Orbit Portal Showroom [Show me your OPT Spaceplanes!]

[Winchester]

2 hours ago, stali79 said:

 

Glad you like her! Having the bays positioned ventrally is more of a personal preference for me. As for bringing her down, set your periapses to 30km, 45 degree nose up on descent. Once speed is down to about 1200ms then set prograde and deploy airbrakes. Depending on how far from the ksc you are you can fly happily at 900ms until you clear the mountain range and then tell mechjeb to autoland

 

Not sure wy she wont stay straight on the runway...

Ventral cargo bays are harder to load while you're in the hangar, and there a bunch of reasons why all the RL designs have dorsal cargo bays.

Anyway, *nothing* wants to stay straight on my runway for some reason, and I can't figure out why - it's not a problem with your ship, it's a problem with KSP. I don't even think it's a problem with a mod, either, because I have trouble keeping stock spaceplanes in stock 1.2.2 on the runway right now. Babying them into the air is required.

[stali79]

2 minutes ago, Winchester said:

Ventral cargo bays are harder to load while you're in the hangar, and there a bunch of reasons why all the RL designs have dorsal cargo bays.

Anyway, *nothing* wants to stay straight on my runway for some reason, and I can't figure out why - it's not a problem with your ship, it's a problem with KSP. I don't even think it's a problem with a mod, either, because I have trouble keeping stock spaceplanes in stock 1.2.2 on the runway right now. Babying them into the air is required.

I never have issues loading them ventrally, but I have them like that as my personal versions of these ships are vtol and designed for cargo deployment once landed.

[JadeOfMaar]

Is this a matter of friction control (or is it traction control) in the wheels? Do you guys adjust those settings or do you generally never touch them?

[stali79]

20 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

Is this a matter of friction control (or is it traction control) in the wheels? Do you guys adjust those settings or do you generally never touch them?

Never touched them

[Winchester]

23 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

Is this a matter of friction control (or is it traction control) in the wheels? Do you guys adjust those settings or do you generally never touch them?

I never touch them, but maybe I should? Yaw stability appears to be a little troublesome near the edge of space as well, lots of correcting right at the end of the ascent for some reason. 

Anyway, I give you the Hercules Mk1:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70565045/KSP/Hercules Mk1.craft

Get this thing off the runway in one piece, and it'll get you into a 100 km Kerbin orbit with a 100 ton payload and 8 km/s vacuum Delta-V to spare. Drop the payload in orbit, and you've got 12 km/s Delta-V left. I have no idea how well it lands, as I never get that far, but it *should* work. 

The craft file is without the payload as it required Tweakscale, and without the MechJeb case, and requires OPT Space Plane Parts 1.9.2, OPT Legacy Pack (whichever version is the current one), and SXT (again, whichever version is the current one). I didn't upload it to KerbalX because I'd very much like it if someone with more skill than me would work some magic on the struts so they're not quite as visible, and test how well it lands since I never really get that far.

[stali79]

4 minutes ago, Winchester said:

I never touch them, but maybe I should? Yaw stability appears to be a little troublesome near the edge of space as well, lots of correcting right at the end of the ascent for some reason. 

Anyway, I give you the Hercules Mk1:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70565045/KSP/Hercules Mk1.craft

Get this thing off the runway in one piece, and it'll get you into a 100 km Kerbin orbit with a 100 ton payload and 8 km/s vacuum Delta-V to spare. Drop the payload in orbit, and you've got 12 km/s Delta-V left. I have no idea how well it lands, as I never get that far, but it *should* work. 

The craft file is without the payload as it required Tweakscale, and without the MechJeb case, and requires OPT Space Plane Parts 1.9.2, OPT Legacy Pack (whichever version is the current one), and SXT (again, whichever version is the current one). I didn't upload it to KerbalX because I'd very much like it if someone with more skill than me would work some magic on the struts so they're not quite as visible, and test how well it lands since I never really get that far.

I can take a look if you like. What sxt parts do you have on it?

[Winchester]

Just now, stali79 said:

I can take a look if you like. What sxt parts do you have on it?

The RCS blocks (same ones you used on the Nations Thunder) and the 2.5 meter fuel tanks right in front of the J-92 engines, since they fit well with the Mk2-to-2.5 meter adapter (uses same texture).

Could probably have used a stock LFO tank instead, but it wouldn't have looked as good.

[stali79]

3 minutes ago, Winchester said:

The RCS blocks (same ones you used on the Nations Thunder) and the 2.5 meter fuel tanks right in front of the J-92 engines, since they fit well with the Mk2-to-2.5 meter adapter (uses same texture).

Could probably have used a stock LFO tank instead, but it wouldn't have looked as good.

Have you tried it with rigid parts enabled and autostrutting on?

[Winchester]

1 minute ago, stali79 said:

Have you tried it with rigid parts enabled and autostrutting on?

There's autostrutting?

"..."

BRB, need to bang my head against a wall for a bit...

[stali79]

3 minutes ago, Winchester said:

There's autostrutting?

"..."

BRB, need to bang my head against a wall for a bit...

if you have advanced tweakables turned on in the main game options, you then have the ability to do that.  EEX is handy because it can be set to autostrut all parts and gives 3 strutting options

 

[stali79]

Ok first thing i noticed is its payload free COM is waaaay behind the COL. When i design my ships i design them without payload so they can be flown without worrying about HAVING to fly a payload. I had to move your stabilizers to the tails to be able to fly it without a payload.  I also removed all your struts and told EEX to set AS grandparent and all rigid connections.

Descent parameters: burn for 30km Pe and ensure final end point just past ksc. (I use trajectories to show this).  45 degree pitch up on reentry until speed down to 1200ms (with your plane do not exceed 35 degree pitch up unless you have rcs on). Once speed at 1200ms set to prograde and deploy airbrakes until 900ms. Cruise until cleared ksc mountains reduce speed to 150ms and engage mechjeb spaceplane landing.

Test flight 1: critical pitch control failure on reentry. 

Changed horizontal winglets for stabilizer b. Added stabilizer b on kj adapter also. Swapped out forwardmost cargo bay with fuel tank. Lowered fuel quantities in aft tanks. Changed all wing tanks to LF only. Angled outer wings down 2 notches to compensate for raised COL from your vertical tails. Configured all control surfaces for appropriate control movements. Used tac fuel balancer to set jk adapter and k6m fuel tank to recieve fuel (keep com forward) all other tanks balanced.

 

Test Flight 2: ran out of mono before hitting atmo. Lost control twice during reentry but regained it due to no rcs control. Landed happily at ksc. - Suggest adding vernier's for reentry (set action group to disable them until need be and another action group for all mono rcs)

 

Readjusted aft tanks to have mono. Added j rcs unit on aft end. Updated all action groups.

 

Here is the Hercules Mk 1S

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ptgh22oribwf06c/Hercules Mk 1S.craft

Overall very nice design @Winchester

 

Edited December 24, 2016 by stali79

[Winchester]

35 minutes ago, stali79 said:

Snip

 

Glad you liked it! Now let's hope it loads and flies for me too, because all of a sudden explosions everywhere, even with the stuff that worked before...:(

 

[stali79]

I forgot to mention i also juse kerbal joint reinforcement

[Flashblade]

58 minutes ago, stali79 said:

I forgot to mention i also juse kerbal joint reinforcement

Yes KJR is highly recommended when you build big planes like these .

Edited December 24, 2016 by Flashblade

[Winchester]

2 hours ago, stali79 said:

Ok first thing i noticed is its payload free COM is waaaay behind the COL. When i design my ships i design them without payload so they can be flown without worrying about HAVING to fly a payload. I had to move your stabilizers to the tails to be able to fly it without a payload.  I also removed all your struts and told EEX to set AS grandparent and all rigid connections.

I did some testing, and it looks like you can switch the front fuel tank back to a cargo bay if you drop the fuel in the tail parts, which given the insane amount of Delta-V this thing has to start with should still be fairly OK . 

The bad part is that once you take out *all* the fuel, this beast becomes a tailsitter no matter which configuration it's in. You need at least the forward J/k connector full of fuel for the plane to be stable. The good news is you can switch out the K 6-meter tank for a cargo bay, remove the fuel in the tail pieces, and disable fuel feed from the J/K connector and still have 20.9 km/s atmospheric delta-V, and 6.8 km/s space Delta-V. with no payload.

With 100 tons of payload, MechJeb reports 14 km/s atmospheric and 4.2 km/s space Delta-V, which should be enough for any orbital lifting imaginable..  

 

[Flashblade]

I actually wanted to create this post earlier, but bugfixing for B9 Aerospace took priority and then I was away for Christmas.

This thing has been sitting in my hangar for quite a while:

The APOTHEOSIS MK 2A TAV

Flying 20 meters over Laythe's water surface.

Breaking through the cloud cover on Eve

More pictures in the gallery!

I rebuild this craft with regular J and K fuselage parts and got rid of the legacy Avatar fuselage. The rebuild doesn't quite look as sleek as the Avatar based version looked but I am okay with the change. I do understand K.Yeon's decision to rework the fuselage as well. The connecting part of the Avatar only had one functionality and that was to connect that cockpit to it and nothing else. There was no versitility in this so the move away from Avatar was as I said very logical.

Other changes are the OPT-J-60s have been replaced with Nukes from MK2 Stockalike Expansion, more usage of B9 Aerospace larger air-brakes and secondary control surfaces for low speed performance on take-off and landing are par for the course now. The new version now has tail elevators which add improved stability and easier take-off capabilities. I used a B9 part to smooth out the transition toward the cockpit section. With all tanks full the craft can reach orbit with the OPT-J 92s and the Nukes. This one also requires fuel management, the first tank after the cockpit needs to be full of Oxidizer or the mass will shift behind the COL.

Stats:

Parts: 108

Wet Mass: 177 tons

Dry Mass: 65 tons

Height: 9.5 m

Width:  28.7 m

Length: 34 m

Designed with FAR in mind, it has great flight characteristics in this awesome aerodynamics simulation. Will be released on KerbalX as soon as FAR is available again as well.

Mods used: OPT, B9-Aerospace, B9 Procedural Parts, Aviation Lights, MK2 Stockalike Expansion, Realchute Parachute System

 

[Winchester]

Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Simplex series of medium SSTO transports!

The baseline of the Simplex series is the Simplex C cargo transport, which seats four crew and eight passengers, and can haul a 36 ton payload into Kerbostationary orbit and then some. It is powered by four J-81 'S3B1ZzR' dual-mode engines, and weighs in at just under 100 tons fueled but unloaded.

Next up is the Simplex P personnel transport, which seats the same four crew, but trades the cargo bays for sixteen extra passenger seats, for a total of 24. Perfect for moving everyone to your interstellar exploration vessel.

The final version (for now) is the Simplex S surveyor/science transport, which trades the cargo modules for a mobile lab and a service bay. I haven't flown this myself yet, but it balances the same as the Siimplex P or the unladen Simplex C.

The idea behind these was to have a common tail-and-wing section, and a ready-made nose section, so I could basically just switch out the middle bits for whatever I need and still make orbit without having to worry about it. Since the wings are rooted to the fuel tank behind the payload modules, I can just lift that whole section and install it wherever I want, and the same mostly goes for the forward section. The front and rear sections are balanced so that the center of gravity only moves about a meter depending on whether you have two completely empty payload modules, or two fully loaded ones complete with a Fanta Can, 

The J-81 engines are *hilariously* overpowered, and even the fully loaded cargo version will reach orbital velocity below 25 km altitude while Mechjeb is flying, which leads to a fair bit of wobble during the "coasting out of atmosphere" stage. Consider using MechJeb's "limit Q" function (90000 pa works, don't know how high you can push it though), Re-entry was also a breeze, and there's enough fuel to resume powered flight once you're back in the atmosphere. Now I just need to figure out how to work the autopilot properly..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70565045/KSP/Simplex.zip

All three craft in one zip file.

Required mods: OPT Space Plane Parts 1.9.2, OPT Legacy Pack (whichever version we're on now), MechJeb 2.6.0. 

[Winchester]

Edit: Oops, posted this in the wrong thread.. 

Some more wishlist items I came up with while experimenting a bit:

See what I did here with clipping a pair of J fuselages into the K body section to widen it? I would dearly like to see a "half J" type fuselage (or maybe even half "Stail") that'd snap right on to the side instead of having to be stuck through the wall of the center fuselage and preventing it from being used for cargo. Aside from being useful for widening the K body, since the K body itself is based on the Mk2 fuselage, it'd work with anything else of that side as well, including the Mk2 itself, the old-K (Avatar) fuselage, the Humpback/"L" fuselage, and anything designed to interact with the J fuselage from the sides, like the future E fuselage.

Another item that came up as a "I really wish I had one of these right now" is a J to 3.75 meter adapter, as it would let me do things like attach a Dark Drive to the back of a J spaceplane or engine nacelle, or the J-series Linear Aerospike to the back of a Mk3 plane...

Edited December 28, 2016 by Winchester

[Winchester]

Remember how K.Yeon once posted this image to show us where he got his inspiration for OPT Space Plane Parts in the first place?

[img]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/to-aru-majutsu-no-index/images/0/04/OrionSpaceplane_leftwingFire.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130907104615[/img]

Well... 

This happened:

The one thing that's majorly off here are the canards, because the plane wouldn't pitch up without them, but if you couldn't guess from the 200% scale J-81 engines and the background, this thing has no problems getting into space. I'm not done testing or tweaking it, but I'd hazard a guess and say this thing would have little problem hauling a pair of Big Orange Tanks basically anywhere.

Right now I'm still using K.Yeon's J-series RCS units, but I'm thinking of switching to LFO-powered RCS thrusters instead, either by using parts from another mod or by rewriting a custom CFG for the RCS parts. Not sure right now. 

[stali79]

7 minutes ago, Winchester said:

Remember how K.Yeon once posted this image to show us where he got his inspiration for OPT Space Plane Parts in the first place?

[img]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/to-aru-majutsu-no-index/images/0/04/OrionSpaceplane_leftwingFire.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130907104615[/img]

Well... 

This happened:

The one thing that's majorly off here are the canards, because the plane wouldn't pitch up without them, but if you couldn't guess from the 200% scale J-81 engines and the background, this thing has no problems getting into space. I'm not done testing or tweaking it, but I'd hazard a guess and say this thing would have little problem hauling a pair of Big Orange Tanks basically anywhere.

Right now I'm still using K.Yeon's J-series RCS units, but I'm thinking of switching to LFO-powered RCS thrusters instead, either by using parts from another mod or by rewriting a custom CFG for the RCS parts. Not sure right now. 

You are more than welcome to make a cfg that could turn the current J RCS module into a dual mode module. i.e. can switch between mono and lfo modes. I will incorporate it into the legacy pack and if @K.Yeon wants to it can be transferred into the main mod.

[Winchester]

5 minutes ago, stali79 said:

You are more than welcome to make a cfg that could turn the current J RCS module into a dual mode module. i.e. can switch between mono and lfo modes. I will incorporate it into the legacy pack and if @K.Yeon wants to it can be transferred into the main mod.

As soon as I find a decent example to work from, I'll get cracking on that. Right now, working on rebuilding the Space Plane Orion properly, with all the features you'd want aside from the sixteen meter payload bay..  

 

[stali79]

Nice. It was something i suggested to k.yeon a while back. If you cant make it dual mode then just make it as a new part using existing assets.

[JadeOfMaar]

Speaking of dual-mode OPT things... I've successfully made the ScremJet switchable over Oxygen, but I've also added some caveats to it as any Oxygen-less atmosphere is typically full of non-combustible, engine-hampering junk, right? The visual FX and sound seem to work only on one mode though...I might have to make my patch wholly rewrite the engine to fix that.

[gilflo]

HI guys

Here is my new SSTO: OPT S88: study and design coming from my last OPT Tanker K87. It begins with a J space plane cockpit followed by a J lab and a K section adapter. Then it's Avatar fuel tanks because they hold much more fuel than the K tanks...

- S for science, it comes with an OPT J lab and a lot of science stuff in the hold as 2 SC 9001 Jr, 4 mysterious goos, and a lot of sensors. SC 9001 are mounted on rail and all data are accessible via ladders.

- 88 for 88661L of liquid fuel (Nearly 14 Rockomax 64) that give to this SSTO a maxi range of 6000DV left in orbit, giving ability to join whatever planet in Kerbin system

Running on 4 OPT J61 Starwaster, 2 at the front, 2 at the rear and 4 MRS Nuke Quad engines, 2 at the front, 2 at the rear

The hold carries 4 big Mining drills, mounted on rails, 1 Convert o Tron 250 and 2 Small Ore tanks. A strong electric circuit, with big batteries from Batt Direct and numerous PB Nuk Thermoelectric generators allow drilling and converting 24H a day and 365 days a year....

8 6wheels main gears and 2 2wheels directional front gears allow to land this 60m long and 738T SSTO on any rough land provided your vertical speed at touch down is no more than 3m/s.

Powerful brakes and 4 repackable chutes allow very short landings. Landing legs at the rear allow vertical landings on low gravity planet and vernors engines situated under and over the cockpit help then to lower the plane to horizontal position as well as for take off.

Vernors are associated to SpaceY RCS thrusters to help maneuvers and docking.

the S88 is perfectly balanced in the whole flight enveloppe, dry and fueled COG being nearly at the same place and she climb easily to orbit, leaving 70% of fuel in 610 km orbit.

Look in the hold

Spoiler

After take off

Spoiler

Climbing to orbit

Spoiler

Mun retroburning

Spoiler

Mun landing: It was quite difficult as we landed on a slope

Spoiler

Vertical

Spoiler

from vertical position to horizontal position

Spoiler

Drilling and converting

Spoiler

collecting datas

Spoiler

Departure from Mun: we had to maneuver slowly to set the S88 in the slope, with wings horizontal, to help for take off

Spoiler

Between Mun mountains

Spoiler

No so much space

Spoiler

Aerobraking: return to Kerbin

Spoiler

Approach

Spoiler

Landing

Spoiler

 

Edited January 3, 2017 by gilflo

[JadeOfMaar]

On 1/2/2017 at 8:30 PM, gilflo said:

HI guys

Here is my new SSTO: OPT S88:

That.....is one sweet ship. I wanted to question the lack of other OPT engines but then it hit me. any Oxidizer you have is only for the Verniers. Epically done.