HUMMINGBIRD Stock propellor VTOL/HTOL Gyroplane

[whoshotdk]

HUMMINGBIRD
Stock propellor VTOL/HTOL Gyroplane*
* I've no idea what this would be classified as, so I'm guessing it's that.

 

A stock, 106 part turbo-jet powered dual propellor VTOL with the ability to fly like a plane too, so you don't just fall out of the sky when you run out of fuel.

FLIGHT

It's really like controlling a normal jet-engined craft, no vessel switching and with so little engine wobble as to make a brave kerbal weep. Simply stage, engage SAS, throttle up and fly. She does have a slight tendency to tilt backward (the CoM really should be shifted forwards) but meh, it keeps you on your toes this way.

In forward flight, you can switch off the rotor engines and fly like a plane but getting those rotor engines started again can sometimes be a bit temperamental! Give the plane a little shake if one or both of the rotors fail to spool up. And do it quick!

CONTROLS

AG1 Toggle forward engines
AG2 Toggle forward engines dry/wet
AG3 Toggle rotor engines
AG4 Toggle rotor engines dry/wet

DOWNLOAD
Hummingbird.craft 164Kb

Hope you have fun with this. If you've got any questions about the craft, I'd be happy to answer them, most probably at great length and ksp-nerdiness.

Edited May 24, 2017 by whoshotdk
Replaced image with video.

[qzgy]

This is certainly the most interesting craft I have seen today. Well done!

[selfish_meme]

I love it, quadcopter?

At the expense of complication, you could replace the panthers with a couple of junos blowing on the central drum, that would help move the weight forward too

Edited May 25, 2017 by selfish_meme

[qzgy]

1 hour ago, selfish_meme said:

I love it, quadcopter?

Thinking about it, that could be possible - Have an azimech kind of blower flap to reduce rotational speed on the rotors as necessary and as dictated by the physics - emulating a real quadcopter system.

Or just SAS spam.

[selfish_meme]

1 hour ago, qzgy said:

Thinking about it, that could be possible - Have an azimech kind of blower flap to reduce rotational speed on the rotors as necessary and as dictated by the physics - emulating a real quadcopter system.

Or just SAS spam.

Probably need a KOS script to fly it properly

[whoshotdk]

@selfish_meme My initial tests were indeed with four Juno's attached directly to each engine mount, blowing much closer to the drive-plates (the heat shields, tho at the time, solar panels). It worked, but I was getting more wing/engine collisions than I liked when the craft was flown under stress. Offseting the engines down from the wings to fix that just made the thing look too untidy and "tall".

Moving the engines outside the radius of the rotors avoids those collisions completely and makes for a fairly slimline and minimalistic rotor mechanism. This allows the rotors enough room to actually flip upside down in their bearings; not optimal for flight, but the point being is they don't just fall off the craft if you fly it like a maniac.* Of course I'm losing a ton of power this way, hence the swap for Panthers and the heatshield drive plates - the Panther's kept melting my solar panel plates!

@selfish_meme @qzgy Quadcopter? Individually scripted rotors? Don't tempt me Frodo!

It's my first bearing / rotor craft so it's totally possible I missed a trick or three. I'd really like to see @Azimech or one of the other rotor experts take a look; I'll bet the craft would fly so much better with an expert's input.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the likes. Means more to me than it should

* No guarantees they won't just fall off the craft.

 

[Azimech]

I'll take a look later this evening.

[klond]

 I love it.  I like the look of the shrouds on your gyroplane very much.  And the wing shapes give a futuristic look.

 It operates like my last helicopter (shameless plug), but yours looks much more plausible/realistic.  I used one rapier to spin 2 ugly fuel tanks, but it works so I'm going with it.  I also took mine to the island and landed vertically to test.  I'll have to try make a video.

 Thanks for letting me ride in on your post.  I'll gonna give yours a test crash flight.

 Edit: I'd double or triple the number of heat shields - should help with stop/start issue + maybe more power too.  Neat bearing, hasn't failed yet.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2017 by klond

[whoshotdk]

@klond Unbelievable; I was just loooking at that very craft from KerbalX an hour or so ago. Tab is still open, i'll download it now! For me, it was the blades that made me say "hey, i'll download that". Keeping the weight to a minimum (your use of proc struts) whilst maximising wing tip speed and keeping it all pretty at the same time - you got that in the bag.

Pleased to hear the bearings are holding up on the Hummingbird; they're definately not all mine - @Jon144 gave me the idea to use those structural panels as a bearing cage. I just figured I could flatten his version somewhat.

Those control surface shrouds aren't just pretty; they enable the craft to do a fairly decent un-powered glide too!

Thanks for looking.

@klond HOLY CRAP That heli is awesome. And one engine driving both rotors down the middle is frickin genius! Waay easier to handle too.

Anybody who hasn't seen it already; download the very impressive supersonic helicopter by klond, right after you download the Hummingbird ;-)

Edited May 27, 2017 by whoshotdk
Got owned by awesomeness

[klond]

 Wow, thanks!  Too bad the side by side thing is impossible irl (without intermeshing and syncronizing them, and I ain't gonna running gears at 40 rads on this patch).  I saw @EpicSpaceTroll139 doing antenna pin bearings surrounded by solar panels and it worked.

I didn't understand why the Hummingbird always moved forward until I saw that the rotors were pitched forward.

 It's neat you can shut off the rotors and keep going.

Ya, the movable rings give good control.  You sure get alot of lift quickly off the runway - staged to airborne in like 3 sec.    Since your props run at 20 rads-ish I think that helps with reliability.  'Seem like the closer we get to 50rads the more wonky stuff gets.

 I wonder if you raise up the propellers if you can run shorter/lighter landing gear.

 I found on mine I really had to try keep the center of mass right on the axis of the props, even as fuel depletes.

Edited May 27, 2017 by klond