Scramjet Engine / hypersonic glide plane project

[deadbus]

Inspiration:

Hello, I am working on this project for a while now and reached the stage where I\'ve decided to announce it Also decided to go public because of some issues I have with my parts after importing them for testing in to KSP 0.16 ... so I hope more experienced KSP modders could give me a hand with some issues I have. This is my first ksp mod and I\'ve decided to create sth that is not too complicated but complex enough to allow me to understand most of the process for more advanced designs in the future.

My idea for this mod:

Creating a small booster rocket that lifts off from a carrier plane and after reaching planned attitude and speed with booster rocket runs on a Scramjet engine in a hypersonic glide.

In KSP stages this could look like this:

- rocket or a sort of space plane that could have my model attached to itself and lift it to around 25-30 km (carrier plane is designed with any ksp parts - stock or from other mods)

- disconnect stage from a carrier plane/rocket and initiation of a burn stage to mach 5 (~1700 m/s) or even faster if possible

- hypersonic glide stage using Scramjet engine until it runs out of fuel

- safe landing

I want to make it a fun mod so a single kerbal behind a wheel is a change to original project I\'ve inspired myself on which has no pilot controlling it... and is not meant to land in one peace In case of my model I want a pod to be ejected in one of the end stages with a pilot inside - bringing him safe to the ground

Parts list:

- Test Pilot Pod - pod designed to carry one brave kerbal ready to suffer from extreme g-force with attached parachute for a landing stage of flight

- Slick Main Body Part - this aerodynamic core of a whole model also serves a role of a fuel tank with liquid oxygen for a Scramjet engine support

- Scramjet engine

- Booster Module - for a first stage of acceleration after separation from carrier plane

- Set of wings - each as a separate part (2 x horizontally oriented wings and 2x vertically oriented wings - like on inspiration pictures)

- Parachute Module

- Decoupler module - designed to free pod from the rest of the plane allowing pilot to abandon it before it is too late - thinking here about sth like Top Gun catapult evacuation from a jet

Some screenshots

Parts assembled in KSP - Most parts still have workflow textures since I wanted a quick import in to the game to test out nodes (had to understand how this part works) though Main body has NASA style texture. I am not sure if I will keep it like this - tbh the black one like on x-43a seems much cooler still so far it looks like this

The end result-ish I would like to achive (with few small changes: Scramjet engine is too big atm, I also want cooler shapes for both sets of wings)

Now, the most important part... problems I have with this project and I hope someone could shed some light on to this topics:

- I\'ve figured out nods (the sdk 3ds script worked miracles in this process) but when i assemble my model in KSP I have lots of issues with collisions between parts. Especially when I mix stock parts with my own - I can place nods in a way so parts are not perfectly fit and then in most cases nothing blows up (but connections between then seem to be very very weak) or place nods they way all fits perfect and watch some fireworks :/ If someone could give me a hint how to sort this out - or how to place nods to minimize the risk of collisions and structure failures

- If someone knows: should I place node_collider as close as possible to original mesh size or it is no that important and simple box somewhere in the middle of a model is fine? and if so is node_attach - so the surface attachment node related to node_collider or same cords as node_stack_x I export with KSP Vector Tool?

- Parts balance is a thing to test out (i pity those kerbals that already died due to my failed test attempts) but if someone has tips especially for engine .cfg I would be very grateful especially that my goal is high speed flight and accelration in atmosphere and from what I found on the forums it seems in 0.16 high g-force and how it affects whole structure has changed dramatically compared to previous versions

Thank you in advance for any help and please don\'t be to harsh on me for my English. It is my second language and it is possible this wall of text contains some horrible mistakes

[Emilio]

Sorry, but I think someone did it before you... http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=17433.0

[deadbus]

Sorry, but I think someone did it before you... http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=17433.0

aww I am sure i did check the search function on forums. Oh well guess I\'ll finish it for myself then purely for educational purposes only I hope someone could give answers to issiues I have with this one or guide me to related topic on forums I failed to fiend myself

[LaydeeDem]

To be honest, yours has nicer textures.