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Hummlebee Mk2

Mister Dilsby

By Mister Dilsby
in KSP1 The Spacecraft Exchange

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Mister Dilsby

Mister Dilsby

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Posted (edited)

Finally releasing the Hummlebee Mk2, exactly as it appeared in Duna, Ore Bust! . Two versions are available, one with the KER computer installed and one fully stock. The first few pages of Chapter 2 of the comic (album below) give reasonably good instructions on how to launch it to orbit using the "Orange Knight". Your apoapsis may vary. No warranty expressed or implied, but somehow I managed to get this thing to every biome on Duna, Ike and back, so so can you! :)

lMKlpct.png

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Notes:

  • I designed and launched this in 1.0.2 and landed it in 1.0.4.
  • The "Orange Knight" airlaunch to orbit vehicle is a bit tricky. Drain the dorsal tank into the main as soon as there's room. Then you'll have to manually adjust thrust on the Twin Boar engine as fuel drains to keep from flipping. Just like Jeb did!
  • Toggle the Vernor engine VTOL system with AG6. It balances reasonably well.
  • Watch the balance between forward and rear fuel tanks when maneuvering in atmosphere--it will flip if you get your COM behind COL.
  • Yes the AIRBRAKES are on backwards.
  • Yes there is a random antenna embedded in the starboard wing. Oopsie.
  • No I still don't know why in my game the wings sometimes lost lift. Hopefully it won't happen to you! If it does, it's all part of the Kerbfleet experience!
  • Yes the ladder is on the wrong side, and anyone exiting the ship has to just drop to the surface. I think I covered this up in the comic pretty well, don't you?

And here is the link to the .craft file. Enjoy!

And here's the fully stock version with the Kerbal Engineer unit removed.

Edited by Kuzzter
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Starhawk

Starhawk

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Thanks guys! I know I promised to release it once the comic finished and Kerbfleet decommissioned it, but still nervous now that everyone will be able to point out all the ways I designed/built/flew it wrong :)

Hopefully everyone will be gentle in their critiques. After all, the Hummlebee is famous.

Heck, there's even a song about it. :)

Haven't had a chance to take it out yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Happy landings!

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Mad Rocket Scientist

Mad Rocket Scientist

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Thanks guys! I know I promised to release it once the comic finished and Kerbfleet decommissioned it, but still nervous now that everyone will be able to point out all the ways I designed/built/flew it wrong :)

Don't worry, I was joking. Airbrakes work either way in KSP. I can't wait to be the 6th hummlebeetle.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Mister Dilsby

Mister Dilsby

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I got some feedback by PM from someone who tried getting the Hummlebee to orbit, quite unsuccessfully. Anyone still attempting to do so may find the following useful:

I sent the old Hummlebee up one more time and remembered a critical step: as soon as there is enough room in the main tanks, transfer all the fuel from the dorsal tank (the one feeding the Skipper) into the mains. Then you should be able to control attitude well enough by managing the Twin Boar thrust, and the Skipper will still run from the fuel line connected to the main tank. I did not have time to go all the way to orbit but everything was still pretty stable at 15km. Good luck!

It has been quite correctly pointed out to me that a ship needing manual fuel transfers and thrust management to get to orbit is pretty darn Kerbal :)

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Starhawk

Starhawk

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I sent the old Hummlebee up one more time and remembered a critical step: as soon as there is enough room in the main tanks, transfer all the fuel from the dorsal tank (the one feeding the Skipper) into the mains. Then you should be able to control attitude well enough by managing the Twin Boar thrust, and the Skipper will still run from the fuel line connected to the main tank. I did not have time to go all the way to orbit but everything was still pretty stable at 15km. Good luck!

Yes! That was all I needed. Once that fuel was pumped she handled like a happy Kittehkat. Well, as long as I kept her purring by continuously adjusting the Twin-Boar's thrust limiter. No problems getting the Hummlebee to orbit after that. Very nice.

Without that fuel-pumping though... well, let's just say that the Orange Knight can break up in some very spectacular and entertaining displays.

Now all I need is...

Happy landings!

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Rune

Rune

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Those are a lot of vernors. Sure they are not giving more drag than conventional rockets? They are costing you more for sure in √... Also, the drill is a drag machine, might want to find a place for it in the cargo bay for the v2.0...

Anyhow, after the obligatory engineering comment, I just went through the whole of E:OZ (as of now) and enjoyed it a lot. I guess DOB goes next, so thanks for that!

Rune. I almost thought about trying to build a reusable Eve booster again....

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Starhawk

Starhawk

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Cool! Very strange and wonderful to see a familiar ship docked in an unfamiliar setting. Looking forward to seeing her on the Minmus flats!

I'm pleased to hear you say that. I was hoping to evoke a reaction like that. It sounds just like the feeling I experienced at seeing such an unfamiliar craft in such a familiar place.

Happy landings!

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Mister Dilsby

Mister Dilsby

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Those are a lot of vernors. Sure they are not giving more drag than conventional rockets? They are costing you more for sure in √... Also, the drill is a drag machine, might want to find a place for it in the cargo bay for the v2.0...

Hey thanks Rune! You're right of course. I was not too worried about drag since it was only going to launch to orbit on Kerbin one time, and would spend its mission either in vacuum (Ike) or in the thin air of Duna. The decision to use vernors rather than a conventional rocket was driven primarily by control considerations: the vernor of course runs on the RCS system which permitted me to trigger it in bursts with the "K" key while independently throttling the main engine. I don't think I ever fired it for more than a few seconds in any landing or takeoff. So from my perspective the drag didn't matter too much, control was superior, and I didn't have to carry the mass of an engine pointed the wrong way which I would not use for 99% of the mission.

That drag on that drill tho-yeah, huge vector which you can see in D,OB! when I have the aero forces overlay enabled. I did attempt to put it in a bay but was a bit afraid of clipping bugs summoning Krakens and the like. I think that in the end though, having that much drag on the tail helped the ship make a stable landing on Kerbin--very little trouble putting Hummlebee in the middle of the runway.

Also very glad you like the comics! The OP in each thread gives links to the Imgur albums in recommended order for anyone just starting to read--note that I started with D,OB! and began E:O0 concurrently, so if you read the whole Eve story first some things may have appeared out of order for you.

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Starhawk

Starhawk

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The Hummlebee has landed!

I left the fuel margin a bit thinner than I'd planned, but I did waste some playing with the VTOL system a bit on the descent.

Here's a pic at the Greater Flats on Minmus mining ore. My most qualified engineer, Dabelle, is aboard although she's not shown since she's in the fourth seat. With her assistance, mining is proceeding apace.

Io4EL0h.jpg

Happy landing!

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Starhawk

Starhawk

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And another beautiful landing delivered the crew safely back to the runway on the first attempt (with Bingo fuel again!). I was actually going to come in short and had to fire the engines a bit to make the runway. The Hummlebee reentered and handled very nicely. I did lose the two external gigantors on the reentry.

Dabelle (4 star engineer), Valtha (pilot), Samby (badS scientist), and Jeb pose for a photo op on their return home.

iyJGA8Z.jpg

Happy landings!

p.s. The ladder's not on the wrong side, you just have to EVA them by clicking on the hatch and using the dialogue.

Edited by Starhawk
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