Tosh

Did you mean node_attach = 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1 this? Moreover, if you\'ve scene scale set to 1 then you should set the same in part.cfg. And -- once again, node_collider must be convex. It seems that the game engine fixes that for ya and the part loads O.K., but will you be satisfied with such a \'fix\'?

Griffin II VTOL, 891 m, Mount Chongtar.

That\'s solved by adding 1 linear (a simple linear, not a \'heavy\' one) at the nose and one at the tail to control pitch angle (of course with ASAS on). Tim, I\'ve tried all those things on the same heavy plane. 12 heavy linears spread along the fuselage failed to take it off the ground, while two of \'em placed at the center of mass popped the plane into the air instantly. It seems that in former case RCS thrust was uselessly waisted to bend the fuselage. And don\'t forget that those ports weigh something (and eat fuel like crazy :).

Another way to test: create a part which it 2 km in diameter (maximum allowed size for KSP). Leave it on the ground and go 5 km away from it. See part\'s disappearing. Come back and try to find it)) Well, test #2: give that part very small mass and drag and attach it to the drone flying at 2500 m. Then go up to 7500 m...

Make sure you\'re cloning in Object mode, not in Edit one. Though it\'s not a good idea since the collider is limited to 256 polygons (you\'ll get an error message in the console if you exceed that value).

To stabilize roll try placing center of mass below center of pressure (i.e. wings/fins above the fuselage), so that the plane tends to fly with its belly down. More complicated task is to stabilize pitch and altitude; see the post by Iskierka and the following discussion that explains this stuff:http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6341.msg85631#msg85631 In short, fins should have slightly negative incidence (-1° to -2° would suffice) to make the plane pitch up while it has enough speed, and pitch down if it hasn\'t. What prevents a plane from constantly pitching up and going to stratosphere (or tipping over) is the engine thrust; it must be just enough for the plane to stay aloft. And it seems that fins tuning just cannot be done with pure C7 (since the game provides no means to change wings incidence); you\'ll need to edit some .CFG files... See my Drone pack (link in my signature) as an example of completely stable UAV flying straight for almost 1 hour .

One important addition: I\'ve found no use in spreading numerous heavy linears across the fuselage. For most planes only one or two of them suffice... if placed precisely at the center of mass.

I wonder too. There\'s a peak of 905 meters in that mountain range, but I\'ve just failed to land 12m-long plane on its 5x5m summit))

We\'ve no ground effects but we have hydroplane gear. It withstands more than 500m/s in the water; and that (provided that \'cfg edits on the engines\' are allowed) could do the job. Thrust 10000, fuel consumption 0.00001... 8)

He wins.

Dunno about \'super\' ones but as for good old SignalFlare it simply goes out when it\'s more than 5 000 meters away from a command pod. I\'m not sure whether it still exists in the game... I just could not find it again. Ah BTW I never got a \'splashdown\' report from a part dropped from more than 5 000 meters. UPD. It concerns atmosphere flights only. In space nothing \'goes out\'.

Competing Player Name: Tosh Craft Name: Griffin II VTOL Altitude: 754 Mountain: Mount Savage

Not competing. Just lithobraked at 850m (was too lazy to land decently 8)) -- and it seems that the nearest peak is even higher. Just to point out where to search for these mountains: In the center of pictures below.

Nope, I never used that nick.

Playing with gliders I managed to lithobrake even at 800+ altitude. Just don\'t remember where Probably such an altitudes can be found in the middle of large white areas...

A wolf pack in action.

With some tinkering with engine thrust and tailfins an aerodynamical vehicle (even not containing a command pod!) can be made to steadily keep chosen course and altitude. Refer to the posts starting with this one: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6341.msg85631#msg85631 That\'s not exactly an \'autopilot\', but it still works))

Since the release of The Drone v2.6 launching that bird no longer makes a challenge; so I\'m closing the topic. Thanks again to everyone! Iskierka, I\'m looking forward to your message concerning the part you choose . Final test flight: the drone tuned by Iskierka is accompanied by pandoras kitten\'s QF-106.

O.K., now this bird really can fly. The Drone v2.6 Stable is released.

Yes, feel free to PM me at any time. I currently have no idea what I\'d like to model next, so... it\'s up to you))) Thanks again for your help!

Finally an awesome result from HSTW Drone challenge: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6341.msg85717#msg85717 Thanks to Iskierka next drone version will know how to fly straight It will be released in a couple of days.

Since you seem to be the only one here who could apply those \'minor alterations\' that would be fair And here is the prize. H&S Tinkering Workshop will model and texture any single KSP part at your discretion. The part will be sent directly to you with an empty \'Author\' field rather than released. What part would you choose?

Free hugs* at KSC! *Airplane hugs.

O.K, finally it\'s a stable flight at 2 500 m and 90 m/s. It\'s been 10 minutes since the robot has set a course of 0° and since then it hasn\'t deviated by a second. That\'s exactly the results I\'ve been expecting from this challenge. Mission completed 8) I\'ll be still accepting future attempts though I doubt someone can beat Iskierka\'s 500-km entry. It\'s a one-hour flight after all Iskierka, I must ask you for a permission to release next version of HSTW Drone with your construction of tailfins. You will be listed as a Aerodynamics chief consultant in CFGs\' \'Author\' fields. Do you agree?

Did you mean to make the drone pitch up as long as there\'s enough lift (i.e. enough speed) to do that, and to pitch down otherwise? It works exactly as intended. I even increased incidence 10 times to stabilize it even further. Moreover I reconfigured the drone to be launched from below the plane, and it still works just fine. Now I\'m trying to make it fly faster (keeping 30 m/s at low altitude makes a difficult task for a chase plane ) and to stabilize at lower altitude... Ah. No surprise you could deal with this robot)))