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Better SSTO Spaceplane Challenge (0.23.5+0.24) Fin!


Better SSTO Spaceplane Challenge (Part1-10)  

18 members have voted

  1. 1. Better SSTO Spaceplane Challenge (Part1-10)

    • Voculus - Beak of Darkness - Mod (non-FAR)
      0
    • GluttonyReaper - Heavy SSTO - Stock
    • Darren9 - B9 Spaceplane1 - Mod (non-FAR)
    • Teutooni - Alrai SSTO+VTOL - Stock
    • Overfloater - Astro-Cruiser - Stock
    • KandoKris - Roger Rescue - Stock
    • O-Doc - Robin v1.0 - Stock
    • Master Tao - Skathi - Mod (FAR)
    • eempc - Iolite Mk1 - Mod (Non-FAR)
      0
    • SkyRender - Airbus Kerbin - Stock


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Just another review of Hodos SP-10

I find it a very nice well behaving plane. Who whould have thought, indeed ;) There is nothing to complain about its flying qualities really as it does pretty well stability and control wise in most flying conditions. In a "Wanderfound style" test it managed to accelerate up to to mach 8.3 (see spoiler).

I agree with Wanderfound about its limited use though. It doesn't even have a docking port. This is a big downside. There is another little nickpick. It has a considerable tail striking hazard. Although you don't actually have to pitch up in order to take off. I recognize that.

cUwJNi8.jpg

P.S. the addition of the ejection system is a very very nice addition :D

Overall it is cool, but nothing so special. I've build many similar planes actually. In hindsight, now that B9 5 is released, i wish you had submitted that other plane.

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I am glad you both enjoyed it. It was a simple fun little side project for me. I thought long and hard over which to enter, and I decided to go with something I don't often do. I had considered adding a docking port to it, but didn't think of it at the time.

I use that craft as a test craft because it is a such a stable platform. And I had no intention on trying to win this challenge, I just wanted to see what others have started doing and let some of you "new blood" SSTO designers shine. And honestly several of you impressed me with your craft and I may have to borrow some of you design theories and add them to my own.

Thanks for the reviews! The ejection system is a standard on all of my SSTOs now.

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Apologies if i was too offensive. Could have been more diplomatic :)

Anyway, actually like small crafts. I build many of them with different wing configurations and so on. My test craft is very similar to yours, except that it is more standard, with single delta wing + canard + rapier configuration.

Now picking a potential winner is a really hard choice. B9 modded planes are out, unless i'm wrong and they actually work with the new B9 distribution. That would be cool but i haven't checked it yet.

Edit: oh well, i should probably vote for the Migration, so a FAR plane has a chance to win :D

Edited by DaMichel
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Still a few days until the close of polls, but my current thoughts on who I might be voting for:

Skathi: does what it's designed to do, and does it very well. Decent aesthetics, although I'd be the first to admit that SP+ makes that a lot easier to achieve. Could probably have avoided test flight confusion (and potentially disastrous mistakes by customers) simply by mounting the cargo bay probe with its controls facing in the same direction as the rest of the plane. A bit competent rather than extraordinary; it's an effective middleweight cargo/crew transport workhorse, but it doesn't really surprise with unexpected performance in either speed or lifting capacity.

SP-10: well built and fun to fly, with very good aerodynamic balance. Demonstrates that you don't need mods or even RAPIERs to make a highly effective spaceplane. A good inspiration for career players trying to build spaceplanes early in the tech tree. Suffers a bit from lack of practical usefulness and questionable aesthetics.

Robin​: a lot of fun to fly. Not quite as aerodynamically polished as SP-10, but given that it was designed for stock aero the fact that it flies as well as it does in FAR is astonishing. A tiny bit of control surface tuning and it would be a top-notch sportsplane. Best of the stockers in aesthetics, but also limited in practical usefulness.

Laythe Wing: questionable aesthetics, but a lot of that is down to personal taste. Extremely stable and easy to fly, and has good practical application in a wide variety of contexts. Kerbin-gravity VTOL capability a substantial bonus; it'd make a great remote-area explorer. Lacking a bit in speed and aerobatic slickness, but that's the price you pay for stability and ease of use.

-

It's a real shame that I haven't been able to fly either of the reverse-wing designs; they both look awesome. Can't really bring myself to vote for something that unconventional without at least seeing someone else's test flight, though.

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:cool:

I'd actually be curious to know if the Migration flies in stock air at all, actually. Soupmosphere drag is particularly punishing on the bigger planes.

I'll be testing that out at some point so I'll let you know. In regards to B9, I'm getting too much crashing to properly test craft so B9 craft might not make it onto my shortlist after all. :(

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I'll be testing that out at some point so I'll let you know. In regards to B9, I'm getting too much crashing to properly test craft so B9 craft might not make it onto my shortlist after all. :(

If you do end up installing FAR for testing as well, give it a go in both. Should be an interesting comparison.

As with DaMichel, check beforehand to make sure that nothing but the rudders are set to affect yaw. You may also need to reset action group 1 to toggle the Aerospikes; apparently Hot Rockets is responsible for the action group weirdnesses everyone is getting.

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Apologies if i was too offensive. Could have been more diplomatic :)

Anyway, actually like small crafts. I build many of them with different wing configurations and so on. My test craft is very similar to yours, except that it is more standard, with single delta wing + canard + rapier configuration.

Now picking a potential winner is a really hard choice. B9 modded planes are out, unless i'm wrong and they actually work with the new B9 distribution. That would be cool but i haven't checked it yet.

Edit: oh well, i should probably vote for the Migration, so a FAR plane has a chance to win :D

Actually not offended at all, I found your post to be quite well writen. I loved it actually. But I am a bit thicker skinned then some people on these forums.

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Anyone got any reviews for my craft (PIP MK1)?

Kind of curious where the RAV stacks up as well.

Anyway, sorry for the ill-timed abscense but IRL matters needed delt with. I've got all seven of the FAR fliers downloaded and time set aside tonight to get to my flight tests. There's several I'm kind of eager to get behind the controls of.

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Okay: out of time.

It wasn't an easy call, but my vote goes to DaMichel's X-74 Laythe Wing.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/86202-Better-SSTO-Spaceplane-Challenge-%280-23-5-0-24%29-Extended?p=1353311&viewfull=1#post1353311

An exceptionally stable and sturdy flyer, practical application in a wide variety of contexts, does the job it's designed to do and has bonus high-grav VTOL. Clever and creative use of parts. The only downsides were aesthetics (subjective) and a tiny bit of slowness (in acceleration, not top speed; it'll hit orbital velocity just fine). The lack of lightning acceleration is an understandable and acceptable tradeoff for ease of use and the weight of the VTOL equipment. Very well built; kudos to DaMichel.

Honourable mention to O-Doc's Robin v0.1. Lovely little thing.

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Do I win? Cheers!

[insert acceptance speech]

Well done to everyone that entered, there was a heck of alot of creativity on display and I got to fly just about every craft which gives me plenty of ideas for upcoming SSTOs. Wanderfound, I gave your Migration a spin on the weekend. She's flies pretty nice in stock but I don't have enough FAR experience to compare it to. My only real criticism is that you are too front heavy with your control surfaces. Stack some more/larger elevons on the back, preferably at or behind the CoT.

Time to do a celebration buzz of the tower in my Robin. :)

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I had fun with this, Sirine.

Feel like running a sequel with more tightly focussed categories? E.g. "best FAR sportsplane", "best stock cargo lifter", "best SP+ executive jet", "best long-range science explorer" etc.

The more tightly focussed they are, the better the chance that all of the people interested in that category will have the time and interest to review all of the entrants. It's probably best to split them all into stock vs FAR categories; very few craft work well in both, and not many folks are willing to fly outside of their preferred aero model.

A bunch of categories would also let compulsive designers like me & Hodo enter a bunch of different things without overcrowding a single contest. :)

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Not satisfied, NOONE gave me any feedback. Plus pretty much everyone was only going to vote on this page.

Did you post a review of anyone else's plane?

As I said, your design looks nifty but it doesn't appear to be the sort of thing that is likely to work in FAR. And I don't fly stock unless someone's going to pay me to do it. Spent enough time slogging through the soup back when I started.

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Congratulations to the winners. And thanks to Sirine for managing the contest so well!

@Wonderfound: Thanks for your vote. Your final review was kinder than i feel i deserve ;) Moreover, i agree on the suggestions for possible follow up contests. I'll try to participate but first i have to get that Jool5 mission done ...

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