Why won't my spaceplane lift?

[danbomo]

Hey KSPers.... KSPists... Kerbins!

I have begun my first series of SSTO missions and I'm currently test flying my most recent build. 

Here's the Pic (I don't know how to insert photos or if this will show )

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=649198939\

Thanks!

[Tex]

Moved to Gameplay Questions due to gameplay question.

 

And a cursory look at your spaceplane is showing a very large lack of wings! I suggest adding a ton more, add connecting them together to get the lift you need. It will also help with stability, that thing looks very very wobbly. Good luck on future SSTO endeavors!

[Snark]

Welcome to the forums!

Also, can you be more specific about the problem?  When you say "won't lift", is it an issue getting off the runway?  Something else?  If you could describe exactly what happens, and how it's different from what you want/expect to happen, that would help.

Would also be helpful to see another screenshot, maybe from the side, showing the placement of your landing gear.  Preferably with the "center of mass" and "center of lift" markers turned on.

[FyunchClick]

It looks neat but complicated. I'd say start out simple, build something conventional looking and small and work your way up. As in real life, shape follows function in KSP so if it looks like a plane it's more likely to act like a plane. There's a lot of helpful info in the many SSTO and space plane questions on the forum.

Here's one of mine that's pretty conventional.

 

Edited March 25, 2016 by FyunchClick
picture

[Nich]

I was thinking it should get to orbit if it can stay together why does staging show 7 engines

Edited March 25, 2016 by Nich

[GoSlash27]

Judging by the pic, there are a few potential problems:

1) The main landing gear may be too far behind the center of mass. This means your canards are inadequate to get the nose to rotate before you run out of runway.

2) The center of lift is too far behind the center of mass. The plane will just want to lawn- dart.

3) You haven't rotated the wings to provide incidence. The plane won't fly at such low speeds until you get the nose up... which you can't do.

4) Insufficient wing area. The plane won't be able to fly until you reach a much higher speed than you can attain in the distance of the runway.

 

HTHs,
-Slashy

 

[Leszek]

It doesn't look like there is a tail on that thing.  You might have a hard time even if you do get in the air.

As someone said, but I am going to say again, KSP's aeronautical simulation vaguely works like real life.  It is close enough that the best aircraft in KSP will look like they should fly in real life.  By real life I don't mean movies.