IDGAD Cargo Plane 4

[Arugela]

This is the, hopefully final, load test version of my Cargo plane. It has a potential load of 918 tons... First flight the game crashed but it looked like it would at least make it to LKO. Second flight I pulled up at high speed and the wings ripped off. I need to strut them better or not try to change course after initially planting my nose on course... I'll probably add more struts for the wings to stabilize for higher speed adjustments. That or lower the pitch authority more to see if it helps it angle correctly under load at high speeds.

I fixed the problems with the earlier versions. Basically, adding cargo to realistic needed loads and finding more places to stick engine symmetrically to allow it to carry them.

Instruction: After reaching end of runway, hold up nose until Prograde reaches 5 degrees. Make nose rest on 10 degrees while prograde stays at 5 degrees and fly to 20k+ before activating Nervs. You should reach 1250m/s by this point. Aiming prograde higher than this off the runway will result in insufficient speed for ascent. Do not drop nose to gain speed. Maintain altitude gain during flight and after 20k until circularization in orbit.(Or this is to the best of my knowledge. Still testing.) This applies specifically to the loaded test craft and not with lower payloads.

Craft: 1400+ parts

500 tons payload

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xde0drwl5tgabtl/IDGAD Cargo Plane 4 Load Test.craft?dl=0 <-Updated with better aerodynamics and drag.

72 Rapiers

72 Whiplashes

72 Nervs

Equivalent of 11 large MK3 cargo bays.

2250 tons approx. with load

Pic:

Edit: I flew it up past 20k at a very good speed. I was at 1250m/s even before 20k... I made the mistake of nosing down to get speed. It does not gain enough to justify lossing altitude gain. I didn't get to test it completely but if it can make it up with more than 64k LF it will make it to minimus for refueling. Meaning a 918ton load can go anywhere basically. And if part of your load is a vessel with fuel it can go even farther.(Note: it does not currently have mining equipment.) It has very little problem with side slippage. At some points only around 0.1 or must less. Most of the time it is 0 though. You will barely notice it. Unless there is a problem above where I have tested it above 22k.. The lag is making tests take a long time. So I still have some things to test out. The good news is a good flight might make it to minimus or be very close if not. At 918 tons payload it would have approximately 2669 Delta V from minimus to get to a new destination. A little slow but you can get places if needed. If your packages can finish captureing on their own they could drop themselves... Or if they have fuel they could expand the ships ability then be refueled and dropped. You could easily fit front mounting asteriod mining gear. It just needs something to mine the ground with.

Edit2: I had problems above 20k this time because of lack of thrust and lift... Or possibly too much drag. It have about 20,000 gravity force and by the time I hit the nukes and rapier closed cycle mode it's only producing 17250 thrust with .8 lift to drag..... It needs less drag or weight or needs a booster stuck in the rear to help get it into orbit with about another 2750 thrust and possibly some fuel to power it/them. It can possibly get anywhere between 637-918 payload.... I also didn't try pulling up hard before 20k to see if I could go up enough to escape gravity. I may try that next. This is all potentialy fixable with payloads aiding in flight though. Particularly at the end of the atmospheric portion of the flight. I could also try dropping more fuel to see if I get farther.

Edit3: Ok, 918 tons didn't work out. Neither did 750. But 500 did make it to orbit. And 500 is now on the way to duna without refueling. I'll post it if it makes it. I also need to make an asteroid/surface miner to go with it. Just a matter of limiting parts sufficiently. Unfortunately it does take serveral hours to get to orbit and destination because of the parts and lag.... Else it would be up in a very short amount of time as the game records. Only about 5-6 minutes or less to get 70k apoapsis. It would be fun to fly if it wasn't for the parts limitations. I'll also make a 250 version to see if it removes some of the lag.. Probably not though. I still hope they manage to make 1k+ parts playable at some point. Some of these engine combinations simply require it. And we are missing out on a lot of variations the game has to offer. I guess you could consider the lag like modding the game to make the flight real time! ><

Edited November 7, 2016 by Arugela

[Guest]

Haha this is crazy

[chadgaskerman]

So, around 216 engines you need that many engines.

MOAR BOOSTERS

[Arugela]

I need that many with this combo for getting off the runway(For just that engine combo). I think... and it's an SSTO. Boosters would ruin it. 8p (I think I read that wrong originally. lol)

Here is the 500xl version and the 250xl: (the 250 can probably carry much more than 250; the 500 is near max. maybe 600 something.)

250xl <- only 192 engines!

500xl

this was all mentally inspired by stuff like this:

 

I was looking for other 500 ton payloaders that were SSTO spaceplanes and I couldn't find alot of equivalents... I was curious how many less parts people used. Technically I could do double Rapier and use nukes on takeoff and probably get an easier flight up. But you strugle on takeoff... And I don't think you get that much of an increase in weight carriable. Although you may get more fuel range per transport if the rapiers can get it up higher faster... It felt like I was cheating if I replaced the whiplashes with a second set of rapiers. Although I could still try removing the whiplashes altogether to see if it can still carry that much. It would save 129.6 tons and may improve performance. I never got around to trying that. Although that would get rid of the pretty blue engine flames.

Edit: I just did a new pure autostrut version. I removed all the struts and there were exactly 500 struts. The new plane is 934 parts for the 500xl version. I may need to add a few back though.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Arugela