[WIP] Real Scale Boosters

[NecroBones]

13 minutes ago, Gaarst said:

Seems alright so far.

I have two complains, but I don't think you can solve them:

• VAB is too small ! Building a Saturn V is very frustrating
• The RS-68's plume is so nice in real life that KSP's plume looks just bad

Anyway, no complains about the mod so far, didn't find any bugs while playing for a little bit, and the launchers are perfectly able to fulfill their job in terms of payload to LEO. (I never realised upper stages in real rockets had so low TWR, I have to make my ascent profiles a lot steeper than what I usually do, and even then I usually end up falling for a while before reaching orbital velocity).

Heh, yeah, the TWR definitely brings in some interesting challenges.

 

For the VAB, it turns out Hangar Extender is a really handy mod. I never needed it until I started making this!

 

As for plumes, yeah, there's only so much you can do. Theses are custom plumes, just to get the right size for each engine, but the particle systems are pretty simplistic unless you start layering them on top of each other, and install SmokeScreen so you can have throttle and altitude effects beyond just the emissions speed and the like.

 

[Gaarst]

4 minutes ago, NecroBones said:

Heh, yeah, the TWR definitely brings in some interesting challenges.

For the VAB, it turns out Hangar Extender is a really handy mod. I never needed it until I started making this!

As for plumes, yeah, there's only so much you can do. Theses are custom plumes, just to get the right size for each engine, but the particle systems are pretty simplistic unless you start layering them on top of each other, and install SmokeScreen so you can have throttle and altitude effects beyond just the emissions speed and the like.

I use Hangar Extender in my main install (1.0.4) but I thought it wasn't updated for .5 and didn't think about it. Thank you for reminding me!

Same for SmokeScreen and RealPlume, which I use in my install. It has been so long since I played with the stock plumes that they just look bad. Though your plumes from SpaceY and RSB (F-1 and J-2 especially) are really nice compared to the stock engines'. Just a bit sad that the RS-68's can't look like the real one.

Also, I haven't found your SSME (RS-25) you mentioned a few posts ago, was it included in this release ?

Edited January 15, 2016 by Gaarst

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Gaarst said:

I use Hangar Extender in my main install (1.0.4) but I thought it wasn't updated for .5 and didn't think about it. Thank you for reminding me!

Same for SmokeScreen and RealPlume, which I use in my install. It has been so long since I played with the stock plumes that they just look bad. Though your plumes from SpaceY and RSB (F-1 and J-2 especially) are really nice compared to the stock engines'. Just a bit sad that the RS-68's can't look like the real one.

Also, I haven't found your SSME (RS-25) you mentioned a few posts ago, was it included in this release ?

The only reason I don't normally use RealPlume is because it slows it down for me.  I only have it in RO and my pretty boy installs.

[NecroBones]

2 hours ago, Gaarst said:

I use Hangar Extender in my main install (1.0.4) but I thought it wasn't updated for .5 and didn't think about it. Thank you for reminding me!

...

Also, I haven't found your SSME (RS-25) you mentioned a few posts ago, was it included in this release ?

Yep, it's there, are you using 1.0.5 with it? It kinda requires that. Do you see the J-2 engine in there? That one has the same overrides for the tech tree as the SSME.

EDIT: Also, it's slightly lighter than the Vector, so if you sort by mass, it's earlier in the list.

 

Edited January 15, 2016 by NecroBones

[Gaarst]

2 minutes ago, NecroBones said:

Yep, it's there, are you using 1.0.5 with it? It kinda requires that. Do you see the J-2 engine in there? That one has the same overrides for the tech tree as the SSME.

EDIT: Also, it's slightly lighter than the Vector, so if you sort by mass, it's earlier in the list.

 

I have the J-2 and the mod installed on 1.0.5. I guess I was just not paying attention, I'll search better next time.

[Dr.K Kerbal]

Looks super cool. Downloading it right now and hopefully it will make KSP. A better place.Dr.K Kerbal

 

[VenomousRequiem]

Lord, it's everything I wanted it to be... excellent work, NB!!! Can't wait to see more rockets, like the Ariane 5! Especially if you finish the second stage... *Cough* Beale *Cough*

[NecroBones]

 

Glad you guys are enjoying it so far!

 

So I'm still going to be off the grid most of the weekend, but I had some unexpected time available today, so I started on the Ares I upper stage:

 

[Jimbodiah]

Will you be supporting Community Resources so we can use LH2 in those cryo engines?

[VenomousRequiem]

43 minutes ago, NecroBones said:

 

Glad you guys are enjoying it so far!

 

So I'm still going to be off the grid most of the weekend, but I had some unexpected time available today, so I started on the Ares I upper stage:

 

Hey, that's cool!! Do you have any plans other than boosters, like spacecraft? I mean... I know it's "Real Scale Boosters" but still.

[Jodo42]

I'm missing a lower attachment node on the RL10, which makes Delta IV replicas rather difficult

Otherwise it's working great.

[NecroBones]

2 hours ago, VenomousRequiem said:

Hey, that's cool!! Do you have any plans other than boosters, like spacecraft? I mean... I know it's "Real Scale Boosters" but still.

Not at the moment, but it's always possible. We'll see how it goes.

 

53 minutes ago, Jodo42 said:

I'm missing a lower attachment node on the RL10, which makes Delta IV replicas rather difficult

Otherwise it's working great.

The engines don't have lower attachment nodes, because that's not how they work on the real rockets. The interstages connect directly to the tanks using an additional bottom node that is aligned to the lower rim of the upper stage. Attach the engine first, then put the interstage on, and you'll see it snaps right into place where it needs to.

EDIT: I chose to set it up this way so that the interstages are physical objects that can be jettisoned in a realistic fashion, and they're matched to the stages they belong to, no matter what engine you put in there (as long as it physically fits of course). It's a little different but it works well. The sample rockets included in the "Ships" folder will show how it works.
 

2 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

Will you be supporting Community Resources so we can use LH2 in those cryo engines?

Yep at some point. I'm not sure if I'll add that right away, or whether the folks doing the Realism Overhaul will get to it before me. For now all of the overall propellant masses are pretty close to accurate so that they perform correctly, but it will certainly be nice to simulate the actual fuels too.

Edited January 16, 2016 by NecroBones

[Jimbodiah]

Thanks!!! Would be cool to see LH in the cryos (pun intended). Several mods are using LH2 these days for their engines.

I love that you are doing the Ares I, it does not get enough love in my opinion, but it's my favorite crew launcher.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Jimbodiah

[Jodo42]

The DCSS only has 104L of tank space available. With a RL10 and no payload that's 120m/s of dV. Is the tank not finished yet, or is RealFuels messing up?

[Phineas Freak]

7 hours ago, NecroBones said:

So I'm still going to be off the grid most of the weekend, but I had some unexpected time available today, so I started on the Ares I upper stage:

So much wow! I have no words...

Edit: @Jodo42the parts are not yet compatible with RF.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Phineas Freak

[NecroBones]

I'm wondering if RF has some sort of default for tanks that don't otherwise have a specific config or something? It's definitely something we want to support, but right now I'm focused on getting the models built.

 

[Phineas Freak]

Since these parts are already made with the correct dimensions, adding RF support will be really easy!

[NecroBones]

 

I made some more progress on the Ares I today. In the screenshots, I have a dummy payload, which is just one of the largest of the 3.75m stock Kerbodyne fuel tanks:

 

 

 

[Kartoffelkuchen]

Oh man, wish I had as much time as you Looks very great though

Edited January 18, 2016 by Kartoffelkuchen

[NecroBones]

 

Looking at various pictures, it looks like sometimes the Atlas V upper stage (Centaur) is orange, and other times it's painted white. For now I'm assembling a white version. It has attachment nodes to permit adding either a single centered engine, or two side-by-side, to account for the common centaur configurations.

 

[Delta_8930]

The Centaur used to painted orange because that was the color of its insulation. ULA decided to paint it white now (probably to prevent cryo propellant boiling, like the H-2A upper tank and the first two space shuttle tanks)

[VenomousRequiem]

Since you're making an RL-10, how about the second stage tank for the Saturn 1. With 6 RL-10 engines. 

[NathanKell]

Also sometimes it's inside the 5m PLF (5xx), and sometimes it's not (4xx).

[NecroBones]

1 hour ago, NathanKell said:

Also sometimes it's inside the 5m PLF (5xx), and sometimes it's not (4xx).

Yep, I plan to represent both. I'm just trying to figure out how I want to handle the 5xx version. If the interstage is one part, it'll need to be a fairing base and decoupler simultaneously, unless the decoupling could come from the Centaur instead. Otherwise I'd need to make separate parts, which is fine, though I'm trying to minimize joints.

[NathanKell]

Yeah, was just wondering if the 5xx series were left unpainted orange and the 4xx were painted.