Project Mercury

[MrPwner]

atm i\'m just going to make it a part. I have used NovaPunch\'s escape tower quite a bit and it can work:

If you want to use it ingame you\'re gonna have to fiddle a bit with the staging. I don\'t know if you knew, but you can still drag parts and stages around when flying a rocket.

If you have to use it, it should use the decoupler between spacecraft and carrier rocket, this is how you\'d build it in the VAB. And put the LES stage right after your first stage. As you progress succesfully through your stages, you have to put the LES stage after the next stage you\'ll activate. If something goes wrong, the next stage will be the LES and you only have to press space to be pulled away.

After a succesful launch, when you want to eject the tower, you need to manually drag the LES decoupler into the same stage as the LES and remove the spacecraft decoupler from that stage.

It\'s a little clumsy and currently the only way, but it works.

But also, I may make a plugin or something that can handle the tower and the retropack ripplefiring.

[VincentMcConnell]

If you want to use it ingame you\'re gonna have to fiddle a bit with the staging. I don\'t know if you knew, but you can still drag parts and stages around when flying a rocket.

I\'ve been playing KSP since December and I had NO CLUE.

[Thobewill10]

Yeah, I know how you feel. I figured that out several months ago and it was still a huge shock of joy.

[Feragorn]

Looks good so far. Hope everything gets to work the way it should.

[VincentMcConnell]

Have you made any progress since your last update here?

[MrPwner]

I\'ve done most UV-mapping and am trying to texture.

Also, i\'ve tried figuring out a problem with the LES; it never comes of the ground, also the selection colours for it are weird and i don\'t know what\'s causing it.

[VincentMcConnell]

I\'ve done most UV-mapping and am trying to texture.

Also, i\'ve tried figuring out a problem with the LES; it never comes of the ground, also the selection colours for it are weird and i don\'t know what\'s causing it.

Your retro packs are going to be Solid boosters, right?

[MrPwner]

Yes, the retroboosters and separationboosters will both be SRB\'s.

[VincentMcConnell]

Yes, the retroboosters and separationboosters will both be SRB\'s.

Cool. Will you be putting the camera plug in on it like a periscope as you said you might earlier?

[MrPwner]

Yes, i\'m still planning on doing that.

[MrPwner]

No, not yet. The texture by far is going to be the hardest thing, i\'m not (yet) proficient enough with GIMP, so i don\'t know how long it will take.

If someone wants to do the texturing, let me know.

If anybody has tips & tricks for texturing, i\'ll take \'em

[Lord Wasteland]

No, not yet. The texture by far is going to be the hardest thing, i\'m not (yet) proficient enough with GIMP, so i don\'t know how long it will take.

If someone wants to do the texturing, let me know.

If anybody has tips & tricks for texturing, i\'ll take \'em

I can check-proof textures, to make sure they are right, in ways.

[JebThrillMaster]

I can\'t wait for this, by the way will it be capable to orbit or be sub-orbital?

[Lord Wasteland]

I can\'t wait for this, by the way will it be capable to orbit or be sub-orbital?

It will feature both the Redstone and Atlas from what I am aware.

[MrPwner]

True.

I\'m probably going to release a flight ready (untextured) testversion soon.

Currently working on RCS systems.

I swear I bump into trouble around every corner, so progress is.. slow, but i guess that\'s part of the learning process

Still haven\'t figured out why the LES won\'t come off the ground tho

Also, the retroboosters can be fired one (or two) at a time without spinning the craft out of control. The center of thrust is placed so that the center of thrust will be at the center of the spacecraft.

[Lord Wasteland]

True.

I\'m probably going to release a flight ready (untextured) testversion soon.

Currently working on RCS systems.

I swear I bump into trouble around every corner, so progress is.. slow, but i guess that\'s part of the learning process

Still haven\'t figured out why the LES won\'t come off the ground tho

Also, the retroboosters can be fired one (or two) at a time without spinning the craft out of control. The center of thrust is placed so that the center of thrust will be at the center of the spacecraft.

Excellent! About the LES, what is the thrust you are giving it? That could be the problem, to not fully lift the weight of the capsule. Is it 52,000lbf, or not?

[MrPwner]

The thrust doesn\'t matter, if i raise it, it won\'t come off the ground. Until the decoupler/LES just breaks loose.

Tested this also with the regular Mk1 pod, same thing.

I just figured out it\'s in the model. (Something with the collision mesh made the selection colours weird too)

I copied the LES folder, copied over another random .dae file, forgot to clear the mesh folder.

Ingame i got the model from the random file in the VAB, but the regular LES in the flight screen. This one would fly.

Now to get the normal one to fly.. ???

[Lord Wasteland]

The thrust doesn\'t matter, if i raise it, it won\'t come off the ground. Until the decoupler/LES just breaks loose.

Tested this also with the regular Mk1 pod, same thing.

I just figured out it\'s in the model. (Something with the collision mesh made the selection colours weird too)

I copied the LES folder, copied over another random .dae file, forgot to clear the mesh folder.

Ingame i got the model from the random file in the VAB, but the regular LES in the flight screen. This one would fly.

Now to get the normal one to fly.. ???

Hopefully this works. Will you at all make a Gemini or Apollo capsule equivalent with rocket?

[MrPwner]

There already is a gemini mod, and i can remember flying a full Saturn including CM and MEM.

[VincentMcConnell]

haha. I\'m going to do a spacewalk from Mercury... Screw history! =P ;D

[BlazingAngel665]

Do you have good pictures of everything? I have two rockets in my (rehtorical) backyard, at the museum, the paint needs restoration, but I can get close ups of the fins next time I go on both the Atlas and Redstone. We don\'t have any others, but Kennedy in Florida can provide nice shots from their rocket garden. The only other interesting thing is we have Liberty Bell 7 in our museum (the real one from the bottom of the ocean) if the pics would help I can run out there and grab some pics. . .

[MrPwner]

OH. MY. GOD.

The original Liberty Bell, the rockets. You.. you lucky man, you!

I\'ll make sure to keep this in mind, for now I have enough picture material.

I appreciate the offer very (very) much.

[BlazingAngel665]

Off topic: We also have Apollo 13, one of the Gemeni (sp) capsules two flown Russian ships Voskhod and a Soyuz we have the bottom stage of a proton rocket, an unflown LEM an unflown rover and a moon rock as well as a bunch of other stuff

[VincentMcConnell]

Hey everyone.

I\'ve asked to officially become a part of building this parts pack and it seems that is okay with MrPwner.

So, I guess while I wait for some UV maps to work on texturing, I\'ll give a few updates on the progress:

I have textured the retroboosters and the posigrade rockets.

We have found a lot of issues that I reported. I believe MrPwner has fixed a lot of them.

In addition, we edited some of the config files to be more accurate, safer etc.

However:

Neither of us can figure out what is wrong with the launch escape tower. He has put more work into than I have -- as it is primarily his pack and he has the models -- and still cannot find a solution. We will be working on this, though.

As for the current tasks, I am handling as much of the texturing as is possible for me. This is my first time ever texturing and working on a pack. I have no doubt it will shape up to be a really nice addon! To give a good estimate of the way it\'s shaping up, I\'d say it\'s on track.

[VincentMcConnell]

Hey everyone. Update for you while Pwner cleans up this thread from early development banter... lol.

Anyway, I\'ve been doing a lot of texturing, finding a lot of problems with my texturing, fixing it, booting up KSP, finding more problems, fixing them and on and on... You can imagine this process will eventually leave me locked in a padded room... But, the work is starting to pay off and I\'ve got a little sneak preview of some early textures.

We also have a model for the Redstone done, now. We have to texture that and config it, but for the most part, the project is on track. The pod itself holds one Kerbal:

There\'s Bilsy in his Mercury, screaming his head off... And the rocket hasn\'t even launched...

I\'ll be keeping you guys posted on my work just to give you some updates and take some needed breaks between part textures. When this is all over, you guys will be able to launch your Mercury capsules into orbit with your single, fear-filled explorer. Just make sure his retros ignite at the end...