A "KSP Loading..." Preview: The Rockomax RE-L10 “Poodle” Engine Revamp

[SQUAD 23,491]

With high specific impulse and thrust, the Rockomax RE-L10 “Poodle” Liquid Fuel Engine is a favorite for vacuum operations. This veteran engine was originally based off the Payload Assist Module (PAM), but the engineering team at the Rockomax Conglomerate decided it needed a makeover and turned it into a dual combustion chamber closed cycle engine that will continue to excel at landings, orbital insertions and transfers. As you can see, our artists completely redid the engine’s geometry and created brand new texture maps, giving the “Poodle” a very cool look!

Click here to see a high-res image

[GrandProtectorDark 440]

I like it, although the bell color isn't fully mine. Non the less an Interesting way to make the nozzle more realistic while keeping the same height 

Addendum: I still sorta like it, but they don'T look as good as it could. The arguments from Gregrox on the second page are actually pretty valid.

Edited November 30, 2018 by GrandProtectorDark

[T1mo98 242]

My only suggestion is changing the nozzle colour, since I'm not a big fan of this colour. It just looks like rust to me.

Other than it looks great. Although I'm a bit disappointed that there are no varients, like a covered one.

[theJesuit 817]

Been waiting for this one thanks @Squad.

[GrandProtectorDark 440]

Yea I agree, A boat tail variant switch version would be a good addition to this. 
The Bare design looks a little bit empty  at the base

Edited November 30, 2018 by GrandProtectorDark

[RoverDude 8,609]

It's not an unknown color for engine bells

[Rocketology 401]

YES! YES! YES! YES! Finally!!!! Thank you so much for fixing this engine!!!!!!

[GearsNSuch 209]

Hm. Intersting!

It certainly looks more "real-world-ish" and physically correct than the previous model, but I wonder if the bell color, although accurate, will fit with the rest of the rocket. If it is possible and convenient, I would appreciate some shots of the engine attached to a craft.

The model itself is expertly done and perfectly greebled. Makes me excited for future engine revamps!

 

Thank you!

Edited November 30, 2018 by GearsNSuch

[Lupi 468]

It looks like the nozzles are based on the Cheetah from Making History, which is itself based on the LR-91 as Roverdude linked literally as i was typing this:

Which i suppose makes sense, and adds more consistency to the kerbal family of engines. It seems like it's bein' panned a lot, so I'm curious. What other styles of nozzle might you guys suggest for this thing?

Edited November 30, 2018 by Lupi
2slow

[RealKerbal3x 2,533]

Nice! The Poodle's nozzle has always been too small for it to be a vacuum engine, and it makes a lot of sense for it to be a dual-combustion-chamber engine.

3 minutes ago, T1mo98 said:

I'm not a big fan of this colour. It just looks like rust to me.

It's a very 'kerbal' approach to making a rocket nozzle though. "Ah yeah, those nozzles that have been rusting away in the corner for years will do".

[GrandProtectorDark 440]

3 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

It's not an unknown color for engine bells

The Revamped poodle image looks a bit too bright-ish red. The Image you linked and the cheeta linked by  lupi look a bit darker and more brown-ish (from my view)

[Lupi 468]

1 minute ago, GrandProtectorDark said:

The Revamped poodle image looks a bit too bright-ish red. The Image you linked and the cheeta linked by  lupi look a bit darker and more brown-ish (from my view)

That might be a trick of the backgrounds. My picture from the wiki is on a white background, where the preview is a dark blue. 

Of course, i haven't taken an eyedropper to it to see, but it looks right.

[Dfthu 515]

I agree that there should be a boat tail version. This looks a little too empty for me. Like what they did with the Spark engine

Edited November 30, 2018 by Dfthu

[GrandProtectorDark 440]

Ah, now Í know it.
The revamped version has 0% shininess.
It looks matt.

[RoverDude 8,609]

Just now, GrandProtectorDark said:

Ah, now Í know it.
The revamped version has 0% shininess.
It looks matt.

Nope, it has shiny bits   

[shdwlrd 377]

Outside of possible issues with existing craft, I like it. I agree that it can use a shrouded variant.

[T1mo98 242]

20 minutes ago, Lupi said:

It looks like the nozzles are based on the Cheetah from Making History, which is itself based on the LR-91 as Roverdude linked literally as i was typing this:

Which i suppose makes sense, and adds more consistency to the kerbal family of engines. It seems like it's bein' panned a lot, so I'm curious. What other styles of nozzle might you guys suggest for this thing?

I'd personally prefer something like the Merlin Vacuum engine, it could use the same nozzle shape, just gray instead of red/brown. Or something like the RL-10.

Maybe a varient?

Edited November 30, 2018 by T1mo98

[RoverDude 8,609]

Just now, shdwlrd said:

Outside of possible issues with existing craft, I like it. I agree that it can use a shrouded variant.

What issues would you foresee?

[Bombaatu 295]

Whew - great to see the engines gettin' some love in this go-around! Keep it up!

[shdwlrd 377]

38 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

What issues would you foresee?

Granted it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the overall height of the redesigned part looks to be larger than the old model. If it was used for a lander, it could cause some funny business upon the craft loading depending on the design.

[RoverDude 8,609]

1 minute ago, shdwlrd said:

Granted it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the overall height of the redesigned part looks to be larger than the old model. If it was used for a lander, it could cause some funny business upon the craft loading depending on the design.

Actually... the reason it is a dual chamber design is to keep the height the same as the old one while having vac appropriate nozzles

[Vexillar 213]

Yes!  Thanks @SQUAD.  That's a great re-work of a very useful, but hitherto sadly ugly engine.

Do we need variants?  I see why not: this is definitely a vacuum optimised engine, so any aero treatment is a bit futile - IRL it would be useless additional mass.

The twin bells, I guess, are to make it realistic but still conform to the old form factor. Ninja'd by @RoverDude!

[sh1pman 3,332]

@RoverDude Does it have a bare variant? 

[RoverDude 8,609]

1 minute ago, sh1pman said:

@RoverDude Does it have a bare variant? 

That's the single variant as of now.  With the gimbal range, things get a bit snug with all of the hardware, and the bells together take up about 2.1m of space.

[Tw1 2,617]

I do like the logical nozzle change, but it's barely recognizable as a poodle engine any more. At least the spark still had some of its orange middle bit? I hope this doesn't carry across to the others, which all have their own unique look.

Perhaps a shrouded variant could have something like the weird round  bit the original had? 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Tw1