[0.15 + Damned Aerospace] Colmo-Korp Aeronautics

[colmo]

SasquatchM\'s Probe Retrieval challenge prompted the design of this rescue vehicle, based on an adaptation of the CK SuperHeli :

CK Sea HeliRescue MkII:

Controls are rotors only for flight, prop only for water and land, normal directional controls work on all surfaces, and to reverse the claw towards the probe, blip the main rotors with S pressed.

The normal plan for a retrieval is to fly out to the object (with an aggressive pitch forward and full throttle, it can do 170m/s), land, manoeuvre (A and D to steer), grab with the claw, lift clear of water (if the object is too heavy, leave it, just go easy on the throttle) and sail back, then drag onto land. Flying with something in the claw is likely to cause a crash due to imbalance.

Requires HSTW pontoons and landing struts, Damned Aerospace and Damned Robotics. The MkII is identical to the MkI aside from a miniscule centring of the grab arm and the addition of winglets to aid control.

[colmo]

It was time to take on the ultimate challenge in Kerbal aeronautics...a VTOL!

CK VTOL-TwinTurbine MkI & MkII:

Based upon RavingManiac\'s opposing rotatron wing mount idea, used for his Owl VTOL, and the principals of balancing centre of mass with thrust for vertical flight, and with centre of mass with lift for horizontal flight, Colmo-Korp\'s first VTOL emerged.

It can take off and land both horizontally and vertically. The onboard ASAS unit means you can lock in your horizon to concentrate on controlling VTOL tilt and thrust for gentle landings. Conventional horizontal flight performance hasn\'t been ignored either, with a straight and true, attitude-neutral flight profile, excellent manoeuvrability, and plenty of power from the Damned Aerospace VjTurbines.

The MkII has increased ground clearance and a 4 point instead of 3 point landing gear setup to prevent the turbines contacting the ground on a hard vertical landing.

Requires Damned Aerospace and Damned Robotics mods for the VjTurbine and rotatron. Floodlights from the Bigtrak mod, mounted to the underside for vertical landings, are highly recommended - place them front and back to maintain weight balance.

[colmo]

The K prize challenge by boolybooly has been bugging me for sometime - Colmo-Korp has gone from strength to strength, with biplanes, helicopters and now VTOL jets, but space planes had proven elusive. Some research, a few failed prototypes and a rethink finally spawned these:

CK Kotal (Kerbal Orbital Take-Off And Landing) TwinTurbine MkII Space Plane:

Able to take-off well before the end of the runway, and with turbines that can take it to 18km before engaging the rocket 2nd stage, allowing shutdown of the turbines beyond 20km, achieve orbit, deorbit and land and still have 250kg plus of fuel to spare, this is a deluxe space plane. Further testing will be performed to establish if it can reach the Mun or Minimus.

Requires Damned Aerospace and the C7 bicoupler (not a stock item).

CK Kotal SP Stock MkI Space Plane (K prize finisher):

While it does not quite have the performance of the Kotal TwinTurbine model, it won\'t burst the bank by using commonly available parts. It has just enough fuel to achieve orbit, deorbit and land. Activate the rocket 2nd stage when the turbofan runs out of steam at around 15km (depending on your ascent angle)

[MaverickSawyer]

Dude, that Kotal jet is one bada$$ looking jet. Just add some missiles to it, and let the fun begin!

[Sbowyer28]

Little off topic but this thread did inspire me to make my own buisness page, but no one pays attention to it... Anyways EPIC PLANES Even easy to fly keyboard.

[colmo]

Dude, that Kotal jet is one bada$$ looking jet. Just add some missiles to it, and let the fun begin!

It does appear to be a design sitting in a sweet spot of weight, thrust, endurance and looks. The dicoupler has a generous load of fuel for it\'s mass, but it would still do it\'s job with less.

I\'m thinking a VTOL version with C7 forward swept wings should be straight forward. The ultimate VTOL space plane would be one that can VTOL on Mun or Minmus, which might be doable with the Stock version, but will require a revamp to increase fuel capacity.

Little off topic but this thread did inspire me to make my own buisness page, but no one pays attention to it... Anyways EPIC PLANES Even easy to fly keyboard.

As a Linux user, that\'s all I have!

In the pipeline, I have some carrier planes for the Bigtrak and green truck, and an amphibious rescue vehicle using a similar design. The Bigtrak one is done, but I\'m off to Wimbledon for a few days and want to release all the carriers together.

Thanks for the kind words - I do try to make sure a new plane or heli looks and flies perfectly before releasing it, only using a mod when it\'s the best option for that design.

[JMBuilder]

OH! Someone do me a favor!! Download my special craft, the Mobile Landing Strip Mk3, and try landing and taking off from it with these helicopters!

Here\'s the link:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=15189.msg229454#msg229454

[colmo]

OH! Someone do me a favor!! Download my special craft, the Mobile Landing Strip Mk3, and try landing and taking off from it with these helicopters!

Here\'s the link:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=15189.msg229454#msg229454

It\'s still tricky landing on a small target, as static hovering is so difficult - keeping it moving might be easier. I have plans for the Kerbylon launch platform out on the ocean - now it\'s a bit more substantial in size!

[Hyratel]

anyone got a resauce on that dicoupler? Do Want

[colmo]

anyone got a resauce on that dicoupler? Do Want

Here you go:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=4886.0

[AeroPelican]

The sacrifice of many, many Kerbals was not in vain as I finally designed a flyable chopper (which sometime successfully lands too).

I think the fuel hoses have bugged it, giving infinite fuel. Considering how hard choppers are to fly in the game currently (0.15.2), not having to worry about changing weight balance due to rear-forwards fuel consumption is a small bonus. - Nope, fuel use is fine. It\'s just VERY parsimonious.

MkI had the lateral tanks on trusses - the removal of the trusses centralised mass and made the helicopter much easier to handle.

MkIIb has corrected fuel hose layout for optimal balance for the majority of the flight.

Requires Damned Aeronautics and floodlights from the Bigtrak mod - this is highly recommended as the downward facing beams give you a much better idea of where the ground is on landing.

-snip-

with my helicopters I use the mk2 cockpit and attach a DA propeller to the front, for bursts of speed.

[Mr.Video.King]

just a qwick question when i tryto load a craft it says cannot load craft file format is incompatible with this version of ksp what do i do??

[colmo]

just a qwick question when i tryto load a craft it says cannot load craft file format is incompatible with this version of ksp what do i do??

These are 0.15 craft files. I have a 0.16 thread which is separate for compatibility reasons - it doesn't have quite the same range as I've been busy since 0.16 came out. Link is in my signature.

[Mr.Video.King]

These are 0.15 craft files. I have a 0.16 thread which is separate for compatibility reasons - it doesn't have quite the same range as I've been busy since 0.16 came out. Link is in my signature.

thank you. is it possible to update these craft files?

[colmo]

thank you. is it possible to update these craft files?

There are some converters around, but I was less than successful with them. Due to changes in the flight model, they probably would require a redesign anyway.

I may soon have some time to recreate some of my best designs - I started a poll on the 0.16 thread to gather opinion on what people actually liked, so I'll know what to concentrate on. I also have a completely new series of air carriers for deploying structures and rovers in the pipeline.