The diary of an insane builder - A blog/report on ship building and flying

[Columbia]

I'll be posting a sort of "blog" here as I build ships and replicas, and tales of what I have done so far.

For nearly my whole summer, I've only been able to work on one single, ambitious project (Other than a few ships) a collection of Passenger Airliners for KSP.

Updates have broken it repeatedly through the weeks, and tons of rebuilds.

Current status: Rebuilding ships for 1.0.4

So! My first task since 1.0.4 was to convert all of my (1.0.2) airliners to have Wheesleys rather than Whiplashes, since (I have to admit, it looks good) SR-71 effects are not really good looking on an Mk3 airliner.. (Okay, they kinda are.)

Of course, I intended to keep it on some aircraft (Such as the DC-8 and Boeing 707) for realism - Just look at those engines! And pollutants. Kind of.

My final ship in 1.0.2 was a Boeing 747-100 intended for use as an Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for inigma's space shuttle - It flies. Kind-of marginally. Better than not lifting off, right?

The first thing I did in 1.0.4 was test this ship - It was highly vital. A true classic.. *mesmerized

Yes, I am an incredible aviation enthusiast. Why else would I be making this? (other than of course, releasing it)

Throttles open!

The take-off was a bit rough. And kinda slow.

Let's turn around for a landing, shall we?

Because I'm a terrible pilot, I ended up crashing the plane in the water during the turnaround.

Certainly needs some tweaking, especially that it's going to carry multiple-ton shuttles soon!

Let's see..

Nope, no cheating here, move along!

Second test flight - Hope this works!

..Nope.

I swear this was working in 1.0.2! I've got a lot of things to do..

..Anyways, after a few minutes of clipping canards into the fuselage days of hardwork, sweat and frustration, I've been able to get it an "Airworthiness Certificate"! a.k.a just basically taking off and flying back into a patch of land.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

It's in an album, since it's incredibly long.

Uh.. did we recover the rest of the crew?

Alright, next project!

The Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde, one of the most famed airliners from it's time due to it's ability to fly faster than the speed of sound.

​

..Remember when I said that I will try restoring my planes for 1.0.4?

Yeah.. umm.. about that..

Get back to bed, Concorde! You're high!

This is going to be a bumpy ride.

Anyways..

I've looked into the videos I took from the failures, and it seems that the main problem is the gear.

As you start the engines, the aircraft speeds down the runway.. quickly.

At around 50-60 m/s, the gear starts to tremble and wobble. Violently.

By this point, the aircraft starts to bank hard--A wing hits the runway.

The collision ends up shoving and pulling the whole plane towards that direction.

The fuselage flips over. By this point, it's clear that disaster is inevitable.

The structure fails and tears apart..

Resulting in an overall explosion.

I've recorded this gif for your amusement. Feast yer' morbid eyes!

Anyways, I'll cover the restoration in the next report. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, and leave some rep if you enjoyed!

Edited July 9, 2015 by Columbia

[Columbia]

Anyways, I've been able to get back to testing the Concorde.. It's airworthy. Kind of.. Probably still can't land.

I repositioned the engines and moved the gear. Takes off more realistically now.

Failure - Test I TOTALLY SUCCESSFUL Test I:

Take-off!

Camera Tools can provide some pretty cool angles.

Wait.. no.. Er, no, CUT!

~~~~Please Stand By~~~~~~

That was.. umm.. the afterburner.. ignit The concorde doesn't have afterburners, you twat! Yeah.. right.. ermm.. uh..

Let's try that again..

Take-off!

Dang, that was rough..

Ooooh, shiny!

Let's go for a turnaround.

Look at that speed!

..I forgot to retract the gear.

Great..

We're still too far from Kerbin City and we're nearly out of fuel! I gotta divert..

Let's reserve the engines for later.

Well, we're deprived---

BAAAIL!

..Oh noes!

Well, I'll have to keep trying, then.

[Vagani]

Loving this Columbia, can't wait for the next part

[Geschosskopf]

Yup, definitely madness

[Columbia]

Loving this Columbia, can't wait for the next part

Yup, definitely madness

Thank you! I'll keep this updated as much as i can

Working on a little something..

Edited July 4, 2015 by Columbia

[Vagani]

Working on a little something..

http://i.imgur.com/ep0VtSx.png

Oh yes, now we're talking:)

[Yukon0009]

Try your hand at a full size 747? Plain MK3 747 seems so tiny.

[Columbia]

Try your hand at a full size 747? Plain MK3 747 seems so tiny.

I'm.. terrible.. at giant planes.

Maybe I'll try it when I'm done with this project, but then again, anything could fly if you put enough wings.

[Columbia]

Next entry!

Putting the Concorde aside;

After the recent dawn of the Space Shuttle designing plans, the next logical step was to test it's gliding capabilities. Of course, we needed an aircraft to send it up, and the B747 was up for the task.

(The shuttle was courtesy of inigma. If you're reading this, I owe you a lot. )

Taking off.. Rather sluggish.

Pull up!

..Great, now it's hovering above the runway.

Pull it harder! Cmon!

Alright, let's get the shuttle separated..

Yay, it works!

Wooohoo!

..And i crashed it.

Back to the SCA.. which is now hopelessly out of control.

Tell my husband (In the case of Val) i love him... BAAAAAIIILL!!!!

Oh no, Holy Kraken!

Valentina's going to be rescued.. soon.

Welp, I guess it was a *partial* success..

Stay tuned for the next!

[Columbia]

So far, the Concorde and Boeing 747-100 SCA variant are in testing, while the passenger B747 is tested and working for 1.0.

I still have a long way to go.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Nice! The concorde worked about as well as mine, that is: not at all, especially before I gave up on my fairing based fuselage idea.

[Geschosskopf]

Oh no, Holy Kraken!

Love it. Looks great. IIRC, the shuttle and the 747 both used the same cockpit anyway. But I think you need a bit more altitude and, more importantly, speed, prior to releasing the shuttle .

BTW, every time I see "Columbia" used as a name, I don't think the shuttle, I think this:

http://40.media.tumblr.com/535933d2ada286a27bdc317482778884/tumblr_n6iomazvoQ1st208eo1_500.png

Dunno why that is. Blame my misspent youth I suppose.

[Columbia]

Nice! The concorde worked about as well as mine, that is: not at all, especially before I gave up on my fairing based fuselage idea.

Yes, Concordes are probably a KSP engineer's worst nightmare. Especially with Mk3 parts.

Love it. Looks great. IIRC, the shuttle and the 747 both used the same cockpit anyway. But I think you need a bit more altitude and, more importantly, speed, prior to releasing the shuttle .

BTW, every time I see "Columbia" used as a name, I don't think the shuttle, I think this:

http://40.media.tumblr.com/535933d2ada286a27bdc317482778884/tumblr_n6iomazvoQ1st208eo1_500.png

Dunno why that is. Blame my misspent youth I suppose.

Thanks, Geschosskopf!

I had to research a bit on that Columbia thing.. Yes, I know, it was a terrible choice as a name

Anyways, after rescuing Val after yesterday's horrible ordeal, I got back to testing the SCA;

That part count makes me.. cringe. A lot. 379?! Someone can build a life-size B-52 with that many parts!

Anyways, let's go for the second test flight!

We're off! Wish us luck, Mission control!

A steep climb. No wonder it's slow.

Alright, let's get it turned around.

Initiate Separaation in 3.. 2.. 1..

Woah, that was quick!

Picking up speed.. So it won't stall. Again.

No, it's too steep!

The nose survived the ordeal, but the rear was.. a different story. You can already see the wings bent and starting to break.

Either way, it was a crash landing.

Ach mein gott.

Okay, back to the B747.. Which is still flying.

At least it picked up speed! Unlike a certain glider.. *looks at shuttle

Let's get it turned around.. Oh, glamorous view!

Getting closer.. Fasten your seatbelts! This landing's going to be..Interesting.

Almost there!

We're off centerline! Yaw it back, Val!

50.. 40.. 30.. 20.. 10.. Flare it already, kamnit!

Touchdown - Hold the brakes!

And.. Full-stop! *slightly* off centerline..

But regardless, success!

Edited July 9, 2015 by Columbia

[Goddess Bhavani]

That 747/SCA is interesting!

Are there any tricks to switching between the Shuttle and the 747? I remember running into the "not allowed to switch out of moving/in-flight craft" restriction all the time in KSP. Any mods or cfg tricks to work around that?

[Columbia]

Well, I managed to land the Concorde in Insular Airfield, although it required some extensive quicksaving..

Taking off! Looks good from this angle..

Picking up speed!

Woah, that's.. near!

Yes, YES! We're triumphant for the take-off!

Ja, we're here!

Alright, we're lined with the centerline!

Almost here!

..I should probably not be running the engines so close to the ground.

Touchdown!!

Hold it.. hold it..

Full stop! We're victorious!!

The Concorde is finally airworthy - Thanks for all the support! Now on.. to the next major project!

- - - Updated - - -

That 747/SCA is interesting!

Are there any tricks to switching between the Shuttle and the 747? I remember running into the "not allowed to switch out of moving/in-flight craft" restriction all the time in KSP. Any mods or cfg tricks to work around that?

Thanks, pandoras kitten!

Hmm.. That's odd. I never ran into that problem. It could be that it was from the same craft, although I have to make the switch quick.

[Columbia]

Alright guys, I don't have time to play KSP much for the weekdays, because of IRL stuff. I will certainly continue posting during the weekends, so stay tuned. Here's a riddle for the next project:

"With it's Pratt and Whitney turbofans, this bird, although old indeed, is of unusual configuration. It is uniquely known for domestic destinations and has proved well in the long-run."

"We refer to it as a mad aircraft that is described to be dog-like."

Good luck!

[GehringGame]

Columbia, awesome planes! I always chicken out before attempting to fly anything that big. I've still never built a massive aircraft like that. Looking forward to your next report. I think I might have an idea what your riddle is referring to

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

This is great, I may have to start one of these.

[Columbia]

Columbia, awesome planes! I always chicken out before attempting to fly anything that big. I've still never built a massive aircraft like that. Looking forward to your next report. I think I might have an idea what your riddle is referring to

Thank you, GehringGame! Indeed, the Mk3 parts are really difficult to build with, but you'll soon get used to it. They're quite tiny, though, if you compare these to some other airliners people made (*cough *cough Yukon0009 and Jetenginestar), especially noting that the Concorde seems to be bigger than an MD-80. Oh, whoops.. I shouldn't have said that.. I should not have said that..

Okay yes, that was the riddle's answer. MD-80.

This is great, I may have to start one of these.

Yes, they're a good way to blog your works, especially if you're working on something big, such as a mission pack, or for that matter, an Airliner pack.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Columbia

[Columbia]

Do you guys think this is a good logo, or should I work more on it? For me it looks a little.. quirky.

[Yukon0009]

(*cough *cough Yukon0009),

Has everyone forgot about Jetenginestar who built a full size 747 before gizmos..?

[Columbia]

..Right. I forgot to mention him too.

If only I had a good computer and an older version.. I'd certainly fly it.

Much size. Amaze.

[Columbia]

Hello, forums! I managed to complete the project I was talking about - a McDonnell Douglas MD-80!

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a short-to-medium range single-aisle jet airliner, designed by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, distinct due to it's "eyebrow" cockpit and rear-mounted tail engines.

Here's the assembly process:

Base Fuselage

Work on the tail. It was changed later on, of course.

The elevators, distinctively mounted up high.

Mein first trial didn't end so well, the aircraft barely lifting off before plummeting into a runway light.

Runway lights are horror.

~~~~~~~~~TONS OF HOURS OF REVISION LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

..The tail was revised, engines buffed, repositioned landing gear, strengthened wings (with struts!).. A lot of things.

Taking off - Looks much more like an MD-80!

We're aloft! Wahoo!

Now.. for durr landing. Oh noes.

Turning around.. good angle!

Coming in for landing!

Closing in...

Alright, almost there!

Oh noes. We touched down on a hill!

We're screwed.

With a twist of luck, it stopped, despite leaning at around a 5 degree angle!

(Nearly overshot it.)

At least we have a view!

Success!

[Columbia]

Well, the names of the aircraft are all kerbalized - Kerbdonnell Kouglas, Koeing, Kerbinbus, and.. I'm honestly not sure if I should change if afterwards to their actual names. It'd take a big mess to clean up, though.

What are your opinions?

[Columbia]

Sorry for the necro!

Anyways, being off of KSP, I decided to work on a new company logo! I still can't get it right..

The concept was a Boeing 747-100 SCA flying with the Shuttle between two stripes.

It was then that I realized.. I made a French flag.

- - - Updated - - -

Moving on!

I still can't get the font (or, for that matter, anything) right. What is this, a decadent chocolate-making industry?