GNAT - Light Athmo Dropship

[Cupcake...]

UPDATES:

4/6/16 - Craft upgraded to 1.1.

 

CRAFT FILES:

https://goo.gl/aKy8IQ

 

CONTROLS:

1 - Toggle Jets

2 - Toggle Rocket Assist

0 - Open/Close Cockpit Doors (Transport/Rescue Models Only)

ABORT - Undock Rear Docking Port

 

NOTES:

A joystick is highly recommended and SAS should be left on at all times.

The rocket assist function instantly doubles the thrust of the craft but should be used sparingly as the fuel supply is limited. Its main functions are to provide emergency power and allow precision flying for landings, hovering etc... by overcoming the engine lag of the jets.

Being an extremely light craft the fuel loading can make a big difference and is something that should be carefully considered before each mission. If you're just having a quick blat round the space center or popping over to airstrip island then a 20 min fuel load will be plenty and will make the craft a lot more agile and responsive. Fully loaded the Gnat will give approx 50 min of flight time from the jets though you'll be limited to low altitudes at first. Carrying two passengers the rescue edition will have just enough thrust to make it off the pad fully loaded!

Conversely by cutting the fuel supply right back you'll be able to scale some of the highest peaks on Kerbin!

At a bare minimum you should set aside approx 100 units of LF for the rocket assist engines.

By setting control to the rear docking port the craft can be flown in reverse which comes in handy for docking/refueling etc...

 

Here it is folks my first athmo craft in well... ages! I think I can safely say my period of mourning for the SSTO fleet is now officially over.

 Like Mazda MX5s of the sky Gnats are compact, agile, surprisingly tough and above all fun to fly! They come in three flavours including single seater...

...duel seat rescue edition (featured in the video)...

 

 

...and an unmanned trainer designed to save on those pesky lawsuits.

Anyway folks, I hope you enjoy flying the Gnat as much as I have. I'd just like to say a big thankyou to Heckspress for requesting this craft without which it probably wouldn't have been built. Also to all the early adopters out there I recommend re-downloading the craft files as there have been a few tweaks/revisions since the pre-release version! Cheers.

 

Cupcake...

 

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by Cupcake...

[Bubbadevlin]

Another great vid, and craft cupcake! 

Tbh, i never used your stuff, but i remember how huge of an inspiration on making landers! 

[Majorjim!]

Yup, another classic Cupcake vid and craft. The boat landing was ace!

[Cupcake...]

8 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Yup, another classic Cupcake vid and craft. The boat landing was ace!

Thanks man! I don't mind telling you it took quite a few attempts.

Cupcake...

[TopHeavy11]

Finally! It's been AGES since you made an atmo craft! Also, awesome! Rep'd.

[CommanderCoye]

Is that one kerbal in back trying to be a wheel? Reminds me of a video, but I can't recall...

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I love your mk3 boat.  Clever in so many ways!

 

[Cupcake...]

On 13/12/2015, 1:16:35, TopHeavy11 said:

Finally! It's been AGES since you made an atmo craft! Also, awesome! Rep'd.

 

23 hours ago, CommanderCoye said:

Is that one kerbal in back trying to be a wheel? Reminds me of a video, but I can't recall...

I have no idea what you're talking about!

2 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

I love your mk3 boat.  Clever in so many ways!

 

Thanks man! I had to be a bit er... creative with ore tanks in order to get the thing stable enough to land on.

 

Cupcake...

[Castille7]

Spectacular crafts and visuals is something you seem to do well that's for sure! Very impressive and inspirational, you are the reason I am so hooked on VTOL's and Dropships!! 

[Cupcake...]

6 hours ago, castille7 said:

Spectacular crafts and visuals is something you seem to do well that's for sure! Very impressive and inspirational, you are the reason I am so hooked on VTOL's and Dropships!! 

Be carefull, they're very addictive.

 

Cupcake...

[Raptor9]

@Cupcake... Dude...That is probably the best KSP cinematic I've ever seen, aside from mine of course .  Just kidding, my video skills in KSP aren't anywhere close to that!  I cannot imagine the work it took to achieve some of the scenes in that vid.  Well done Cupcake, mind...blown.

EDIT: That is one huge cactus at 1:35.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Raptor9

[Cupcake...]

4 hours ago, Raptor9 said:

@Cupcake... Dude...That is probably the best KSP cinematic I've ever seen, aside from mine of course .  Just kidding, my video skills in KSP aren't anywhere close to that!  I cannot imagine the work it took to achieve some of the scenes in that vid.  Well done Cupcake, mind...blown.

EDIT: That is one huge cactus at 1:35.

Thanks man! As to the cactus I can't quite work it out, are cacti really big or are Kerbals really small?

 

Cupcake...

[Seaview123]

Very cool video and I love your landers. Nice work on these and thanks for letting us play with them.

[322997am]

On December 12, 2015 at 4:07 PM, Cupcake... said:

CRAFT FILES:

https://goo.gl/aKy8IQ

 

CONTROLS:

1 - Toggle Jets

2 - Toggle Rocket Assist

0 - Open/Close Cockpit Doors (Transport/Rescue Models Only)

ABORT - Undock Rear Docking Port

 

NOTES:

A joystick is highly recommended and SAS should be left on at all times.

The rocket assist function instantly doubles the thrust of the craft but should be used sparingly as the fuel supply is limited. Its main functions are to provide emergency power and allow precision flying for landings, hovering etc... by overcoming the engine lag of the jets.

Being an extremely light craft the fuel loading can make a big difference and is something that should be carefully considered before each mission. If you're just having a quick blat round the space center or popping over to airstrip island then a 20 min fuel load will be plenty and will make the craft a lot more agile and responsive. Fully loaded the Gnat will give approx 50 min of flight time from the jets though you'll be limited to low altitudes at first. Carrying two passengers the rescue edition will have just enough thrust to make it off the pad fully loaded!

Conversely by cutting the fuel supply right back you'll be able to scale some of the highest peaks on Kerbin!

At a bare minimum you should set aside approx 100 units of LF for the rocket assist engines.

By setting control to the rear docking port the craft can be flown in reverse which comes in handy for docking/refueling etc...

 

Here it is folks my first athmo craft in well... ages! I think I can safely say my period of mourning for the SSTO fleet is now officially over.

 Like Mazda MX5s of the sky Gnats are compact, agile, surprisingly tough and above all fun to fly! They come in three flavours including single seater...

...duel seat rescue edition (featured in the video)...

 

 

...and an unmanned trainer designed to save on those pesky lawsuits.

Anyway folks, I hope you enjoy flying the Gnat as much as I have. I'd just like to say a big thankyou to Heckspress for requesting this craft without which it probably wouldn't have been built. Also to all the early adopters out there I recommend re-downloading the craft files as there have been a few tweaks/revisions since the pre-release version! Cheers.

 

Cupcake...

 

 

I did ripoff get inspired by that boat but my computer died so I lost the design.

[Cupcake...]

Heh Folks,

                The new MK2 version of the Gnat has been uploaded for your flying pleasure, grab a copy by visiting the OP.

 

Cupcake...

[Thatguywholikesionengines]

Hello, i can't seem to find the Gnat Mk2 link in the OP. I downloaded it yesterday, but it was just the Gnat Mk1.

[Cupcake...]

1 hour ago, Thatguywholikesionengines said:

Hello, i can't seem to find the Gnat Mk2 link in the OP. I downloaded it yesterday, but it was just the Gnat Mk1.

That's odd, I'll take a look tonight.

 

Cupcake...

[Thatguywholikesionengines]

Thanks!

[Cupcake...]

22 hours ago, Thatguywholikesionengines said:

Hello, i can't seem to find the Gnat Mk2 link in the OP. I downloaded it yesterday, but it was just the Gnat Mk1.

D/L is fixed, thanks for letting me know.

 

Cupcake...

[Heckspress]

oh dang i forgot to say thanks for the shoutout

[Naztapage]

this is quite a nice dropship!

[Kerbx]

Hello guys...I hope you can help us!!!

My son (10 years old) loves KSP and he is trying to download the Gnat, but we are having a little problem.  We are downloading a .txt file instead of a .craft file.  We just have no idea what to do with the .txt file to make the Gnat work in KSP.  I don't play KSP, but I am hoping I am making sense here in lieu of my son.  I have looked in the forums and in Google to try to figure out what to do and I am still not sure.  

Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

[Cupcake...]

5 hours ago, Kerbx said:

Hello guys...I hope you can help us!!!

My son (10 years old) loves KSP and he is trying to download the Gnat, but we are having a little problem.  We are downloading a .txt file instead of a .craft file.  We just have no idea what to do with the .txt file to make the Gnat work in KSP.  I don't play KSP, but I am hoping I am making sense here in lieu of my son.  I have looked in the forums and in Google to try to figure out what to do and I am still not sure.  

Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

The Gant has actually been replaced in service by this craft:

To install it just copy the file to KSP-Win64/Ships/SPH/ you'll be able to open it within KSP from there.

 

Cupcake...

 

[Sampak]

OK so I stumbled onto your mini Mork ships from a google picture search for SSTOs.

 

And now I've spent 4 hours trying to duplicate your cutesy looking 1.25m cargo cockpit designs as well as this neat vtol here.

What's stumping me for now is how you managed to get the outboard engines to basically attach hover AND in mirror mode (when I reverse engineered your craft, both engines vanish together if I remove one) in the air basically with only the antenna pieces giving visual neatness. Same for the Mork/Mindey type with the way you neatly attached and balanced the rocket/jet / fuel setup on the tips of the very finnicky nose cone "ears?"  Teach me!

[Cupcake...]

5 hours ago, Sampak said:

OK so I stumbled onto your mini Mork ships from a google picture search for SSTOs.

 

And now I've spent 4 hours trying to duplicate your cutesy looking 1.25m cargo cockpit designs as well as this neat vtol here.

What's stumping me for now is how you managed to get the outboard engines to basically attach hover AND in mirror mode (when I reverse engineered your craft, both engines vanish together if I remove one) in the air basically with only the antenna pieces giving visual neatness. Same for the Mork/Mindey type with the way you neatly attached and balanced the rocket/jet / fuel setup on the tips of the very finnicky nose cone "ears?"  Teach me!

The crafts in question were built using a mod called editor extensions which lets you surface attach various parts without using a node. By changing the root part it's also possible to change the orientation of symmetrically attached parts. Hope this makes sense!

 

Cupcake...