Changing upper (pod) section of built vessel?

[strider3]

I have a Duna orbiter I built and used for my first trip to Duna. Now I would like to keep all the lower stages intact but change the upper to a Lander. I don't seem to know how to do that...whenever I remove the installed pod at the top, the rest of the ship gets "greyed out" and I cannot replace the upper section with a new lander can.

What am I missing here?

Thanks

[steuben]

you will need to reroot the ship to the top of the launcher, usually the decoupler, or the docking port depending on your design.

[Snark]

Just to expand on steuben's comment:  The very first piece that you placed when you built the ship becomes the "root".  For a lot of folks (certainly for me), that's usually the pod, which is what you're running into.

So, as steuben suggests, you need to "re-root" the ship (i.e. make another piece be the root).  There's a tool for that-- one of the buttons at top left, next to the "move" and "rotate" buttons, or you can hit the 4 key.

Once you've changed the ship root to something other than the pod, you can then delete the pod and replace it with whatever you like.

[DD_bwest]

you could also save your lower part as a sub assembly, so when you build a lander you can just pop it in the bottom

[Reactordrone]

I usually just detach the lower part of the rocket, ditch the old root part and select a new command pod/probe core. Move that new part up and you can then stick the old rocket on as a complete assembly.

[strider3]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 6:13 PM, Reactordrone said:

I usually just detach the lower part of the rocket, ditch the old root part and select a new command pod/probe core. Move that new part up and you can then stick the old rocket on as a complete assembly.

That has not worked for me. This is exactly what I tried, originally, and the lower part became unmovable / unconnectable to the new command pod or probe? The lower part just stayed "greyed out", as is usual with disconnected parts, but when a new pod or core was placed above it, it could not be moved and connected.