TimeLapseSteve

Good to hear. The reason why I flipped the fuselage is so that the tail is able to slope upward to provide clearance for rotation at takeoff. Until there's a stock part that looks like a normal aircraft tail, it'll have to do for now. Thanks for the BBS tip too.

Based on the MD-80. Very stable and aerobatic-capable. Does very well in slow flight. Enjoy. Image gallery: http://imgur.com/a/wT13j Brief video (sorry for the lousy resolution) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VABxHD3GoM Craft: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33835359/K-727.craft

Add the following line to the parts.cfg file: ActivatesEvenIfDisconnected = True Hit save, restart the game. Enjoy!

Yep! Basically glorified solid rocket boosters with fins. Had to modify the part file to enable them to fire after being released from the vehicle.

The tiny Long-EZ in the center is pretty fun, although the large one with the black (upside-down) fuselage is surprisingly nimble as well. I like the large one because it's faster.

One of the things that always bugged me is how the individual engines are far from realistic in the way they distribute weight on an airplane in rel life. In reality, the center of gravity of the engine is near the middle of the cowl - mainly the compressor/fan section. The tailpipe (represented in game, weight-wise, by an entire engine) is actually lightweight compared to the rest of the structure. See this cross section of a RB-211, an engine commonly used on the Boeing 757, to illustrate what I\'m talking about: I would suggest making an additional engine part by combining three existing individual parts into one - the intake, the cowling, and then the engine (which would then become the tailpipe portion of the new part) - it wouldn\'t be customizable, but it would be realistic. (The alternative would be to make the cowls much heavier while keeping the engines lightweight... but that wouldn\'t make any sense). This would place the combined mass of the pieces in the center of the cowling, which is where it should be attached to the wing or fuselage. It would definitely make things even easier when trying to get the CG of the aircraft right - many people probably have noticed that the planes they build still seem to be tail heavy, even though all of the parts appear to be in the correct location from an aesthetic point of view.

My latest creation...

Nicely done! Question - I tried getting into Munar orbit for the first time last night and did it on the first try (which was completely unexpected because I was hammered at the time)... I noticed I got captured into a retrograde orbit... is this is only way to do it?

I just discovered this awesome game yesterday and, after several hours of experimenting, managed to make a massive three-stage rocket which made it into some sort of highly elliptical orbit that carried the crew well past 2,000 kilometers in elevation (it kept going and going!). I ended up canceling the flight simply because I couldn't wait to to launch again and I have no idea where it would have ended up. Anyway, just figured I'd chime in here. Seems other newbies have had success with sending spaceships long distances too, which is great to hear! Can't wait for the day I figure out how to get one into LEO. Cheers!