totm june 2018 Work-in-Progress [WIP] Design Thread

[KotDemopan]

I tried making a Boeing-like Mk3 atmospheric plane, but it always falls apart on landing.

[Captain Sierra]

Okay, an update on my monstrosity.

I've gotten it to orbit dry but I have something terrible like a 1.2 TWR on the pad. Not sure how that will hold up under payload. Some reengineering is definitely in order considering how overengineered it is currently. Some SRBs may also be in order. While I'm concerned about take off TWR with payload, I fitted a test payload of 60 tons (as many fuel tanks as the cargo bay could hold) and then calculated a payload fraction. She's over 910 tons empty, so that gives me a payload fraction of just under 6.5%. Efficiency = gone. I think we're shooting purely for badassery now.

EDIT: Just looked up the STS payload fraction, at 1.1%. I don't feel so bad now.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Captain Sierra

[RocketPilot573]

Behold the most beautiful airplane you have ever seen. I may have been a little stingy on the R&D prices...

[Kurotenshi]

Just set up my replica launcher thread, which was already good to go yesterday, but then I decided to try an obligatory STS, with the 0.90 update and all. The Orbiter is done, has RCS and is theoretically aerodynamically stable. But time will tell whether it glides or drops like a brick

Really like the wing shape, hopefully it's enough. Mk3 parts are heavy...

Payload is just a weight test, aiming for 12t

Decided to put the other replica's up, and not wait for the STS. I'll release it later when (if) I get it to work. Still a lot of things to do...

[VR_Dev]

The pic I took seconds before the giant gin & tonic hit the keyboard.

It was done

Edited December 19, 2014 by clown_baby

[soulreaver1981]

The pic I took seconds before the giant gin & tonic hit the keyboard.

It was done

http://imgur.com/Ifp9Qqs.jpg

how are the new tools working for you clownbaby??

[VR_Dev]

how are the new tools working for you clownbaby??

Great, they don't allow me to accomplish anything I couldn't before, but they make it all much easier.

Unfortunately I think my computer is broken from the booze damage. I was able go get it turned on but it seems messed up and kerbal won't load.

I was able to upload my craft though. It just needs more struts and the winglet robotics tuned and it's good to go, if someone were interested in helping.

Edited December 19, 2014 by clown_baby

[manni01]

Great, they don't allow me to accomplish anything I couldn't before, but they make it all much easier.

Unfortunately I think my computer is broken from the booze damage. I was able go get it turned on but it seems messed up and kerbal won't load.

I was able to upload my craft though. It just needs more struts and the winglet robotics tuned and it's good to go, if someone were interested in helping.

I would be willing to help. I can easily make things flyable and easy to control. And I will put it all into the hull so that nothing is changed visually (that might not true for the struts, but I think I can do it pretty well). Always happy to help someone else out

[VR_Dev]

I would be willing to help. I can easily make things flyable and easy to control. And I will put it all into the hull so that nothing is changed visually (that might not true for the struts, but I think I can do it pretty well). Always happy to help someone else out

Thanks a lot man. I'm gonna give it another day to dry out and see if my computer improves. Else I'll send you the finished product. It literally just needs some struts for the rebuilt wings & for the 4 robotics to be programmed.

I memorized all the settings so it should be pretty easy. Also a couple pictures would be much appreciated for the post.

I've spend over 100 hours on this thing, I don't want to see it go to waste.

This is a pic before I improved the wing design, vertical stabilizer design, & made slight improvements to the fuselage.

[soulreaver1981]

hey guys here is a smal ssto vtol i'm working on.

i'm calling it the chubby

it can make a 100km round orbit easy.

its build around a nuke engine

[SpaceXray]

Eve lander WIP:

Edit: It works! On Kerbin that is, enough to send the small Mk1 capsule on an interstellar trajectory. Technically, it has enough Delta-V to take off from Eve, time to hyperedit it there and test it in the field. After that, a ship will be built in orbit to transfer the lander and the crew to Eve.

Edited December 20, 2014 by SpaceXray

[Kurotenshi]

I'm loving these gizmo-thingies. It makes everything so much easier, with more precision than before.

An example:

Soyuz is almost finished, then polishing the Proton some more and then those two go up

So much tinkering, so much ideas, wheeeee!

[Daze]

Test flight of Horizon II interplanetary ship (9411m/s of dV):

[soulreaver1981]

working on the white lightning mk3

it can carrier up to 6 kerbal and a small cargo in the cargobay (mabye a smal rover)

[egnio98]

Trying out a SSTO, or at least 2-staged.

for now i'm having great difficulty getting it to fly right. I have no idea why it's so tough to control it.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited December 21, 2014 by egnio98
Imgur.

[Captain Sierra]

What kind of control issues are you having?

[egnio98]

What kind of control issues are you having?

Well firstly it wouldn't take off even at speeds of 150ms. Although zooming across the entire runway will get me off the ground, it would suddenly start to turn upwards really rapidly. I would quickly gain back control, but once I point to far away from my prograde, it starts to flat spin. Other planes I've made have some tolerance to how far away I can be thrusting from my prograde without flatspinning, but this one is horrendous and I can't point out why.

[Spartwo]

Why is the centre of lift ahead of the centre of mass? Does cargo shift the COM forward.

[egnio98]

Why is the centre of lift ahead of the centre of mass? Does cargo shift the COM forward.

Should the CoL not be ahead of the CoM? I understand that when they are at the same spot the only thing that makes it fly then are the elevons

[Giggleplex777]

A new rocket I've been working on:

This one was inspired by the Energia-M and has the same payload capacity as its real-life counterpart (i.e. 36t to LKO).

I'm planning on building a new launch vehicle family based on this architecture after 0.90.0 effectively broke the old ones. Don't worry, I was able to fix the Neptune X, so the Neptune family will live on.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Giggleplex777

[Giggleplex777]

Should the CoL not be ahead of the CoM? I understand that when they are at the same spot the only thing that makes it fly then are the elevons

The CoL should be slightly behond the CoM. It is much more dangerous if the plane naturally tries to pitch up than if it pitches down because it would cause the plane to stall and flip. Also try moving the rear landing gear forward a bit and adding more wings. It should help it takeoff earlier.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Giggleplex777

[egnio98]

The CoL should be slightly behond the CoM. It is much more dangerous if the plane naturally tries to pitch up than if it pitches down because it would cause the plane to stall and flip. Also try moving the rear landing gear forward a bit and adding more wings. It should help it takeoff earlier.

Ah. I see. That does make sense. But how does shifting the landing gear help with takeoffs?

[TimePeriod]

Ah. I see. That does make sense. But how does shifting the landing gear help with takeoffs?

Angle of attack.

As the angle increases so does the lift on that angle thus increasing your lift "upwards".

Nose high, backside low and it will go.

[Giggleplex777]

Ah. I see. That does make sense. But how does shifting the landing gear help with takeoffs?

Imagine a lever; the closer the fulcrum is to the center, the less force required to be exerted on one end to lift the other. It's the same principle can be applied on an aircraft, but just remember to be careful when pitching up to avoid tailstrikes.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Giggleplex777

[dark Jim]