Dunasoar

[_Rade]

Dunasoar is a twin engine airplane designed for Duna exploration. It can transport 5 kerbals, or it can be easily modified to run science gathering missions. Max speed is about 175 m/s.

Plane uses modified version of my fairing prop engines powered by fuel cells, but if you don't like using the fuel cells you can replace them with RTG's.

These engines are little bit bulkier than my usual fairing prop engines. But the best part about them is that I've finally managed to create a reliable mechanism, which uses the claw inside the engine nacelle, to re-dock the propeller to the plane. That way the plane can be used multiple times, and you don't have to worry about the engines falling apart if you leave physics range. Finally you can make a plane which you can use to explore all biomes  on Duna or Eve.

As usual when flying a plane on Duna trickiest parts are takeoff and landing so choose your landing area carefully.

Here is a link to the craft file and instructions on how to fly plane.

 

 

[Mikki]

@_Rade..

Hi there, this is a darn cool craft, ....
IT LOOKS AWESOME!

Edit: i just downloaded it and gonna check this marvel!



IT FLIES AWESOME! WOW!
I installed it in 1.2.1, goes great! It flies like a charm, so good!

Edited January 10, 2017 by Mikki
he

[_Rade]

Glad you like it. The engines on it are little bit under powered for flying on Kerbin, mainly because the more powerful engine would spin to fast in Duna thin atmosphere. But if you fly it properly it should be able to get to atleast 90 m/s.

Also in case you want to make some changes to the plane, just make sure that you rebuild two inner fairings on each engine after modifying the plane. This have to do with buggy fairings and it will ensure that both engines continue to work properly.

 

If you like the stock prop planes you can checkout my KerbalX page, I have few other planes that can fly faster than 200m/s.

[fourfa]

What do you think it would take to fit a craft like this inside the 3.75m fairing?  I'm thinking a single fuselage, front and rear coaxial/counter-rotating props, compactifying the wings (since it's all the same to KSP).  Looking forward to DLing this, trying it out, taking it apart...

[Mikki]

@_Rade

Hi there, i`d like to run your epic flyer in my long term career, do you have an idea how to ship this plane in a large stock fairing? And i will have to use RTGs, but i worry about fiddling with the craft, the Nacelles are so tight tightly packed i just don`t dare...

You can take a look in the mission reports, my thread is called DBP- Duna Bothering Program.
I can launch and land basically anything i desire, except your craft... And cheating is no option in my careergame, that simply kills the fun for me.

I`d like to transfer it to Duna legitly, with a powered descent, like the roverdroppod and the MKS Habitats....

[TopHeavy11]

Nice. It looks like your first prototype was a Mk. 3 as well, very impressive.

[_Rade]

On 11.1.2017. at 6:35 AM, fourfa said:

What do you think it would take to fit a craft like this inside the 3.75m fairing?  I'm thinking a single fuselage, front and rear coaxial/counter-rotating props, compactifying the wings (since it's all the same to KSP).  Looking forward to DLing this, trying it out, taking it apart...

It could be done, only problem is that with the push props on the tail it is really hard to takeoff even from the runway. Can't imagine how that would work on the bumpy terrain on Duna.

On 11.1.2017. at 10:01 AM, Mikki said:

@_Rade

Hi there, i`d like to run your epic flyer in my long term career, do you have an idea how to ship this plane in a large stock fairing? And i will have to use RTGs, but i worry about fiddling with the craft, the Nacelles are so tight tightly packed i just don`t dare...

Back in 1.0.4. I've sent similar plane to this one to Duna. First I've tried to send it on top of the rocket, but that didn't work because the COL was so far ahead of the COM. Then I realized that in order to get into orbit the plane will have to fly backwards. I've made the similar rocket for the Dunasoar and I've replaced the fuel cells with the RTG's.

You can checkout the imgur album for more details.

http://imgur.com/a/gVQvi

craft file https://kerbalx.com/Rade/Dunasoar-with-launcher

On 11.1.2017. at 2:26 PM, TopHeavy11 said:

Nice. It looks like your first prototype was a Mk. 3 as well, very impressive.

There was few other unsuccessful  prototypes before that, but that is the first one that worked well.

After that I made the smaller engine where the fairing cowered the structural fuselage that held the rotor. This eliminated the drag from the engine parts and in turn you get much higher speeds from the plane.

Final step was when I realized that you can get rid of the structural fuselage and just use the fairing instead. This worked much better than I expected, because the fairing props for some reason can spin much faster without breaking and they also have very little drag.

 

btw. anyone knows how to embed the imgur album.

Edited January 17, 2017 by _Rade

[fourfa]

1 hour ago, _Rade said:

btw. anyone knows how to embed the imgur album.

Not possible, Imgur changed their code a while back and it simply no longer works with the forum software package.

[Mikki]

Dobar dan @_Rade,

Guess where your second RTG DunaSoar is right now... yes, it is in my career mission report, on his way to Duna! I am honored and very glad to have such a wonderfull stockparts plane for use in Dunas atmosphere, this is so cool! 
I launched your craftfile, i added a bigger probe core and antennas, because i have no crew anymore to fly the plane .

All my Kerbals are en route, i have a slight feeling your craft will safe some Kerbals lives out there...

I will mention your plane in my Thread!

Spoiler

Thank you very much, greetings over there!

Edited January 12, 2017 by Mikki

[_Rade]

Nice, I'll be watching the tread to see how it all turns out.

Hopefully you'll have better luck with the engines than I did. I think it might have been better to attach the nose cone to the wing, offset it back and then attach the engine nacelles to it. That should have stronger joint strength than the octagonal strut that I used to attach the engines.

[Mikki]

Easy, this mission is very likely to end in a giant mess! I have KIS struts, btw!

@_Rade, hi there again, your Dunasoar has become a key item in my career, this is a utterly amazing craft!!!!
Thanks again! I solved the fueling, problem is obviously on my side of the docked vessel...

Edited January 15, 2017 by Mikki

[_Rade]

Nice to see you had better luck with the engines than I did. Have fun flying around Duna.

[Planetfall]

I read Dinosaur and got excited. 

Than I saw the awesome plane and got excited

Edited January 17, 2017 by Planetfall

[Khesperus]

I tried it just now in 1.4.4 and got into Duna's atmosphere, and deployed the probes/engines in nearly level flight at 15000m, but couldn't control them because they were out of  range.

[_Rade]

36 minutes ago, Khesperus said:

I tried it just now in 1.4.4 and got into Duna's atmosphere, and deployed the probes/engines in nearly level flight at 15000m, but couldn't control them because they were out of  range.

If you want this to work you'll need to have at least 3 satellites around Duna so that the probe cores in the engines will have the signal connection back to Kerbin.

I'm not sure if this plane still works properly with the new version of the KSP, it was made for 1.2.2. Quite a few thins changed for the stock propellers since the 1.4. came out. I've had to redesign most of my engines to get them to work with 1.4.

I recommend you use the new improved version of the Dunasoar Mk2 it is smaller, faster and it will work with the KSP 1.4.+. The engines can be safely reloaded if the plane is landed, no need to use the claw like with the older plane.

Also @SuperHappySquid have made a few really good Duna flyers you might want to try out https://kerbalx.com/Squiddy/craft

 

[Khesperus]

The propellers are still magic. It works wonderfully, as do Squiddy's designs, which I believe you collaborated in.

I launched it with a Mastodon-5 lower stage, and a slightly offset Rhino upper. We were good until about 20000 meters into the Dunian atmosphere, which is when I realized that I couldn't control the probe cores. I'm going to try it again and post screenshots for you.

 

[_Rade]

Nice to hear the engines are still working with all of the changes with the KSP.

I'm looking forward to those screenshots.

[Khesperus]

 

It worked!

It took me about four attempts to land, I think because I had the ailerons deployed, and didn't really realize it.

Album a/euXIrwX will appear when post is submitted

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by Khesperus

[Khesperus]

Oh, and this is the version from KerbalX !

[_Rade]

Nice effort.

I'm surprised you where actually able to land it with those elevons deployed like that.

It looks like the symmetry bug may have switched the symmetry from mirror to radial on some of the elevons. It most likely happened when you attached the plane to the carrier rocket.

[Khesperus]

Yeah! It was tough.

I didn't realize I could un-deploy them, but yes, I guess I'll have to be more careful attaching it in my career game.

[Khesperus]

I've tried it in the career-mode game now, and .... it turns out there's a bug which subtly re-arranges things when  you switch between craft or something. I've noticed this before with shrouds and the like.

For the Dunasoar Mk2, strapped to a big rocket it seems to cause the motors to explode dramatically on pressing "0".

[Khesperus]

I have to say that it explodes in a really cool-looking way though.

[_Rade]

The first plane was built way back in 1.2.2. and I haven't really tested it with the newer versions of the game. The 1.4 introduced quite a few changes with the way the fairings work and that is maybe causing some issues with the engines.

As for the second plane it is a known bug with the fairings. Most likely what happened is that while you where building the rocket you used Ctrl+Z to undo something and this causes the fairing bug to appear. Easy way to fix this is to simply edit the fairings on each engine and just close back the last section of the fairing. Doing this should fix any issues with the fairings.

[Khesperus]

Thank you!

I think I'll just try to rebuild it without hitting Ctrl+Z, considering the carrier rocket is about ten or so parts in total.