barrenwaste

Ok, from what I can see in those, you have a structural problem, need to strengthen it up with struts, and the wheels are to far out on the wings. Wheels need to be a certain distance apart to provide stability, true. Unfortunately there comes a point where putting them farther out makes them less stable. On a side note, you probably are going to want to put more inclination into the gear, bring that nose up, tail down. Doesn't look like there is any as it sits right now. Could just be the pic, though.

I can see a couple of things here. At high altitudes more engines is less good than few engines. The more jets you have the more air you need and air is scarce, even when airhogging. What happens is that the jets don't share the air intake equally, that can cause your plane to dip and dive in strange and often uncontrollable ways. I would suggest pairing that thing down to a single engine for your first builds. I would also say that you still have far to much wing and and control area. Not only does an overabundance of wing produce more drag, it makes the craft structurally unsound. While flying, crank the physical fast forward up to three or four, does the plane eat itself instantly? If so, time to go back to the drawing board because it's likely that parts you can't see are not working properly. Finally, I understand this platform isn't designed to go to space. That's fine. But it's best to design the plane as if you were going to space with it. That's because if you build it well, it's going to blast out of the atmosphere and make a couple of orbits before being dragged back down by gravity. Make sure you have enough electrics to see you through the time you aren't powered up and enough air intakes to gag a pack of pachyderms. Ram air intakes seem to work best, but all of them can be useful. To get above 40k I tend to use 6 or more intakes per jet, and if you use enough you can keep powered flight right up to, and slightly beyond, 60k. Finally, if you desperately need more than one jet, try dual mounting a jet engine. Take a small square strut. Mount it backwards in the center of the tail of the plane. Make sure it doesn't auto-snap into place. Now you can mount a jet engine on both sides of the small strut, allowing you to get two engines in one area without using cheats. It takes practice, and you need to zoom in real close, often looking inside existing parts of the plane, but it's easy enough once you get the hang of it. This will get you the added power you need without asymetrical flame-outs that send you into flat spins and dives.

part of getting feedback is giving it. Dunno if you give it or not, don't remember seeing you around much, but I'm not around a lot, either. Also, part is the mods. Lots and lots don't use mods, see that you do, move on. Just the way it is. They aren't thinking negatively about the build, but since they can't use it they just move quietly on.

There was a challenge not long ago, don't remember the name now, but if you sort through you'll likely find it. Anyway. The challenge was to make the least expensive sat possible. Most of them ended up being ssto's that were tiny.

Huh, I get better performance out of the jets, as long as you throttle down handsomely you should be able to gain speed and altitude even at .00 air intake. Maybe it's just because I know jets and their character better. I'm also not impressed by how slow, weak, and thirsty the rapiers are, especially at lower altitudes and during the switch. I'm a bit guilty of slapping on to many air intakes, no joke, but the added weight doesn't matter because of how much more powerful the jets are. A jet/rocket combo dual mounted with a small square strut has far better performance in all the builds I've tried. To each their own, I suppose, but for now I remain an oldschool flyer.

Heya folks, K.C. Limited is proud to present it's latest in personal orbital transport. An offshoot of our popular Sundog, the Hoplite is sure to put a smile on your face with it's smooth handling, long range capabilities, and fuel economy. Using our patented dual jet technology, the Hoplite can lift off at 50mps, and then after an ascent so shear it'll make a Kerban working gal blush, switch to high altitude settings with a burst of speed that will leave your brain spinning behind the sound barrier. Once above an altitude of 40,000 meters the Hoplite's atomic engine (the same engines that push Kerban Naval Destroyers) kicks on and it's nothing but smooth sailing to your condo in the munar canyons. Please be sure to read the owners manual for instructions on how to operate and repair your KF-10 Hoplite. TL,DR, Liftoff: 50 mps, multiple engine toggles during flight, jet ceiling 40,000 meters, use atomic to circularize, read description of craft in hangar for specific details on engine toggles and how to achieve orbit most efficiently. To place your purchase order for a new Hoplite follow the link below! (It's free, new peoples, just fun hyperbole!) http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kf-10-hoplite/ Here she is, looking all pretty and just itching to rip up some clouds! Our cowardly test pilot refused to push it to the vertical, but we here at K.C. Limited assure you, it will go straight up! Firing up that atomic engine, it's so smooth Merson didn't even spill his coffee! Now to turn the engine off and just relax until you hit apoapsis.

Is a nice looking shuttle. Love the name Dynasoar..

Liking the smaller planes I've been seeing. Built a vtol about the same size myself.

Also, check the K-prize challenge. Most of the entries also put up links for you to download the sstos. Here is a link to one of my sstos, a tiny vtol that can make space easily enough. Instructions for flight are included in the vehicle bay. It can make orbit like it is, or you can strap another tank on it's nose and go further. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/66123-KC-T3-Runabout-VTOL-SSTO?highlight=barrenwaste

looks a lot like the shuttle from farscape. I like it, nice looking piece

I can see my house from hear! *cricksnap* Uh....my house is getting closer...and so is the ground...MAYDAYMAYDA*Booooooom!!1!*...my house hurts Like the design of this. Is the tail a counterbalance for the command chair?

nice replica here, love ww II aircraft. wish there were a stock prop

pretty cool, not a glider though... more like one of the speederbikes from starwars

Ok, I lightened the Stargazer up a bit but I just couldn't 2360. I did come close, though, with a top speed of 2356 m/s. The flight lasted 2 1/2 hours, including five orbits around Kerban, 4 atmospheric re-entries, and three pairs of soiled undershorts (Bill did NOT like some of the flight). In the pictures you'll notice that the plane has monopropellant. That's because the Stargazer started as an ssto that was wildly fast and I forgot to take it out. The mono is never used, and in the pictures you can see that it remains the same at 7.50. Manned Mission Stock Speed 2356

Hmm, just built a plane that hit 2349 on it's first flight...and it had extra weight and drag on it. I'm a pare it down a bit and see if I can't break 2360 for the record! If not, well, I'm sure I can beat 2349 and that beats my personal record so I'll post that. Heh, I got the thing out to an apoapsis of more than 315,000 meters and my periapsis was just under 60,000. Almost achieved stable orbit with nothing but jets!

the air intakes rule is rather silly. if all it took, in reality, were lots and lots of air intakes to get to obscene altitudes then you can be sure that we would have planes quite festooned with them. form follows function, that is as real as it gets. also, if it's doable in vanilla ksp, why limit it just because you don't like the look? your vision of what is good looking is irrelevant in the context of whether or not it can perform the functions needed to achieve the challenge goals.

Crud, thanks. I fixed it so you can download yer runabout now

well, you certainly have smooth control with it

Yup, pretty much supposed to be the chevette of the ssto world

@Silverchain & Wasmic You can go much higher than 18k with radials.

There are multiple ways to go about getting to the mun and minmus. To get out further you either need a large ssto with plenty of extra fuel or ion engines and a slow burn. As for the mun and minmus, I prefer to use smaller sstos. I don't really like the rapier, myself, I prefer a combination of turbojets and small rocket engines or an atomic. I suggest you practice building normal planes that can achieve extreme speeds and altitude. If you do this you can get the ssto out of the atmosphere before you ever burn a rocket. I think that if you combine these elements you'll find you can get into a stable orbit with half you fuel and almost a full tank of oxi for your trip to the mun.

Doesn't really matter if none get to the mun and back. They can always be graded on how far they got. The first time I played I had trouble making orbit, true, but I did manage a stable orbit. If I can do it I'm sure that others can, too. I would suggest encouraging them to think small, though. Most first time players I see make these huge rockets that can't even get off the ground, let alone out of atmo.

@Rune I'm not saying don't use the mods or console, if that makes it fun for you, go for it. But you hit the nail on the head when you said they make it easier. That is precisely why I do it without the mods and the console. For me the difficulty of the build is part of what I enjoy and am proud of at the end of it. There is another reason to do it without mods and cheats as well, challenges. Most challenges are for stock craft only and also disallow the console. Learning how to do it all without those means you'll be able to participate in more challenges. The final reason for clipping is that it allows you to make smoother more streamlined stock platforms. Maybe it doesn't matter to you, personally, but it is still a reason that many people do find important. Also, I haven't had the problems you describe about Rapid Unplanned Disassembly or with multiple stacks of an item. It can be a chore at times to get a set of pieces to attach, but I haven't ever had multiple stacks like you describe. Perhaps you should try again, it may be that it has been fixed or that you were simply doing something in a less than optimal way.

You don't need to open the debug menu, I never have. There is plenty of ways to part clip without using the cheats.

Clipping is attaching a part inside of another. For example, placing a rocket inside a turbojet so that you have two engines in one. The best way to do it is with small cubic struts. They can be turned using w,a,s,d in the sph during construction so that you attach something to the part of the strut inside a fuel tank or structural element.