Wanderfound

Just to make sure: there are no wing pieces in there, but there are several types of control surfaces. Not sure if you're limiting it to "small control surfaces" or small "control surfaces". If necessary, I could swap each one for a pair of the smallest surfaces, but I'm not sure what the purpose of that would be... Is the roll cage adequate? The rear battery gives a bit of extra head protection.

After having their initial prototype knocked back by the stewards (), Team Kerbodyne Racing now presents the Kerbodyne KZ2: (just a Stayputnik on the back to be subtracted for the weight calculation) EDITED TO ADD: A minor mishap during practice...

Sorry, I was interpreting "aerodynamic surface" more broadly. Will revise.

Team Kerbodyne Racing ready to go...

Dropbear too big? Cicada too small? Rounding out the Kerbodyne VTOL range is the new Kerbodyne Locust. Small, sporty and practical, all in one. Easy up. That'll do. Accelerates quickly when you start at 5,000m... Combined nuke/jet propulsion. Before shifting to nuke only. Pretty... ...and practical. Refuel in orbit for nuke-powered extended range flights. Two Fine Print satellites coming up. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/4sktqdm7cziqzor/Kerbodyne%20Locust.craft?dl=0

ISP. Every rocket has two ISP figures, one for sea level and one for space. Higher is better. You can see the ISP figures by right-clicking on the parts menu in the VAB.

Wait a couple of months; Mk3 stock cargo bays are on the way. In the meantime, if you're carrying external cargo, streamline it, use decouplers to stick temporary nosecones on the payload. And, yeah, try to build something that looks like a real plane. The stock aero exploits don't work in FAR.

The most probable cause for that is having the orbit running in the opposite direction to what was contracted. If you look closely at the orbit tracks in map view, you'll see little dots whizzing around the orbits showing the required direction. If that's not the case, something is wrong with your install.

Enter away, the more the better. Will it fly okay without the Stock Rebalance? If so, probably best to enter it without the mod requirement to maximise your potential voters; if not, that's okay too.

In slight contrast to Pecan: Planes allow the luxury of lifting with your wings, permitting you to carry more stuff with less thrust. Vertical SSTO's allow you to avoid that whole messy and dangerous horizontal takeoff and landing business. They also save some weight by reducing wing surface, but this is balanced by the need for >1 TWR worth of engines.

So try this one instead: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1527539&viewfull=1#post1527539

A gliding plane is otherwise known as a falling plane. Slowing down rapidly is not something they do on their own. You need to dissipate the energy of the aircraft somehow; S-turns, climb/dive cycles, low altitude drag, airbrakes (i.e. opposed spoilers and flaps). See the piloting guide in post #2 of the Kerbodyne thread linked below.

Take it for a spin: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1527285&viewfull=1#post1527285 (designed for FAR, may not work in stock)

It's either asymmetrical thrust due to oxygen starvation or inadequate yaw stabilisation. For the first, throttle down or turn off some engines. For the second, moar tailfin or some flank-mounted Vernors.

...although you'll still get some...

The key points for any docking ship is that it needs to be able to rapidly adjust velocity in all directions while maintaining heading. So, two choices: 1) A small ship with enough torque to spin on its own length in a few seconds. or... 2) Something with enough balanced RCS that it can accelerate, decelerate and translate without changing heading. Spaceplanes are a little tricky due to their uneven weight distribution, but it's not too hard. You can set up your RCS many different ways, but what I usually go for is 4-way blocks, placed at 45° angle snap, in symettrical pairs above and below. On a small ship, it's one set of thrusters directly on top of CoM. On a large ship, it's two sets of thrusters, balanced either side of CoM. You can see the top half of the RCS setup here: While you're still getting the hang of it, you'll probably find nose/tail mounted shielded ports the easiest to use. Once you get that down, give the Mk1/Mk2 inline ports a go. From a manouevring point of view, the position of the docking port relative to CoM is irrelevant. The CoM/RCS relationship is the important thing. However, inline ports do tend to cause some navball funkyness, as the game tends to get a bit confused about exactly where the docking port is (it tries to steer your CoM into the target port instead; this isn't a problem when port and CoM are in line, but if they're offset...). You can overcome the navball issues by just eyeballing the last few metres. Mods like RPM make that easier to do:

Sure, so long as they don't auto-play.

Nah, same old unmaintained zombieware. But folks have added bits to make it work with the new parts; see the Kerbpaint thread for the downloads.

The Dropbear is a bit big for your needs? Want something a little sportier? The Kerbodyne Cicada. VTOL doesn't have to mean utilitarian. Conventional takeoff... ...with extreme vigour. Vertical takeoff... ...also not a slow way to get flying. Not bad up top, either. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmve0kkmg85hnjf/Kerbodyne%20Cicada.craft?dl=0

By flying to land... You can glide halfway around the world in FAR if you have any substantial speed and altitude.

Quite like this new one: Go anywhere, do anything, do it in style. And carry a hefty cargo with you while you do it. The Kerbodyne Dropbear. Heavy-lift VTOL capability and express spaceplane performance. Effortless takeoff. Stable VTOL flight with tanks full or empty, with or without cargo. Plenty of thrust. In both directions. For a slower but longer-ranged version, swap the turbojet for an LV-N. Easily converts from vertical to horizontal flight. Simple takeoffs and landings in either mode. As well as an effortless climb to orbit at high time acceleration. As usual, manage engines as the air runs thin. And kick in the Aerospikes when the RAPIERs shift to closed cycle. Keep the turbojet on; there's a huge ram-air effect. Circularise on Aerospikes alone for efficiency. Plenty of amenities. And ample cargo space. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/mw5wd2llr38f8a9/Kerbodyne%20Dropbear.craft?dl=0

That is not normal game behaviour. I've been launching dozens of 100 ton spaceplanes without trouble; most of the folks reporting runway explosions were Whackjobbing at the time.

Quite happy with this one: Go anywhere, do anything, do it in style. And carry a hefty cargo with you while you do it. The Kerbodyne Dropbear. Heavy-lift VTOL capability and express spaceplane performance. Effortless takeoff. Stable VTOL flight with tanks full or empty, with or without cargo. Plenty of thrust. In both directions. Easily converts from vertical to horizontal flight. Simple takeoffs and landings in either mode. As well as an effortless climb to orbit at high time acceleration. As usual, manage engines as the air runs thin. And kick in the Aerospikes when the RAPIERs shift to closed cycle. Keep the turbojet on; there's a huge ram-air effect. Circularise on Aerospikes alone for efficiency. Plenty of amenities. And ample cargo space. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/mw5wd2llr38f8a9/Kerbodyne%20Dropbear.craft?dl=0

Go anywhere, do anything, do it in style. And carry a hefty cargo with you while you do it. The Kerbodyne Dropbear. Heavy-lift VTOL capability and express spaceplane performance. Effortless takeoff. Stable VTOL flight with tanks full or empty, with or without cargo. Plenty of thrust. In both directions. For a slower but longer-ranged version, swap the turbojet for an LV-N. Easily converts from vertical to horizontal flight. Simple takeoffs and landings in either mode. As well as an effortless climb to orbit at high time acceleration. As usual, manage engines as the air runs thin. And kick in the Aerospikes when the RAPIERs shift to closed cycle. Keep the turbojet on; there's a huge ram-air effect. Circularise on Aerospikes alone for efficiency. Plenty of amenities. And ample cargo space. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/mw5wd2llr38f8a9/Kerbodyne%20Dropbear.craft?dl=0

Nope; there isn't one, although mods like DaMichel's Kerbal Flight Indicators that provide a HUD make it easier. Just plant your prograde marker on the end of the runway and cruise in. But it's not too hard; you just need to learn to fly. See post #2 in the Kerbodyne thread linked below. It's written for FAR, but the same basic techniques work in stock. If you're having trouble building something flyable, see https://www.dropbox.com/s/lbnz9s8k9h7gwgb/Kerbodyne%20Benchmark%20StockAir.craft?dl=0 for an easy stock aero trainer.