How do I have rigid fairings in the game like real rockets?

[Selective Genius]

So, I was playing the game and I had to cover the rocket with the payload fairing. But in real rockets, isn't the fairing size fixed? How can we do that in KSP?

[Superfluous J]

The best you can do is make them yourself in various sizes, and save each as a subassembly. Then vow to not change them or use new ones.

[Selective Genius]

1 hour ago, 5thHorseman said:

The best you can do is make them yourself in various sizes, and save each as a subassembly. Then vow to not change them or use new ones.

Oh hehehe that will be a tough vow. Thanks though!

[Zhetaan]

2 hours ago, Selective Genius said:

So, I was playing the game and I had to cover the rocket with the payload fairing. But in real rockets, isn't the fairing size fixed? How can we do that in KSP?

First off, welcome to the happy little family.

Second, to answer your question, there are two (and one half) ways to make rigid fairings work in KSP aside from the suggestion that @5thHorseman gave above.

One is to install a mod that has fixed-size fairings.  If you're using a console version, then that's not possible, but in any case, KW Rocketry used to have them and I believe it still does:

The second, which can be used in stock, is to use an even older trick involving wing parts.  Wing fairings may not be worth the trouble, since they date back to the alpha version when the atmosphere was completely different and there was no heating.  Wing fairings, even when the trick was popular, were for looks rather than for utility, because the drag model at the time did not account for occlusion and so it was actually better to send payloads completely exposed.  Wing fairings today will not shield your payload, either.

The half-way involves installing another mod named Ferram Aerospace Research.  It updates the atmospheric model to something much more realistic, and one of the interesting things about it is that as part of the updated model, occlusion emerges from the code, which makes wing fairings actually useful.  It's more of a side effect, and I call it a half-way because if you can install FAR, then you can (and should) install KW Rocketry, since KW Rocketry has exactly what you're looking for.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Zhetaan

[Geonovast]

Just a similar question, you might want to take a look here: