[Min KSP 1.12.2] Buffalo: NASA Inspired Modular Space Exploration Vehicle

[SaelbenNoa]

Well, really like the mod.

 

And seems the bug I tried to report was not caused by this mod in the end... At least I think it wasn't, my god, debugging...

Edited March 11, 2017 by SaelbenNoa
Sowwy, misreported

[Terran Empire]

On 3/10/2017 at 0:41 AM, Angel-125 said:

Prototype for the Buffalo Wings (TM) update:

I have to figure out the symmetry, and create some wings and saddle tanks, but it's conceptually working.

Could install a docking port set up and probe core have the Buffalo dock to the wings and even use the wings to bring cargo to Kerbals on Kerbin using the Buckboards 

[Angelo Kerman]

After mulling over the current ducted fan design, I realized that the fan is electrically powered and has a separate gas turbine generator part to generate copious amounts of ElectricCharge. Once it dawned on me that the previous design could also be electrically powered, I had a chance to revisit the tilt-rotor design. I think it's working out better:

Obviously this is still a prototype and needs refinement, but I think it's a step in the right direction- and the one I originally envisioned.

[Angelo Kerman]

Basics of the engine nacelle rotator is now working:

I also did some code refactoring, and I think I can tie the system into the existing hover manager (currently used for the JetWing).

[Arcane Intervention]

Looks awesome! do you know roughly when we can expect this in game?

[Angelo Kerman]

6 hours ago, Arcane Intervention said:

Looks awesome! do you know roughly when we can expect this in game?

Short answer is no. Long answer is it depends upon how long it takes me to finish the part and create the others for the release. I have a wing to make, saddle tanks, and a gas turbine generator, not to mention a wheel for the Bison, a nuclear reactor, an electric motor for the Heisenberg... So there is a lot to do. I will be glad when it's all done, then I'll finally have what I need to go exploring Kerbin with.

[Just Jim]

20 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Short answer is no. Long answer is it depends upon how long it takes me to finish the part and create the others for the release. I have a wing to make, saddle tanks, and a gas turbine generator, not to mention a wheel for the Bison, a nuclear reactor, an electric motor for the Heisenberg... So there is a lot to do. I will be glad when it's all done, then I'll finally have what I need to go exploring Kerbin with.

I'm out of likes for today but I love the Buffalo wings!  Take your time... it's well worth the wait. 

[Angelo Kerman]

3 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

I'm out of likes for today but I love the Buffalo wings!  Take your time... it's well worth the wait. 

Angelo Kerman (Wild Blue Chief Designer, CEO (Emeritus)): Hey, Karen, I've been on a road trip, and I've got a great idea: tilt rotors!

Karen C. Kerman (Wild Blue CEO):Tilt rotors?

Angelo: Yeah! big propeller/rotors that lift the Buffalo vertically like a helicopter, then tilt forward to let it fly like a plane. Make them electrically powered and you can use multiple power sources- solar (though you'd need a lot of panels), gas turbine generator, even nuclear!

Karen: Hm, a tilt-rotor system might be possibl- wait, did you say nuclear?

Angelo: Yeah!

Karen: oh SQUAD, here we go again...

[Gumby1973]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Angelo Kerman (Wild Blue Chief Designer, CEO (Emeritus)): Hey, Karen, I've been on a road trip, and I've got a great idea: tilt rotors!

Karen C. Kerman (Wild Blue CEO):Tilt rotors?

Angelo: Yeah! big propeller/rotors that lift the Buffalo vertically like a helicopter, then tilt forward to let it fly like a plane. Make them electrically powered and you can use multiple power sources- solar (though you'd need a lot of panels), gas turbine generator, even nuclear!

Karen: Hm, a tilt-rotor system might be possibl- wait, did you say nuclear?

Angelo: Yeah!

Karen: oh SQUAD, here we go again...

I like the idea of a Buffalo/Heisenberg modular part that integrates a nuclear fusion reactor and radiators on the sides with the active cooling option  

[Angelo Kerman]

16 minutes ago, Gumby1973 said:

I like the idea of a Buffalo/Heisenberg modular part that integrates a nuclear fusion reactor and radiators on the sides with the active cooling option  

I do too, though DSEV's fusion reactors pretty much give you that already. What I'm thinking of for the Buffalo is something along the lines of NASA's Safe Affordable Fission Engine as a 0.625m part that runs on Thorium and generates 125 EC/sec. That's a little more than what you need to drive a tilt-rotor, so you'd need two on that prototype. It would be available earlier than the fusion engines, but its output is lower. As a possible active cooling system, it could use a built-in radiator powered by CompressedAir, as a sort of air-cooled reactor. Of course the tilt-rotor produces CompressedAir, which also powers the RCS system... If you don't have air cooling available, then traditional radiators will do the job.

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Angelo Kerman (Wild Blue Chief Designer, CEO (Emeritus)): Hey, Karen, I've been on a road trip, and I've got a great idea: tilt rotors!

Karen C. Kerman (Wild Blue CEO):Tilt rotors?

Angelo: Yeah! big propeller/rotors that lift the Buffalo vertically like a helicopter, then tilt forward to let it fly like a plane. Make them electrically powered and you can use multiple power sources- solar (though you'd need a lot of panels), gas turbine generator, even nuclear!

Karen: Hm, a tilt-rotor system might be possibl- wait, did you say nuclear?

Angelo: Yeah!

Karen: oh SQUAD, here we go again...

I'm still out of likes... lol.... I'll like this tomorrow  

[Terran Empire]

21 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Basics of the engine nacelle rotator is now working:

I also did some code refactoring, and I think I can tie the system into the existing hover manager (currently used for the JetWing).

Oh cool you based those off the V280 valor nacelles. I have been thinking of trying to build a FVL with Firespitter just could never figure out what to use for engines. 

[Arcane Intervention]

Now, another question, does anyone know what you can fit in the back of the bison (the cargo bay ramp)? i made a TINY rover with tweek scale (less then half size rovermate), and that doesn't fit, and i rather like the idea of a tiny rover in a bison, in a Mk IV system drop ship parked on a airship  ideas? what was it made to fit?

[Angelo Kerman]

1 hour ago, Arcane Intervention said:

Now, another question, does anyone know what you can fit in the back of the bison (the cargo bay ramp)? i made a TINY rover with tweek scale (less then half size rovermate), and that doesn't fit, and i rather like the idea of a tiny rover in a bison, in a Mk IV system drop ship parked on a airship  ideas? what was it made to fit?

Yup, I originally wanted to make the V-22 nacelles but decided that the V-280 nacelle approach looked nicer. Plus, with the way I'm going to make the gas turbine generators, you can hang them on the wingtips if you like, or plug them into an upcoming engine mount for more of a Blackhawk look.

Meanwhile, test video of the VTOL system:

It is very much a work in progress; I plan to add more controls to the VTOL screen to handle things like thrust reverse, pivoting the nacelles, allowing you to set a specific angle, and so on. But what I've got is definitely coming along. (In case you're wondering, yes, the engine sound comes straight from a V-22 Osprey.)

[SpaceBadger007]

20 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Yup, I originally wanted to make the V-22 nacelles but decided that the V-280 nacelle approach looked nicer. Plus, with the way I'm going to make the gas turbine generators, you can hang them on the wingtips if you like, or plug them into an upcoming engine mount for more of a Blackhawk look.

Meanwhile, test video of the VTOL system:

It is very much a work in progress; I plan to add more controls to the VTOL screen to handle things like thrust reverse, pivoting the nacelles, allowing you to set a specific angle, and so on. But what I've got is definitely coming along. (In case you're wondering, yes, the engine sound comes straight from a V-22 Osprey.)

I have a feeling this is gonna replace my tilt-fan vtol from earlyer! Im already thinking of ir folding wings to put in hisenberg hangers! On the folding topic, will the rotor blades themselves fold up or will that be to difficult?

[Angelo Kerman]

1 minute ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

I have a feeling this is gonna replace my tilt-fan vtol from earlyer! Im already thinking of ir folding wings to put in hisenberg hangers! On the folding topic, will the rotor blades themselves fold up or will that be to difficult?

The prop-rotors will indeed fold up, and if you use the titular Buffalo Wings that I'm working on, then you can park that aircraft inside the Heisenberg's hangar without folding the wings.

[Angelo Kerman]

Also, I'm thinking of a rotor system along the lines of this:

Spoiler

The Whispercraft is really cool. I could do the rotor system (minus the engines, they're sold separately), maybe an adaption of the cockpit for the Buffalo form factor..

[eberkain]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Also, I'm thinking of a rotor system along the lines of this:

  Hide contents

The Whispercraft is really cool. I could do the rotor system (minus the engines, they're sold separately), maybe an adaption of the cockpit for the Buffalo form factor..

Now that seems like a really cool way to make a flying buffalo. 

[Angelo Kerman]

Yeah, I'm seriously considering it as an advanced helicopter rotor so you'll have a more compact VTOL form than just the tilt-rotors. I could make the gas turbine have two modes: Gas Turbine, to generate the large amounts of ElectricCharge needed to power these rotors, and Turbo Boost, where the generator produces thrust instead of EC. Then you could have that whispercraft rotor (I'm calling it the Dragonfly after the X-50) stop in mid air, become a wing, and off you go.

Angelo: Hey, Karen!

Karen: Oh SQUAD, he's on a roll... What?

Angelo: Folding helicopter blades!

Karen: Folding what now?

Angelo: Take a traditional-ish helicopter rotor, slow it down mid-flight, and turn it into a swept wing!

Karen: And how do you keep the chopper from falling out of the sky?

Angelo: You have a set of canards in the front and stabilizer-wings in the back. Switch the gas turbines over to turbo boost to generate thrust, and you have Air Buffalo, like that old TV show with Jan Michael Kerman! Although, with multiple wings, it's kind of like a dragonfly, and a more aerodynamic cockpit would be nice...

Karen: If your crazy ideas didn't make us so much money...

Anyway, I've got the bugs worked out of the VTOL manager, and consolidated the GUI controls:

 

[SpaceBadger007]

23 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Yeah, I'm seriously considering it as an advanced helicopter rotor so you'll have a more compact VTOL form than just the tilt-rotors. I could make the gas turbine have two modes: Gas Turbine, to generate the large amounts of ElectricCharge needed to power these rotors, and Turbo Boost, where the generator produces thrust instead of EC. Then you could have that whispercraft rotor (I'm calling it the Dragonfly after the X-50) stop in mid air, become a wing, and off you go.

Angelo: Hey, Karen!

Karen: Oh SQUAD, he's on a roll... What?

Angelo: Folding helicopter blades!

Karen: Folding what now?

Angelo: Take a traditional-ish helicopter rotor, slow it down mid-flight, and turn it into a swept wing!

Karen: And how do you keep the chopper from falling out of the sky?

Angelo: You have a set of canards in the front and stabilizer-wings in the back. Switch the gas turbines over to turbo boost to generate thrust, and you have Air Buffalo, like that old TV show with Jan Michael Kerman! Although, with multiple wings, it's kind of like a dragonfly, and a more aerodynamic cockpit would be nice...

Karen: If your crazy ideas didn't make us so much money...

Anyway, I've got the bugs worked out of the VTOL manager, and consolidated the GUI controls:

 

This is so COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sudragon]

Indeed, much coolness. I know it's late in the process to make requests...but I think electric ducted fans might be good as propulsion for zepps, Like these: 



Maybe introduce them higher in the tech tree.

And yup, that's Jeb. Jeb Bond.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Sudragon

[Angelo Kerman]

10 hours ago, Sudragon said:

Indeed, much coolness. I know it's late in the process to make requests...but I think electric ducted fans might be good as propulsion for zepps, Like these: 

Maybe introduce them higher in the tech tree.

And yup, that's Jeb. Jeb Bond.

Right now the tilt-rotor is available at Advanced Aerodynamics, and I do have an electric propeller slated for the Heisenberg. It'll generate about 50kn of thrust- less than half of the tilt-rotor- but it'll have a wider tilt range, and it can be powered by those solar arrays I added in the latest version.

[Angelo Kerman]

Got the fine tune controls working, and code refactoring done. The VTOL plugin code is a lot more versatile now; I could use the rotator module to make a robot arm, for instance.

[Angelo Kerman]

Now that I've got the VTOL plugin working, I can focus on the tilt-rotor engine's artwork. I made some good progress today:

 

[Angelo Kerman]

Ignoring the weird texturing on the nacelle for a moment, I played around with the tilt-rotor tonight and realized that the Buffalo-sized tilt-rotor would look too small against the Mk3 fuselage, not to mention that it won't generate enough thrust. Hence, the next release will have the WB-22 "Typhoon" for the Buffalo, and the WB-44 "Hurricane" for the Mk3 fuselage:

Also, given how long it's taking me to get the next release out (sigh), I think I'll create a pre-release with just the tilt-rotors and the gas turbine generator once I get those two parts done. There's a lot more to do in this release, but at least you'll get a chance to play with the motors while I'm working up the remaining parts.