OWLS. - Orbital Wings Launch System

[White Owl]

I'm not entirely certain in which sub-forum this thread belongs. On one hand, the focus is creating a series of vehicles to share with others, so maybe it belongs in the Spacecraft Exchange. On the other hand, a few custom modded parts are involved, so maybe it would be better in Addon Releases and Showcase. But on the third hand, I'm making a series of videos to document the design and test flights of all these spaceplanes, for purposes of entertainment and education, so maybe the thread belongs here in Mission Control. Hmm.

Anyway! Wherever this thread lands, I'm making a series of space shuttles for others to download and use. These birds will all follow the NASA configuration of liquid fueled engines attached to a reusable orbiter spaceplane, drawing fuel from a jettisonable external tank, carrying payloads inside an enclosed cargo bay, and using solid rocket boosters to get off the ground. This style of vehicle is my favorite thing to build in KSP, and it saddens me that many people seem to have difficulty in getting them to work. I want to help with that.

Here's the first video in the series, showing the development of the Falcon, a small launch vehicle for delivering 1.25m diameter payloads to low Kerbin orbit:

Here's version 1.0 of the Orbital Wings Launch System, including the Falcon craft file, required mod list, and a few custom parts. DOWNLOAD

See my main video series thread for a complete mod list of everything that appears in the video.

Regarding required mods for the OWLS vehicles, you will need:

AIES Aerospace, for the OMS engines. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35383-0-20-2-AIES-Aerospace-v1-3

B9 Aerospace, for the cockpit and fuselage. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-20-2-b9-aerospace-pack-r3-1/

Ferram Aerospace Research, for the realistic aerodynamics. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ferram-aerospace-research/

I haven't tried flying the shuttle in the stock game's troublesome aerodynamics. I don't know what will happen if you attempt it.

KW Rocketry, for the struts and SRBs. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/?p=2109

Procedural Wing, for the... well... wings. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/29862-0-20-Procedural-Dynamics-Procedural-Wing-0-4

Taverio's Pizza and Aerospace, for the control surfaces. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-1-taverios-pizza-and-aerospace/

Edited July 7, 2013 by White Owl

[Lurven]

Could you please give a link to the mod/program that you used to make the fuel tanks?

EDIT: Found it myself xD

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25061-Part-generator-Version-2-X-release-open-beta

Edited July 4, 2013 by Lurven

[ArcticVoid]

i just got all the mods and tried to load the file and it said i was missing : galaxr2

[astropapi1]

I'm surprised with how easy you make it look: Build a plane that looks cool, attach a fuel tank, two SRBs and turn it's engines so CoT points at the CoM. Fly into orbit like a baws.

My shuttles always fail terribly.

[White Owl]

i just got all the mods and tried to load the file and it said i was missing : galaxr2

Okay, that's troubling. I wish I knew what a galaxr2 is. I'll try to figure this out.

Edit: that's from the AIES pack. It's the small engine I'm using as OMS.

Edited July 4, 2013 by White Owl

[ArcticVoid]

Okay, that's troubling. I wish I knew what a galaxr2 is. I'll try to figure this out.

Edit: that's from the AIES pack. It's the small engine I'm using as OMS.

I had that pack installed tho, i will check tomorrow I'm not at my pc now.

[ArcticVoid]

I had that pack installed tho, i will check tomorrow I'm not at my pc now.

Ok i've reinstalled everything and it seems to be working except for....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR7f1TamQQI&feature=youtu.be

[Elros]

Ok i've reinstalled everything and it seems to be working except for....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR7f1TamQQI&feature=youtu.be

NIce! That happens to me all the time...

[White Owl]

Well that's upsetting.

I see two issues in that video. First, the main engine isn't producing enough thrust. I just did some experimentation, and apparently stats edited with the tweakable parameters mod need that mod installed, otherwise they revert to the base stats. So that's my mistake, and I'll need to change the list of required mods to include Tweakable Parameters.

The second, much more disturbing issue... why the hell is the shuttle exploding!? I just loaded up the game to look at this design again, and one of the fuselage pieces is overheating and exploding, when it never had a problem before! What. The. Hell.

Sorry, I don't have a solution to that one yet.

Edit: now waitaminute, I changed the uploaded version so it wouldn't need Tweakable Parameters... I just double checked that. What. The. Hell.

Edit again: The exploding bug is related to Deadly Reentry. Specifically, I duplicated the bug in DR 2.2f. Updating to DR 2.3 resolved the issue for me.

Maybe I'm wrong about the engine thrust... it's supposed to be 800kN. Could you check that, please?

Edited July 7, 2013 by White Owl

[ArcticVoid]

Well i've checked the engine and its got 800kN and i don't have deadly reentry installed all i have is what you have listed.

i've also been doing some test, it seems to happen when the solid rockets are just about to burn out, and i got this pic to

EDIT: WTF kerbal space program..

i just tested it out of fullscreen mode and it work perfectly.

Edited July 7, 2013 by ArcticVoid

[Nazari1382]