[Stock Helicopters & Turboprops] Non DLC Will Always Be More Fun!

[Castille7]

29 minutes ago, klond said:

 I got treat for you guys.

 Can you see each blade tilting on this microscopic gif?

 The head is huge, but the one medium reaction wheel can't break it (this was about max speed).  This is mostly what I was imagining.  The um cyclic control circle thing isn't movable, it's just a demo.  I like that the clamps for each blade look realistic somewhat.  I'm happy with it so far.

Are you kidding! a functional swash plate?? Awesome man!

Edited January 28, 2017 by Castille7

[Azimech]

7 hours ago, klond said:

 I got treat for you guys.

 Can you see each blade tilting on this microscopic gif?

 The head is huge, but the one medium reaction wheel can't break it (this was about max speed).  This is mostly what I was imagining.  The um cyclic control circle thing isn't movable, it's just a demo.  I like that the clamps for each blade look realistic somewhat.  I'm happy with it so far.

Awesome work! Too bad it will never really work with stock. The "materials" -or rather lack of- can't handle the stresses. Right now Squad is busy with localization but when 1.3 has arrived I'm going to have a lengthy talk with them about collider integrity - why it isn't supposed to be based on part mass. After my own cyclic/collective experiments in 0.90 I just gave up.

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

14 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

No it had ibeams in an inside down triangle position that part of it rested on. I fiddled with it, and got it working  but it was very unreliable.. :-(

Ah yes I removed those and replaced them with the control surfaces + ibeams. It didn't change how it worked though. Anyways, in a few minutes I'm going to modify it to use @klond's thermo rcs ball-socket style linkages. I get the feeling it will work much smoother.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

Ah yes I removed those and replaced them with the control surfaces + ibeams. It didn't change how it worked though. Anyways, in a few minutes I'm going to modify it to use @klond's thermo rcs ball-socket style linkages. I get the feeling it will work much smoother.

It really does! For mechanical craft that have forces applied the RCS unit surrounded by the eight thermometers I used in the first version of the tiny hinge is FAR smoother and reliable!  @sgt_flyer was the first person I saw using the RCS blocks in this way in his amazing stock canadarm. Klond the first to combine the thermos and the RCS blocks and damn if i don't love him for it! I have some fun ideas for his version of the hinge but I am having so much fun in War thunder at the moment. Also I'm waiting for the next version of KSP to see what damage the geometry changes do before I finish any projects. I digress..

 Good luck with the upgrades dude!

Edited January 28, 2017 by Majorjim!

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

@klond These thermo rcs linkages are working miracles!

My swashplate can now reach over 120rpm, which is actually fairly reasonable already, considering one of my lower disk loading helis operates its main rotors at about  60-70rpm. It's still less than half of what my higher disk loading helis work with though (300rpm, sometimes higher). (I'm here excluding the tiny ity bitty helicopters and tailrotors, which can go as high as 460rpm, and are obviously too small to add a contraption like this anyways).

I can't wait to see what kinds of RPMs this thing works at once I've gotten the lower swashplate tilt mechanism smoothed out (currently it doesn't always keep it well centered, which means it can throw things out of whack).

Edited January 28, 2017 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[klond]

13 hours ago, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

These thermo rcs linkages are working miracles!

 Great!  I'm gonna pause development and revisit later.  Keep at it if you can.  Glad the topic is still exciting and we're still moving ahead.  

[vitekc45c]

After 8 or so hours of experiments, i learned two things:

1.) J-33s dont produce any thurst what-so-ever.

2.) Kraken likes to snack on evelons.

[Gman_builder]

On 1/28/2017 at 7:23 AM, Majorjim! said:

I am having so much fun in War thunder at the moment.

Same dude. I've been spending far more time in WT than KSP right now. Today i spent 6 hours with my squad playing squables because i play competitively.

 

But on the side i've been working on this new hyper-compact micro engine design i am planning to use on e Do-335-esque aircraft in the future.

[Gman_builder]

Updated the design heavily. It's starting to look like a real radial.

RPM is limited by a mysterious kraken force i have to hunt down though.

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Ok, I've done work on the rotor head that I showed earlier, and I've gotten it to work up to 130rpm. I have found this to be a sort of brick wall for this specific design unfortunately. Using a mod to slow down time, I have been able to trace the problem to something I mentioned earlier, which is that it doesn't have a teeter hinge to let the blades fly up and down. Because of the lack of this component, the blades exert a huge torque that tries to wrench them out of the hinge that allows them to change angle of incidence, so eventually it snaps and this happens.

(note it was spinning a lot faster than 69rpm when it broke, my screenshot was a little late

It might take me a while to design a new rotor head with this extra component, but I think I might be able to get higher rpm with it.

Edited January 29, 2017 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[Gman_builder]

Early Focke Wulf Ta-152 prototype. I still need to iron out the kinks but the engine should provide enough power to lift it, but im not expecting super high speed.

 

 

 

I finished it and tried to test fly it for the first time and my game crashed and everything got deleted. fml.

[Azimech]

Made this picture 23 months ago, I cut my FW190 in two except the engine and wings. Really nice view of the inside and how I tried to copy the real world back then (except the engine). It would still fly with an engine upgrade but would be very slow. Not visible: fuel tanks under and behind pilot seat and their fuel lines. There's a fuel tank behind the engine.

On 30-1-2017 at 0:33 AM, Gman_builder said:

Early Focke Wulf Ta-152 prototype. I still need to iron out the kinks but the engine should provide enough power to lift it, but im not expecting super high speed.

 

I finished it and tried to test fly it for the first time and my game crashed and everything got deleted. fml.

Forgot to press the save button?

[Gman_builder]

20 hours ago, Azimech said:

Forgot to press the save button?

yeah lol rip

[Azimech]

So in the future we can have rotors and propellers that sound like real rotors and propellers :-)

I made a little addon for Rover Wheel Sounds. Started with some brown noise in Audacity. Like it?

 

 

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

On 1/28/2017 at 5:12 AM, Azimech said:

<snip>

seems cool, but won't airplanes make helicopter noises when they taxi then?

[Azimech]

Just now, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

seems cool, but won't airplanes make helicopter noises when they taxi then?

Only if you add that special part (which is a modified tiny rover wheel). Ah, you probably mean something else. I'm working on a propeller sound as well. It's a lot harder with Audacity, wish I had real knobs on an analog synthesizer.

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Been working on that cyclic script. I've managed to get a basic thing running that will cyclically change the pitch of blades, but that's the easy part. I need to make it so that that it is actually controlled by the pilot, and compensates for rotation speed. On the latter I might end up having to combine it with a collective because it would be a lot simpler if the rotor spins at a constant speed.

[Azimech]

Two years after the launch of this topic ... take a look at this guys :-)

 

[vitekc45c]

Made some progress: replaced the prop with kraken-proof one, rebuild the bearing and added reaction wheels, so it can get in the air with just 4 patnhers. Trouble is, it just wobles around and it falls over on landing

.

 

 

 

[Azimech]

1 hour ago, vitekc45c said:

Made some progress: replaced the prop with kraken-proof one, rebuild the bearing and added reaction wheels, so it can get in the air with just 4 patnhers. Trouble is, it just wobles around and it falls over on landing

.

 

 

 

 

I think you need a wider landing gear. And 8 blades looks very cool but it's also a lot of mass. Personally I stick with three blades, four segments per blade, I didn't find any advantage using four blades.

Install V.O.I.D. to have a display of engine/rotor speed. Always helped me a lot in the quest for higher efficiency.

[seiryu]

Hi I'm testing out my new rotors.

First most sucsessful rotors.

Second is prototype coaxial rotors.

As you see, it can't fly stable.

So could anyone give me a suggestion?

[Azimech]

14 hours ago, seiryu said:

Hi I'm testing out my new rotors.

First most sucsessful rotors.

Second is prototype coaxial rotors.

As you see, it can't fly stable.

So could anyone give me a suggestion?

Good job! I like them!

 

What I see ... you need reaction wheels despite having a coaxial. There is always friction inside in places you don't expect. And always be sure both rotors have the same blade angle; the jet engines need to be at the same angle and position as well. A very small difference in adjustment gives huge differences during flight.

Extra tip: the heat shields as turbine blades might seem a good idea but they produce a lot of drag. I always use the short I-beams and no more than 8 of them.

And for you as well: Install V.O.I.D. to have a display of engine/rotor speed. Always helped me a lot in the quest for higher efficiency.

I hope to see more!

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by Azimech

[Jon144]

On 1/27/2017 at 6:46 PM, klond said:

 I got treat for you guys.

 Can you see each blade tilting on this microscopic gif?

 The head is huge, but the one medium reaction wheel can't break it (this was about max speed).  This is mostly what I was imagining.  The um cyclic control circle thing isn't movable, it's just a demo.  I like that the clamps for each blade look realistic somewhat.  I'm happy with it so far.

Bravo!

We have all tried to replicate swash plate designs and the like but have rarely been successful. 

[seiryu]

Finaly, (´・ω・`)

fully working coaxial rotors!

Now it's stable and functional!

max speed:270km/s

rotor speed:47 rad/s

craft mass:7tons

 ※sorry for wierd BGM. It's sounded by only kerbal voice and SEs.

[klond]

1 hour ago, seiryu said:

Finaly, (´・ω・`)

 Its crazy how long it takes sometimes.  Build, test, crash, tweak, test, fail, scrap it, do-over, etc.  All the effort expended makes good results feel amazing.