunf911 said:

I have created a pull request for Cormorant Aeronology to be added to ETT tech tree, let me know when you release buran stuff, so i can re-add it

Thanks, sounds good. 

[TimothyC]

Have you considered any SpaceHAB style parts?

[Pak]

6 minutes ago, TimothyC said:

Have you considered any SpaceHAB style parts?

Yeah if I ever get into the realm of things like the EDO and other large shuttle bay specific modules I'd like to do a spacehab science type part

[Z3R0_0NL1N3]

Personally, I'd prefer separate parts instead of mesh switching.

[Pak]

Update 1.1.21 posted to Spacedock and Curseforge. Go check it out!

On 6/9/2016 at 0:21 AM, Angel-125 said:

Flying stuff

After a lot of arduous testing I ended up agreeing with you. With all the new parts it was much more reliable to go with Lifting Surface again. The lift values are lower than what you were using, but assigning them as 'wings' removes them from the normal lifting body calculations so they're more predictable while using the new panels or standard bottoms.

[lrd.Helmet]

5 minutes ago, Pak said:

Update 1.1.21 posted to Spacedock and Curseforge. Go check it out!

After a lot of arduous testing I ended up agreeing with you. With all the new parts it was much more reliable to go with Lifting Surface again. The lift values are lower than what you were using, but assigning them as 'wings' removes them from the normal lifting body calculations so they're more predictable while using the new panels or standard bottoms.

I'm speechless... just glorious 

Btw, could you give me the download for those flags too? I would love to transform the russian one into a dutch one.

[Sgt.Shutesie]

@Pak This is amazing, now my shuttles are pretty much complete.  Are you planning on making an alternate texture for the cargo bays that are white and not the stock yellow?

[NeoFatalis]

What about a shuttle-C stuff?

[VenomousRequiem]

I couldn't help but notice your Buran lifting body is a little off coloured.

[drtedastro]

Aaaaah, they ran out of paint?

Perhaps...

Anyway, Pak, WOW...  What a beautiful set of parts.

Fantastic.  Rebuilding my fleet of different shuttles now.

These parts really, REALLY look great.

Most appreciated.  Thanks for all of your hard / great work.

Cheers.

Edited June 15, 2016 by drtedastro
More to say.

[StevieC]

One other small thing would be nice, and that would be to make Cormorant Aeronology selectable in the "Browse Parts By Manufacturer" mode.

[Pak]

1 hour ago, VenomousRequiem said:

I couldn't help but notice your Buran lifting body is a little off coloured.

Whoops. Fixed.

 

4 hours ago, Sgt.Shutesie said:

Are you planning on making an alternate texture for the cargo bays that are white and not the stock yellow?

That is a possibility after figuring out the cockpit texture switch. It doesn't seem to have any ill effects with other mods. I'll include the option once I'm working on more cargo bay bits

 

4 hours ago, lrd.Helmet said:

flags!

Both are included in the mod, unless you mean the working files. Those are photoshop. You send me a message if you were looking for those

Actually, here you go*

*Not an invitation for me to make 193 more flags

Edited June 16, 2016 by Pak

[drtedastro]

quick question, for some reason I am having an issue with the wings and strake.

After I have installed them in VAB using mirror, they look great.  all heatshields on lower surface as expected.

Now for the fun, when i exit a launch and return to VAB, the wings are now left (port) side ok and right (strbrd) side upside down.

Anyone else have this feature???

I use extended editor and other mods to help with building, so I am removing those now for testing.

Any info on this would be helpful.

But no matter what Pak, this is a fantastic mod and update.

Cheers.

 

Ok, I built a shuttle in the VAB and all was perfect.  heat tiles on lower surfaces.

I then selected entire shuttle to rotate it so that adding EFT and SRB's would be easier and immediately after rotation, the wing surfaces have popped into the one correct one not correct orientation.

images of before and after vessel rotation

select link above to see images.

Edited June 16, 2016 by drtedastro
more info.