Kerbal Charter Challenge!

[Van Disaster]

1 hour ago, Pine said:

@Van Disaster, I'll leave the color scheming and such to whoever made the planes (you) since I want to keep that creative diversity look, but I'll have to pick your Mk2 Badger! If you can send an image of it from the right angle I should be able to get started!

Any particular angle? want it against a plain background?

[GDJ]

I'm trying this out old school...



A reasonable copy of a Douglas DC-3 (Corrected the name. This is the pre-1967 version according to Van Disaster).
-27 passenger capacity, 3 crew (30 total)
-just under 2700 units of fuel capacity (Fuselage tanks, wing tanks)
-31 tonnes loaded mass (a bit heavy, but makes for a smooth flight and interesting landings. Crank up the springs!!)
-Flaps tied to landing gear. Very handy for landing.
-top speed @ 3500 m ASL: 193 m/s (a bit fast for the real thing, but.....)


Flies like butter. Smooth, predictable, and super easy to land.

I may make another plane in case this one can't cut it (but I can't see why not. It's a flying gas tank with seats).

Edited September 16, 2016 by GDJ

[Van Disaster]

Neat! ( although the back half looks more like a British aircraft, good enough though ). A US gallon of avgas ( pretty much ww2 fighter fuel ) weighs about 6lbs - a unit of KSP liquid fuel is 5kg, which is 12 gallons, so you're carrying 32000+ gallons of fuel might be a *little* much! ( Also just Douglas - MD wasn't till '67 ).

With 1.1.3 wheels tailsitters do seem to be the way to go if you can make the rest of the plane work - certainly for small ones.

[GDJ]

7 hours ago, Van Disaster said:

Neat! ( although the back half looks more like a British aircraft, good enough though ). A US gallon of avgas ( pretty much ww2 fighter fuel ) weighs about 6lbs - a unit of KSP liquid fuel is 5kg, which is 12 gallons, so you're carrying 32000+ gallons of fuel might be a *little* much! ( Also just Douglas - MD wasn't till '67 ).

With 1.1.3 wheels tailsitters do seem to be the way to go if you can make the rest of the plane work - certainly for small ones.

Yeah, I'm going to have to rework the fuel situation. It's definitely carrying too much fuel. I think I can knock off at least 8 tonnes off of the plane!

The empty weight is just over 12 tonnes. Definitely carrying too much fuel....but if I wanted to do a round trip polar flight I can do it. Might take forever to do it, but she can, with lots of reserve. If I can tweak the aero a bit more I just might be able to break 200 m/s (which would make it a very fast prop plane)

Edited September 16, 2016 by GDJ

[Van Disaster]

Hah my maths was terrible, I blame being almost asleep - 5kg is 2 gallons, so that's 5400 gallons - which is still silly ( and apparently 5x+ a real one ). I think you're probably way overfuelled even for a polar run - but hey, look forward to seeing it.

[GDJ]

Okay, I reworked the plane a bit. Weight is now a "svelt and lean" 23 tonnes and it has just under 900 units of fuel. Takes off by itself with flaps at 55 m/s.

And it touched 200 m/s at 3000 m ASL.

She's ready.

[HazelPine]

@Van Disaster, some angle like this would be best:

Spoiler

 

But you shouldn't really have to worry about the background, after all, I just need the plane!

 

@GDJ, can't wait for your submission! Seems like she might be a really competitive entry, all things considered!

 

Also, I think I've finally figured out what I'm gonna do for my entry: A blimp.

 

Good luck everyone!

 

[Koolkei]

a..... blimp???? is there a mod for that?

[Van Disaster]

There's been several airship mods. Not sure if Procedural Airships is still around, but someone appears to have kept the old ( and originally madly OP ) Hooligan labs airships going.

RE: screencap, can do that - will throw it in this spot below later.

Spoiler

^^^ this spot here.

Edit: pic added, can take more obviously - it's quite hard taking pics of takeoff from rough terrain without crashing

Edited September 18, 2016 by Van Disaster

[GDJ]

http://imgur.com/a/gFJPX

Did it!

30 Kerbals. 

Fuel at start: 964 units.
Fuel finish: 551 units. Officially enough for a round trip back to KSC.

Total flight time: 1 hour 14 minutes. Not that bad actually for a commuter flight.

Edited September 18, 2016 by GDJ

[HazelPine]

@GDJ, did you make it back to the KSC?

[GDJ]

7 minutes ago, Pine said:

@GDJ, did you make it back to the KSC?

Uh....no. I can definitely do it, but I just parked the plane right by the Polar Airport.

Edited September 18, 2016 by GDJ

[HazelPine]

You need to bring the plane back in order for you to be score, since the fuel used on the way back factors in into your score.. so I hope you still have the plane on the pole!

[GDJ]

Just now, Pine said:

You need to bring the plane back in order for you to be score, since the fuel used on the way back factors in into your score.. so I hope you still have the plane on the pole!

Okay, Do I have to unload the passengers first or is this a fully loaded flight back to KSC?

[HazelPine]

That's up to you, since you only have to take them there. Bringing them back is optional, and it doesn't affect the scores! Good luck!

[GDJ]

6 minutes ago, Pine said:

That's up to you, since you only have to take them there. Bringing them back is optional, and it doesn't affect the scores! Good luck!

Kay, they're staying at the polar airport. I have dinner waiting.

[max_creative]

Wasp + mk2 + LV-Ns + MOAR jets + MOAR Fuel + MOAR wings + cargo bays + mk2 crew cabin + bigger missiles! = Special Agent Kirrim's YellowJacket plane for Journey to Dres. 

YellowJacket - LV-Ns - cargo bays - mk2 crew cabins + vtol jets + better aerodynamics - lots of fuel and engines = the Hornet. 

The Hornet barely flys. A Wasp-like plane in 1.1 flys decently well... I need a redesign... Next I'm going to go try to modify a Mallard... A lot...

[Van Disaster]

19 minutes ago, GDJ said:

Okay, Do I have to unload the passengers first or is this a fully loaded flight back to KSC?

I don't believe Kerbals actually inside something weigh anything ( they do in a commandseat, I believe - most definitely cause drag in one ).

@Pine, added screenshot where I said I would.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Van Disaster

[HazelPine]

@Van Disaster, sometime during the night I might have something to show, while we wait for some other contestants to send me the images! And, yeah, kerbals inside don't have mass at all, which is pretty useful for the challenge. Since kerbals weigh around 90kg with the spacesuit, let's imagine a plane which carries only 100 passengers + 4 crew. Just kerbals would account for 9,000Kg of the airplane's mass, and the challenge would be substantially more difficult the bigger the plane got!

 

Also: My blimp idea is a bust, I can't seem to get any airship mod to play nice on my KSP, so I'm switching to planes.

[Van Disaster]

Yeah, it's a pity ProcAirships died. HooliganLabs was great fun back in the day, but you could pick entire Mk3 aircraft up with them... Maybe someone can make something out of the latest balloon mod.

Supersecret nighttime testing: about as slow as I've got it to fly so far

Spoiler

 

[max_creative]

Whoa... Have you seen @Cupcake...'s Squall? If you add a service bay, two MOAR engines and MOAR fuel, it could do the rescue! Except that it would be unbalanced then... And it's kinda small... But it still looks awesome! 

[HazelPine]

@Van Disaster, are those props angled upwards? Definitely intrigued!

[Van Disaster]

42 minutes ago, Pine said:

@Van Disaster, are those props angled upwards? Definitely intrigued!

Tilt engines using IR hinges - very hard to use right now because any change in aoa has a big effect on thrust vector & consequently airspeed... I tried a full tiltwing but attaching wings to IR bits has always ended up rather floppy.

Nowhere near enough TWR to VTOL, but that was never the plan.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Van Disaster

[GDJ]

Well, in that case, I'll unload a few scientists and engineers to stay at the polar airport (keeps the lights going!) and I'll do the polar rescue mission as well, since I'm there now. I won't win first place in the rescue, but I should be back at the KSC in about 1 hour 15 minutes, give or take a minute or two.

Edited September 18, 2016 by GDJ

[GDJ]

Okay! Made the return trip and rescued the sick Kerbal. Had about 142 units of fuel left.

Entire album with both legs of the flight here: http://imgur.com/a/gFJPX

But, in a nutshell:

Total flight time: 2 hours 41 minutes from taking off from KSC, landing at polar airport, taking off and landing back at KSC.

Fuel capacity: 964 units.
Fuel left: 142 units.
Passengers + crew: 30
Flight start for rescue: 1 hour 25 minutes.
Flight end: 2 hours 41 minutes.



Not bad for a twin prop plane that was designed in the 1930's.

 

Edited September 18, 2016 by GDJ