EVA-ing Large Parts

[Bakkerbaard]

I've made a mostly useless though wholly comprehensive illustration to go with my question. Click here.

Okay, so there's a bunch of parts that I want to attach by hand for various reasons and most of these parts are too big to fit in Bill's pocket. I did pack a portable container in there, but I can't get Bill, the container and the big container to float close long enough to get alot done. Besides, the dish I wanna attach after I decouple the container-end (which is there tempraily, untill I get all the work done) is too big to fit in the portable container anyway.

Now, I've been told once that space is full of helpful ghosts of dead stars that make everything weightless. I've tried bouncing Bill into a floating part to headbutt it in the direction I want it to go, but I'm sure you can all pretty much gather how that went.

How would I build some large parts of my station by hand? Is there a way to make Bill grab it and drag it along that I've missed?

PS. I wish the space ghost thing was just a joke. I used to know strange "people".

[bewing]

Doesn't that mod have harpoons? Do you not have harpoons yet?

 

[Bakkerbaard]

I've got a large amount of graboid-materials, but not once have I been in a situation that I needed them and I'm completely baffled by how they work. I did just try and make a sort of RCS scooter with a magnet on the front, but since I also appear to not know all the tricks to RCS controlling, this resulted in Bill drifting to the moon.

Aside from all of that, I didn't pack any. I was hoping to resolve this with the materials at hand.

[Gargamel]

Are we talking using KIS?   There's a manual that explains all this....  Large parts over 1 ton need extra kerbals to help hold/lift it. 

[Laie]

For one thing, you can edit the KAS config file --  the default interaction range is rather short.

The other, winches. You probably don't even need the harpoon, there's a simple attachment thingy. Simple workflow (probably not best, but worked for me): surface-attach winch where needed. Attach rope to Kerbal. EVA over to the large part. Slap on connector piece, attach rope from Kerbal to connector. Reel in large part.

[Bakkerbaard]

7 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Large parts over 1 ton need extra kerbals to help hold/lift it. 

I got that tip trying to move parts on the Mün, but I couldn't really picture how that was gonna work. Kerbals don't seem especially autonomous. They just grin and drift off. In the Mün situation I just had Dotty kick the part towards the construction site.

Anyway, I've done scrapped the project and started anew, planning things better and using some tricks I saw in Youtube clips (which I should have thought of myself, really).

I've gone through the manual, by the way, which is very comprehensive, but light on Kerbal group efforts.

7 hours ago, Laie said:

For one thing, you can edit the KAS config file --  the default interaction range is rather short.

I am uncomfortable editing config files. I'm sure I'll snap at some point and do it anyway, as I was also uncomfortable using mods at first ("That's not how it's meant to be played! It's cheating! ...Ooh, MechJeb! MechJeb is not cheating!" I could be a politician.)

7 hours ago, Laie said:

The other, winches. You probably don't even need the harpoon, there's a simple attachment thingy. Simple workflow (probably not best, but worked for me): surface-attach winch where needed. Attach rope to Kerbal. EVA over to the large part. Slap on connector piece, attach rope from Kerbal to connector. Reel in large part.

I have to admit, I'm doing way too little experimenting of my own. Every once in a while I go and build said spacescooter with a magnet winch and fiddle around, then I look at the clock and go: "7am? Hell, if i just relaunch the whole thing again I can just make it to bed by 8."

Other times I go: "Aw. I wish I'd saved." Either way, I'll experiment with these tips, next I find myself in trouble. Which I probably will be shortly.

I'll be over at the Konstruction Topic to ask questions I probably should already know the answers to.

[putnamto]

what ive found that works for my space station is when i need to get object A to the other end of the station, (my station is a long tube btw)  ill fly my engineer right beside the part i need to move, then move him parallel to the station so that his course would be close enough to the end of the station withought any of my interaction. then when he moves by the part i need i hold G and grab,  the range of placement actually moves with the kerbal. so i just wait until he drifts past the end of the station and then attach as he's passing, then fly him back for more fine placement.

[Bakkerbaard]

I've been actually having fun experimenting with building in space and improvising around hurdles I couldn't jump, ultimately using @Laie's method to put caps on my base. 

9 hours ago, putnamto said:

the range of placement actually moves with the kerbal.

Wait, so if I read you correctly, you are saying I can pick up a piece at one end (not pocketing it), float 50m to the other end and slap it on?

I thought that when I grab a piece and floated out of grabbing range my Kerbal buddy just lets go. Or stops the grabbing process.

 

Also, with all the improvising, I still can't figure out how to make two Kerbals work together. I float one engineer next to another and I still get "too heavy". Even with objects that two Kerbals should be able to carry (1t per Kerbal, yeah?).

[putnamto]

12 minutes ago, Bakkerbaard said:

I've been actually having fun experimenting with building in space and improvising around hurdles I couldn't jump, ultimately using @Laie's method to put caps on my base. 

Wait, so if I read you correctly, you are saying I can pick up a piece at one end (not pocketing it), float 50m to the other end and slap it on?

I thought that when I grab a piece and floated out of grabbing range my Kerbal buddy just lets go. Or stops the grabbing process.

 

Also, with all the improvising, I still can't figure out how to make two Kerbals work together. I float one engineer next to another and I still get "too heavy". Even with objects that two Kerbals should be able to carry (1t per Kerbal, yeah?).

Yup  you  read  correctly, your  mileage  may  vary though, you  could  also  "leap  frog  the  part" move  it  Inch  by  inch.

 

As  for  the  weight  thing, its  really  hard  to  do  in  space, they  tend  to  float  outside  of  range, what  I  do  is "pin" a  kerbal by drifting  them  into  a  corner  or  something  so  they  cant  move, works  best  if  you  put  them  on  the  prograde  side  of  the  ship.