Wanderfound

Not enough extension on your docking ports?

Kerbodyne Xenu. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/tuoukxjujdfdldz/Kerbodyne%20Xenu.craft?dl=0

Kerbodyne Escalade. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4j1eq2x3t4ty54/Kerbodyne%20Escalade.craft?dl=0

1) Get the Stock Bug Fix mod. No more symmetry bugs. 2) Fix engine torque by slight movements of the lateral tanks/engines up or down, and slight movement or angling of the centre engine. It's not that hard to zero it out if you have RCS Build Aid. 3) Fine tune engine torque by shifting the tailplane up and down and adjusting the mass tweakable on the tailfin. You could probably also afford to shrink the size of the fin considerably. 4) Dump the monoprop for fuel/cargo/passengers, strip down to one SAS unit and you'll have plenty of room in the bay for a small satellite. (PS: as with the 24-77's, the LV-909's have insufficient punch for all but the smallest spaceplanes)

The Shuttle used its RCS to maintain stability during the extreme AoA early reentry; if you're determined to keep the high AoA reentry (which generally isn't necessary in KSP, even with DRE), half a dozen strategically placed Vernors would replicate the Shuttle RCS.

My vote's on the airbrake as well. Bulk torque from that when it's deployed. Try a run with no airbrake at all; you don't really need them anyway. Just keep the nose 5-10 degrees above surface prograde until you level out, then gradually drop lower until the drag slows you down.

Kerbodyne Chrome Mobile. Perfect in space, air and on land. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqv2d5q6nfkw6nu/Kerbodyne%20Chrome%20Mobile.craft?dl=0

As others are saying: climb steep until 20,000m or so, then flatten off and climb as slow as necessary (usually <20m/s) to get to maximum speed before the jets choke. I normally do a bounce; steep climb until Kerbal Flight Data starts showing the intake air dropping (20-25,000m, depending on the ship), then pull the nose down to 10° and hold it there. The plane will usually go into a shallow dive that takes me up to Mach 4; the increasing speed and thickening air will gradually flatten out the dive without me touching the controls, and I'll usually start climbing again around 18,000m or so. On the second climb, I keep the nose up and start shutting down jets and activating rockets as the air runs low. I've only ever seen those tiny radial engines work well on very small Mk1 ships.

Here's a nice recent one: Kerbodyne Starhook. Sporty VTOL, orbit capable, light cargo capacity. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/b7e23rz8v3ixv5t/Kerbodyne%20Starhook.craft?dl=0

No, you can't, and yes, it's annoying. Set the conventional RCS first, remember where it needs to go, then remove it, set the Vernors, then replace the RCS.

No, there isn't. Set up your conventional RCS first, then add the Vernors. And set an action group to toggle the Vernors off during docking. - - - Updated - - - Set up your conventional RCS first, then add the Vernors. And set an action group to toggle the Vernors off during docking.

Kerbodyne Moby. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/np4uqupt9g5y7jp/Kerbodyne%20Moby.craft?dl=0

Keep it as flat as you can while building jet speed. When you switch to rockets, pitch up as steeply as you can while maintaining control.

Build the wings as a single unit, i.e. only one piece connects to the fuselage, the rest is connected to the wing. This also makes it much easier to adjust wing position during building.

It's not a question that has a formulaic answer. At a minimum, you need a combination of thrust and wing that is sufficient to get airborne before you run out of runway. Above that limit, anything goes. For a spaceplane, you want as little wing as you can get away with [1] and enough thrust to get up to Mach 4+ at 25-30,000m before you kick in the rockets. But exactly how much is enough is a complicated question. Sporty performance calls for more engines, high-G turning ability calls for more wing, etc. [1] Within reason. Too much wing loading and the increased drag caused by the increased AoA will start negating the mass saving of less wing. Highly-loaded wings require higher mass wing tweakables, too.

Kerbodyne Eliminator. One and done. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ozfnryxs5idaaw1/Kerbodyne%20Eliminator.craft?dl=0

Total cost of the mission after recovery. For an SSTO that lands at KSC, that just happens to equal the cost of spent fuel. - - - Updated - - - I've had similar things happen a few times, usually after quickloading nearby to KSC. Not sure exactly what causes it, though. Maybe try landing from the ocean side?

Get the SAS PID tuning sorted first, but the other possibility if it's still troublesome: body flex. Get some struts in to reinforce nose and tail, and try mounting the horizontal stabilisers to the engines instead of the tailfin. You can offset them back to the same position if desired.

Negligible; the turbojet is angled, and the lateral tanks are positioned to null the RAPIER torque as well.

Another tailed delta... From the look of it, you quite likely have too much wing up forwards. If you post screenshots of the analyses suggested by eddiew, we can get into more detail.

If you must, but it shouldn't be necessary.

Kerbodyne Chrome. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/tc3dfjmoxpx1y21/Kerbodyne%20Chrome.craft?dl=0

Bigger jets would certainly be nice, but I'm finding this sort of setup to be fairly effective: It's scalable by adding or removing the wing pods. - - - Updated - - - It's about punching through the high-drag low-oxygen zone between 30,000 and 60,000m as quickly as possible. You won't get much useful thrust out of jets above 30,000m, but you keep losing speed to drag until you're on the edge of space. A lower thrust flatter ascent costs you fuel in friction. Wings allow you to get away with a very low take off TWR, but by the time you fire the rockets the wings aren't doing much. The more TWR at that point the better (within reason).

Stock wings for big'uns aren't that hard to do:

Big ships are considerably harder than small ones; it's a good idea to get comfortable with Mk2 designs before going bigger. If I'm having to do a pre-RAPIER design, I'll usually use a pair of turbojets flanking a single LV-T45.