KBM-300 Kerbhour mobile launch vehicle

[kapteenipirk]

Presenting the KBM-300 Kerbhour ICBM and its launch vehicle (LGM-30G Minuteman III Replica of sort) for all you fans of global scale destruction (i.e not me).

This project is something that i think nobody has ever done before on this scale (not sure at all), and i have to say it was new to me as well since this was the first time ive ever used Infernal robotics, plus i haven't done any rocketry stuff for about 2 years so, i must say that the project went suprisingly well.

And again i was pretty much on the limits of what the physics can handle. Anyway, on with the description (this time i'm going for a more story like description cuz why the hell not).

 

From where it all began:

So today we got a call from the defense ministry concerning a new project that was a bit strange at first but made sence after a while.

Basically they wanted us to take our old satellite launch rockets and turn them in to big missiles, or as they said, ICBM:s (intercontinental ballistics missile) and them stuff them into old box-trailers that we used for carrying food supplies and them make them go vertical and act as a missile silo of sorts only this time they can move around Kerbin.

The idea was that they would be more hidden (airstrikes, ICBMs, etc) and could be used as secondary silos if the main silos ever got destroyed for some reason.

And from those ideas the Kerbhour ICBM was born.

I said that i'm not going to be building any nuclear weapons for the goverment, but luckily they said that no nuclear warheads are involved in this project. Still don't know that what is inside those warheads but i don't really care anymore.

The project was way more difficult than i first taught, well i should have quessed that lifting an 80 or so ton ICBM vertical is not going to be easy with these physics, but always knew that i was going to get this project done no matter what.

The project started with the mind set of "ive never done something like this before, but ill give it a shot (Miles "Tails" Prower from Sonic-X). First of i made the Missile itself and made sure that that works.

Also it was easier to see that how big the trailer would have to be. The ICBM is a 2 stage system that can launch its warhead in to a steady orbit and back down, so you can pretty much hit anywhere on kerbin.

NOTE: The only problem is that you need to have re-entry heating turned off in order for the rocket to survive the re-entry, i know, i tried but was unsuccesfull.

The second stage was to test that the rocket could be launched from a box made out of wings.

Initial tests showed promise.

After these tests (bout 4-6 launches and two different designs) we entered the hard part of the build, making the box work as a box-trailer and a launch silo for an ICBM.

It took me about 5 hours of testing and building (bout 20 launches and 10 different versions) to get it to work but well, "I'm not gonna give up that easy" (Tails from Sonic ova).

The whole thing was a great balancing act of trying to get the rocket to go vertical and trying to keep it straight AND trying not to make it explode before launch but as the y say " you just begin, you do the math, you solve one problem and then you solve the next one, and then when you solve enough problems you get to go home" (Mark Whatney from the martian) or in this case do a succesful launch.

The design i made is quite a bit different compared to the real life one, aka mine one needed landing gears under/behind the trailer wheels to hold the weight, lots of landing legs to keep the thing straight enough and two massive hydraulic rams to lift the box.

 NOTE: The other problem was making the trailer ready for transport. The problem is that because of how Infernal robotics works the box clips trough the main body of the trailer and hits the ground. In order to prevent this it has couple of radial decouplers and struts that need to be jettisoned before raising the box. Otherwise its gonna be stuck.

NOTE: I Updated the tow tractor to look more realistic. For the making of this i used the no offset limits mod as suggested by selfish_meme and i did use the "Spider" engine suspension as suggested by Majorjim, but it was too unreliable when combined with the 120t trailer (lets just say the back wheels did some interesting things). So credits to those guys.

Just to show the part count for both of the components of the system and the warhead.

 

After all this testing i can conclude that this system is pretty much useless, but it was fun making it and i know some of you will probably find uses for this.

Now as we all know systems like these cannot run on there own, so they need support vehicles to make them work:

1. Launcher vehicle. For launching the ICBM. (Already done).

2. Command vehicle. For controlling the rocket when out in the field. (Done).

3. Radar vehicle. For sending the command signals to the rocket when its far far away in the sky, or space. (Done).

4. Mobile generator. For powering everything up. (Done).

5. Missile transporter. For carrying new missiles to the launcher and possibly for also loading them in. Deemed unnesecery cause the system can only really be used one time due to limitations in KSP.

6. (optional) Some sort of escort vehicles. You know, for keeping those pesky enemies away from you fragile ICBM:s. (on the planning state)

7. Maintenance vehicle. Cause tires like to say POP way too often. (Done)

Now, ill i gotta do to finish this contract is to do all the vehicles mentioned above, since as described earlier this system needs to operate on the field. Before we where using the tracking station and the mission control building to control the rocket.

So all i have to do is to make a little brother for those buildings and we are good to go.

 

As it happens i just finished making the Mobile command center.

And here it is next to its big brother.

The making of the trailer was a pretty easy project overall, it's basically just another box-trailer with some bits that extend just like in those American RV:s.

 

After i got the command trailer done i got a call from Kermania saying that they wanted to assist us on this project. They offered us the plans for their MAN series of military trucks, and since they are my absolute favorite military trucks of all time i gladly accepted their offer.

So work began and not long after, the mobile generator was on the making. We basically just built a standard MAN-5t flatbed truck and stuck a Genemax brand generator on the back.

NOTE: Its a bit wobbly and fragile so please drive carefully, aka don't drive full speed for too long of the tires will pop and if you brake too hard or it will flip over and explode.

 

And here we have my favorite truck i have ever done in KSP. The MAN 10t multifunctional radar.

The Kermainians used these radar systems to control their mobile Patriot missile systems (maby a project for the future). But i tought that it could probably be used for ICBM:s as well. Since, you know, both of them a basically just missiles, except mine one is about a 100x larger and heavier.

The project was pretty easy, just take the MAN 5t and extend the frame and add some more wheels and then change the flatbed with a radar and some support legs.

And again here is the radar in front of it's big brother.

The MAN 10t truck is a lot more stable compared to its little brother, plus its less prone to tire popping.

I would have put the big scanning radar from the BD-armoury mod pack inside the box but it was too big, so this unit has no radar capabilities whatsoever. But who cares, it looks good and its KSP so we don't really have a need for these anyway.

Unless you want to use it for detecting incoming aircrafts, ground vehicles and ships. But we leave that job for our AWACS aircrafts.

 

Finally, the main part of the project is complete, The launcher system and all of it's support vehicles are now done.

now its time to do a real field test of the system (and see how much my computer likes when i put about 1200-1600 parts worth of vehicles in one place). And we can also think about doing some extra vehicles to help us survive better. Basically defense and maintenance.

 

 

 

And as stated above the main project/contract is complete, so now it's time to do our own addition to this endeavor.

And to kick things off on ou part we wanted to make some maintenance and recovery vehicles to help out our guys in the field when tires like to say POP and when the possibly bog down for some reason.

With the tools at hand we might just be able to try and build an ICBM inside the launcher, basically making it reusable. But i'm not willing take that risk right now.

 

The first thing we built in this category is the KMCC-704 construction/recovery crane.

We created this unit for building secondary bases, helping in repairs and for fishing out light vehicles from the water and from any places where the might be stuck.

We did later on try and lift a smaller vehicle (bout 8 tons [from the SXT pack btw]) but there where some troubles. Aka despawning magnets, me learning to use KAS and KIS and there was a crash too(plus it was about 10 pm here so i was tired).

And yes this was my first time ive ever worked with KAS as KIS, fortunetly they are easy to use and learn.

We equipped the crane with two cargo containers for carrying tools and extra grapplers, magnets and what not.

NOTE:This is especially useful since if you don't remember to retract and lock whatever is at the end of that winch, it will dissapear when you go back to the space center.

NOTE:The landing gears seem to sometimes forget their collisions with other bit excluding Kerbins surface so don't be alarmed if the crane ends up being more wobbly durning transport and the extending bit of the crane boom isn't inside the main boom. Both of these bits are supported by landing gears.

Even as unreliable and unusable it is (i don't think it can be made any better at this scale with these physics, not sure tough) it's still fun to mess around with it and see what it can do.

One thing to note is that the vehicle is very stable when on the move.

 

Next in line for our maintenance vehicles i would like to present the KTT-118 and its fuel trailer.

"Fuel, ammo, spare parts, anything you want" (supply trucks from the wargame series).

"You need spare tire.........or maby duct-tape" (Russian MPT from Rise of the Reds).

That pretty much sums up the purpose of this truck and it's trailer.

 

 

 

This time i left my usual flags out (except for the KTT-118) since i taught Tails might not be too happy about me pasting his face on the side of a giant missile (not that anyone cares).

And there it is for you, The KBM-300 Kerbhour ICBM system. IT wasn't easy , but i like a bit of a challenge plus it was something new, keeps thing fresh. And this might have been the longest project ive ever done.

Any way, i hope you enjoyed this crazy creation of mine.

Mods used: Infernal Robotics, BD-armoury, no offset limits, KIS and KAS and Nebula decals.

Download links:

KBM-300 and Kahack: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdkpe76lmfe28x8/KBM-300%20Kerbhour%20and%20Kahack.zip?dl=0

Mobile command trailer and KTT-310: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2w9v226ervj4p8p/Mobile%20command%20trailer%20and%20KTT-310.zip?dl=0

MAN 5t (genemax generator): https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3mx2l28maptj9g/Man%205t%20%28Genemax%20generator%29.craft?dl=0

MAN 10t multifunctional radar: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwg1kahg3knid1b/Man%2010t%20Multifunctional%20radar.craft?dl=0

KMCC-704 Mobile crane: https://www.dropbox.com/s/itngo7er7vjwd5f/KMCC-704.craft?dl=0

KTT-118 and fuel trailer (Tails flag included): https://www.dropbox.com/s/fz764dn44qlo428/KTT-118%20and%20fuel%20trailer.zip?dl=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by kapteenipirk
KMCC-704 Mobile crane added.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Nice work!  That kind of thing is very hard, even with IR!

[kapteenipirk]

On 20.2.2016 at 4:28 AM, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Nice work!  That kind of thing is very hard, even with IR!

Thanks. yep it was nothing but easy. just for reference/fun here are the results of the first test of the first trailer design.

1. Tires popped straight away.

2. The box doesn't move even an inch.

3. And finally the runway just collapsed.

A good way to start the day isn't it.

[Azimech]

You can circumvent popping tyres or wrecked runways by building a custom suspension for it and attach the wheels to that.

[kapteenipirk]

On 20.2.2016 at 4:38 PM, Azimech said:

You can circumvent popping tyres or wrecked runways by building a custom suspension for it and attach the wheels to that.

If only i would know how to do those kind of things.

[kapteenipirk]

The post has been updated and support vehicles 2, 3 and 4 have been added.

Edited February 20, 2016 by kapteenipirk

[Castille7]

Incredible amount of work here, very neat! Now a Food Trailer or a Double Slide Camper? Hum! I'll take the Camper! 

[Majorjim!]

23 hours ago, kapteenipirk said:

If only i would know how to do those kind of things.

It's common knowledge among some here. Invented/discovered by the rover king @Vagani you need to place an ant engine or two or three (test) and then add the wheel to the ant engines. It allows the wheels to flex and move much more naturally.

[kapteenipirk]

On 21.2.2016 at 4:47 PM, castille7 said:

Incredible amount of work here, very neat! Now a Food Trailer or a Double Slide Camper? Hum! I'll take the Camper! 

He, Thanks. For me that was about 20 hours of work, and the project is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Well, i could always consider making a foodtruck/trailer for our guys in the field.

On 21.2.2016 at 6:25 PM, Majorjim said:

It's common knowledge among some here. Invented/discovered by the rover king @Vagani you need to place an ant engine or two or three (test) and then add the wheel to the ant engines. It allows the wheels to flex and move much more naturally.

That should prove very useful indeed, thanks.

[AdrianK.]

Awesome trucks!   It is amazing what one can do with stock and IR parts!

[pTrevTrevs]

So... usually I would be horrified to see so many unevenly placed parts (it makes it look like one of those houses from the Great Depression made out of various sheets of metal), but these trailers are so functional that I'm going to let it slide. I like the R.V., and the missile has such a nice shape!

You ought to make more of these, so we can build entire bases out of them (maybe a barracks trailer, and supplies trailer, a fuel storage trailer, etc).

[kapteenipirk]

On 22.2.2016 at 2:01 AM, AdrianK. said:

Awesome trucks!   It is amazing what one can do with stock and IR parts!

Thanks. you also need to have a good imagination, and being a more creative type also helps in these builds.

On 22.2.2016 at 2:39 AM, pTrevTrevs said:

So... usually I would be horrified to see so many unevenly placed parts (it makes it look like one of those houses from the Great Depression made out of various sheets of metal), but these trailers are so functional that I'm going to let it slide. I like the R.V., and the missile has such a nice shape!

You ought to make more of these, so we can build entire bases out of them (maybe a barracks trailer, and supplies trailer, a fuel storage trailer, etc).

Thanks. All those types of vehicles/trailers are on the planning stage and are going to be made at some point.

Basically i'm planning on building a small army of sorts.

[kapteenipirk]

A small update is here: i improved the design of the Kahack to look more realistic.

I would have wanted to improve the look of the trailer itself, but i didn't want to brake it due to some small changes.

[kapteenipirk]

After my one 11 day holiday i finally have the chance to work on this project more seriously.

So as a new addition i bring you the KMCC-704 Mobile crane, that we use for setting up secondary bases, helping in repairs and getting vehicles unstuck.

More maintenance and recovery vehicles coming soon (tomorrow probably).

[kapteenipirk]

The maintenance team is now done and the KTT-118 supply/repair vehicle and it's fuel trailer are now added.

So "You need spare tire..........or maby duct tape" (Russian MPT from Rise of the Reds), Cause now we have LOTS of it, and some fuel too.

[kapteenipirk]

Time for a small update. Again, it's about 1.1. I wanted to see that how the new wheel physics work.............................................well

yea, that happened.

Apparently the new wheels are even more brittle than before, so brittle in fact, that after turning about 5 degrees, all the wheels popped.

So, i guess making truck replicas like these, will be impossible to do, unless you want to use landing gears and engines.

Basically, this whole project needs to go to the bin.

But, i do have to say that it was quite nice to be able to drive this at 60 FPS.......................for about 60 seconds........................at 6 m/s.

[DanielNL]

I really really wanna use this but where do I find all the mods u used? :/ (I get lots of error messages xyz not loaded etc when trying to spawn the ICBM) Also, how can I turn it into a 3 stage missile? (is it technically even possible in KSP currently?)

[kapteenipirk]

On 19.11.2016 at 9:26 PM, DanielNL said:

I really really wanna use this but where do I find all the mods u used? :/ (I get lots of error messages xyz not loaded etc when trying to spawn the ICBM) Also, how can I turn it into a 3 stage missile? (is it technically even possible in KSP currently?)

Sorry for the late reply, this one almost slipped past.

Anyway. All of the mods i used in this one can be found from the forums  (just put the name of the mod on the search-bar).

But to be honest, im not sure any of these really work. I basically abandoned this project once the new wheel physics came and all the tires in my trucks popped after 6 meters of driving.

So i would have to take a look at it first to make sure it still works, witch i might actually do pretty soon .

 

Well, an ICBM is basically just a space rocket with a payload of nuclear warheads inside a fairing instead of your typical probe/satellite type payload.

As for the warheads working like they do in real life....nah, not really. BD-armory warheads will just explode during re-entry.

 

 

[Andrew2070]

I've got one too!

It's a replica of the Minuteman III but I call it "Thor" cause of it being a I.P.B.M rather than I.C.B.M.

Basically just took my old Apollo series rocket and traded out the lunar/command modules for additional boosters/warheads.

Original version carries 6 warheads, 370Kt each.

New improved version carries 8 warheads, 370Kt Each.

 

Current features:

Conventionally self destruct.

Decoy Chaff and Flare Pods.

Disarmed Warhead Ejection.

Simultaneous Warhead Arming.

Ability to jettison unnecessary fuel.

Powered by single RTG Generator.

Contains GPS Targetting Pod.

 

It can also strike the Moon, Minmus and Duna with relative ease.

However all targetted celestial bodies must be in optimal alignment.

 

[DanielNL]

Where can I download it Andrew? (after all I need to test if it can reach 8000 m/s under 50 km altitude like real life Trident)

[Andrew2070]

Ill put a link up on DropBox by tommorow:

You'll need a few mods though.

Whole list of requirements is here:

 

It should work in all 1.0.x versions: As long as you have the corresponding mod version.

[Andrew2070]

Max speed 1100 m/s before leaving atmosphere (70km)

No aerodynamic forces act on it except when in solid boost stage. (first 20 seconds).