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A dropship for the working man (or woman)...


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I've been planning to build a small station in LKO to act as a quick crew transfer point between other orbital structures. <SNIP> ...since it's only a small station, it might be fun to try lifting all of the sections using only Bulldogs! :D When it's done I can post some screenies if you like. :)
Absolutely, please do! The only thing I should mention is that all docking ports are plumbed into the Bulldog's fuel system so just make sure the taps are shut if you're carrying any fuel in your modules. Can't wait to see the results. :D

Sorry for the delay! A mixture of real-life commitments, the 0.22 release, and my appalling orbital rendezvous skills have been keeping me busy...

It's finally done :D

Nothing goes completely to plan, and this little project has been no exception - but I'm getting ahead of myself....

Firstly, wow.... just wow. When I put this first stage onto the tarmac I was already mentally composing the letter to the pilot's next of kin.

I was fairly certain that it was going to topple over as soon as we started the engines.

Oh ye of little faith!

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In fact, she went up like... well... like a rocket I suppose. In fact I'd go as far as saying a great deal more stable than the rockets I usually build! :wink:

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I've just got to take my hat off to you... the stability of this thing is incredible!

It took a few attempts for me to get to orbit, as I kept running out of Oxidizer before I could complete my circlising. I expect that's something I'm doing wrong rather than a flaw in the design. :cool:

I also noticed that not all the intakes are set to close on action-group 0. I don't know if that's by design, an oversight by the busy designers, or something caused by the 0.22 update!

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With the first part of the station safely delivered to LKO, the first Bulldog can head for home!

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This is the only sour note in the story TBH. The changes to the landing legs that came with 0.22 are a problem for the Bulldog.

These updated landing legs don't cleanly clip through other parts anymore.

When I tried to lower the landing legs, three of them got stuck in air intakes, and one pumped rapidly up and down like a mad trombone!

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I'm worried what this means for the other dropships with landing legs concealed within the fuselage... I haven't had time to test them yet... but damn... I loved those Minnows and Tadpoles! ;.; I hope they can still land!

Still, I managed to knock out only two of the pilot's fillings on landing. As for the Bulldog, she'll never take off again - the jet engines were destroyed on impact and half the intakes have been shaken loose.

But any landing you can walk away from, right? :D

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But enough moping! The we've got a job to do!

The next load is already on the runway. This time we're going up in the RCS version of the Heavy Loader variant.

Damn.... look at that shadow... as straight as a dye. I'm not sure we even need a pilot that's so smooth!

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I suck at orbital rendezvous, but at least this time I can "borrow" fuel from the payload. I'll just have to convince the station crew that they used it up somehow. Who left the cooker on? :sticktongue:

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Second section successfully delivered!

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Now I'll have to get creative again. I had intended this crew transfer station to have a permanent compliment of three of Narcosis' OOPS shuttles.

But I also wanted to lift everything to orbit using only Bulldogs.

A single OOPS weighs less than the station parts I've been lifting so far, so the Bulldog could do it. But I couldn't find a way to make the shuttle an attachable sub-assembly either through the new interface, or by moving a file into the sub-assembly folder - the nodes are in just the wrong place for it to attach.

As a sort of wobbly compromise, I decided to lift the three OOPS into orbit using conventional means, and have the Bulldog collect them from LKO and deliver them to the station.

At least this way, I get to deliver all three at once!

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After all that heavy lifting, it's a cake run for the Bulldog :)

Time to deliver each of the shuttles to the waiting station.

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And here we have the finished Waypoint mini station, assembled in LKO all thanks to this awesome dropship from Cupcake!

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Thanks again for these ships Cupcake! :D

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Wow, that's some great pics! Thanks for sharing them. :D I'm looking forward to seeing more of your missions. I'm very impressed with the amount of cargo you managed to stuff on the top, I wouldn't have been so brave myself!

With the intakes there's about 5000000000000000000 of them so to save myself a bit of time only the ones that cause drag during the ascent are toggled by pressing 0.

I owe anyone that downloaded the Bulldog an apology about the landing legs, I really should have tested it in .22 before I released the ship. :blush: I'm going to replace all the landing legs with landing gear which will solve all the problems, it's just going to take time to re-balance all 4 versions of the ship but I'll try and get it done ASAP. You'll even get a shiny new docking port as well, yay!

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I think my other craft should be okay with the new legs (fuel tankers excluded) but if you have any issues let me know. In other news work on the Pixie ultralight SSTO is progressing well. This is my first single engine SSTO that's light enough to pull an ion propulsion pack into orbit, my ultimate aim being a trip to Laythe and back. :)

Cupcake...

EYkwPD9.jpg

Edited by Cupcake...
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With the intakes there's about 5000000000000000000 of them so to save myself a bit of time only the ones that cause drag during the ascent are toggled by pressing 0.
Ah, OK that explains it. Sorry for doubting! :D
I owe anyone that downloaded the Bulldog an apology about the landing legs, I really should have tested it in .22 before I released the ship. :blush: I'm going to replace all the landing legs with landing gear which will solve all the problems, it's just going to take time to re-balance all 4 versions of the ship but I'll try and get it done ASAP. You'll even get a shiny new docking port as well, yay! I think my other craft should be okay with the new legs (fuel tankers excluded) but if you have any issues let me know.

Pff, you can hardly be blamed for that - The Bulldog came out, what the day after the 0.22 update? I doubt many people were even able to update at that point.

But thank you for re-visiting the Bulldog when you can. It sounds like the Mk2 is going to be a fun re-usable lifter... and yay Moar Ports! :D

I'm also glad to hear that the rest of the roster should be ok - I love me some Cupcake Dropships! :)

In other news work on the Pixie ultralight SSTO is progressing well. This is my first single engine SSTO that's light enough to pull an ion propulsion pack into orbit, my ultimate aim being a trip to Laythe and back. :)

Crikey, I'm looking forward to that one! :)

~The14th~

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UPDATE:

Good news! The 2.0 version of the Bulldog is out now, all the landing legs have been replaced by landing gear on all models. There's also a shiny new docking port on the nose, head on down to the OP and grab your copy today. :)

Cupcake...

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Awesome, thanks Cupcake! :)

My pleasure. :) Just while I've got your attention I've just polished off a video of the Pixie in action. It's my first single engine drop ship capable of doing a return mission to the Mun, which is pretty cool considering it doesn't use LV-Ns. I'm afraid I ran into a spot of bother with my original choice of soundtrack but I hope you enjoy the video all the same.

The super long range Ion version is also coming along nicely next stop (hopefully) Laythe. :wink:

Cupcake...

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Ion drives to Laythe? I haven't tried that yet with the Barracuda, but I imagine I'm going to get old just thinking about it... and I'm already pretty old!!

I think I'll need Mechjeb's help with the piloting so I don't die of boredom on the way, still the Pixie wieghs about the same as a shopping trolly so hopefully it won't be quite as bad as I think it will. :P

Cupcake...

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I think I'll need Mechjeb's help with the piloting so I don't die of boredom on the way, still the Pixie wieghs about the same as a shopping trolly so hopefully it won't be quite as bad as I think it will. :P

Cupcake...

Been looking at the photos, trying to reverse engineer something... Still in the prototype stages. I'll post when I have something worthwhile, but I'm trying for something that at least has the range to make it to Duna on an LV-909. Call me silly, but I'm not a fan of those Rockomax 48-7S's and the "fssssssshhh" sound they make.

I use Mechjeb, purely for navigation, pitch, roll, and yaw control. It does come in handy. Other than that, been pretty much using stock parts. Thinking about getting the Kethane mod though.

Edited by speedboiae86
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Congratulations to having the craft of the month!

Thanks! Wow, how'd that happen? As luck would have it the long overdue video for the Bulldog is also ready, hope you enjoy it. :D

Been looking at the photos, trying to reverse engineer something... Still in the prototype stages. I'll post when I have something worthwhile, but I'm trying for something that at least has the range to make it to Duna on an LV-909. Call me silly, but I'm not a fan of those Rockomax 48-7S's and the "fssssssshhh" sound they make.

I use Mechjeb, purely for navigation, pitch, roll, and yaw control. It does come in handy. Other than that, been pretty much using stock parts. Thinking about getting the Kethane mod though.

They do make a horrible noise don't they, great little engines apart from that though. :)

removed to prevent offtopic sillyness

Awww.... :(

Edited by Cupcake...
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This is a fantastic dropship! I haven't tried the second version yet, but it looks promising. I couldn't land the first one without exploding. (I'm not a great pilot though.) :D

Just an idea, maybe you could include parachutes for us bad pilots?

TheAwer

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nice ship, great for dropping off rovers...

Thanks! You must have some pretty big Rovers. :)

This is a fantastic dropship! I haven't tried the second version yet, but it looks promising. I couldn't land the first one without exploding. (I'm not a great pilot though.) :D

Just an idea, maybe you could include parachutes for us bad pilots?

TheAwer

I completely understand, I polished off the first version in .21 blissfully unaware of the landing gear changes in .22. :blush: However with the mk2 version the landing gears been completely overhauled with wheels instead of legs and a much larger landing footprint. If you give the new model a try I'm sure you'll find it a lot easier to land. I also recommend landing with the jets and rockets together as this gets rid of the throttle lag, a joystick and analogue throttle will also be a big help! If you want to practise with parachutes you could add them onto the three docking ports. Anyway, I hope this helps and let me know if you have any trouble. :)

Cupcake....

Edited by Cupcake...
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So good to see this beast of a dropship getting some love on the forums! :D

My pleasure. :) Just while I've got your attention I've just polished off a video of the Pixie in action. It's my first single engine drop ship capable of doing a return mission to the Mun, which is pretty cool considering it doesn't use LV-Ns. I'm afraid I ran into a spot of bother with my original choice of soundtrack but I hope you enjoy the video all the same.

Oh man... I can't wait to try this one out! :D

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I truly love this design. Best thing I've seen in ages and has changed my way of thinking towards drop ships :)

Thanks!

My pleasure, I'm glad you like it. :D

So good to see this beast of a dropship getting some love on the forums! :D

Oh man... I can't wait to try this one out! :D

The Pixies pretty much ready to go, the only thing I gotta fix is the fuel lines which keep getting munched by the subassembly saver, I'll try and get it posted ASAP. :)

In other news after a long and torturous development process Cupcake Landers new ultra long range cruiser can finally be unveiled. This super-yacht of the stars has the range and power to do return trips to Laythe! Coming soon.... :wink:

Cupcake...

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Edited by Cupcake...
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