X-plane of the Day OPEN SIGN UP

[NorthAmericanAviation]

"X-Plane of the Day" is on the horizon!

@Servo and I are at it again, but this time we're reaching out---to you!

X-plane-of-the-Day is fairly similar to Jet-of-the-Day, found below, but with some additional elements

A quick browse through the first page will show the post formula and general format of our(Mainly @Servo's) '___-of-the-Day' type thread

 

In this new iteration of the format, we are reaching out to you, the enthusiast, for your quality replicas of American experimental aircraft, prototypes, and tech-demo type craft

The roster can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pxbH4AyQhn62Rb5ZNawKfkscsO47rq4DhVh1xgbJJqY/edit#gid=0

          Criteria:

• Aircraft/Spacecraft must possess, if possible, the same characteristics tested/manipulated/created in the real craft. Ain't no fun if it don't do what it's supposed to, now is it?
  ---More specifically, the main focus of the experiment, if any. The X-1 broke the speed of sound, the X-3 tested sustained supersonic flight but failed due to lack of thrust, the X-4 tested tail-less flight, the X-5 tested variable sweep wing geometry, etc. If there's some variation between your craft and the original craft, we'll overlook it to a point. This shouldn't be too hard.
  Another Ex.- The X-29 is a high-maneuverability test aircraft, defined by its design's inherent instability.
  (It should be noted that there is a great deal of leeway for flight characteristics---some are hard to model, like 'aero-elastic' wings.)
• Aircraft/Spacecraft should be aesthetically pleasing. It should resemble the real deal. If the real plane is ugly, the KSP model can be ugly, of course.
• Aircraft/Spacecraft must be stock!
• Aircraft/Spacecraft must be uploaded on a site from which anybody may have access to the .craft file. Ex. KerbalX.com
• Aircraft/Spacecraft are mostly of U.S. design/origin
• Two to four pictures must be used of the craft in the post, at least one of the real craft. A video is fine, as well.

          How to Sign Up:

• PM myself or @Servo with two to four examples of your works. We will evaluate what we see to decide if you make the cut.
  You could just post here, as well---If you want to show pictures, the WIP Design thread in The Spacecraft Exchange is a better place to show them. Consider spoilers!
• Keep communicating with us---we'd like to know that you know
  (We don't bite, either.)

          Your Goal as a Contributor:

• Create up to 5 craft to be featured in "X-plane of the Day"
• If a craft is not on the list and you really want it, post here or PM me (to avoid spoilers) and it will be added of it meets the criteria
• If you don't want to make the post in the thread, I will make an article for it. (Ex.- The SR-71 post in Jet-of-the-Day.)
  Myself or @Servo will write the articles, your craft will be linked to and showcased with pictures, etc.

Note to Mods --- I put this here despite the proper showcase thread belonging in The Spacecraft Exchange when it happens. Move this around as you wish.

Edited May 10, 2017 by NorthAmericanAviation

[Triop]

I see here on the forum that some of us wants to replicate the same jets.

Why not let everybody design them and present them all on the day the jet is up ?

Hope you know what I mean, (my English is not so good when it comes to explaining things)

 

[MiffedStarfish]

16 hours ago, NorthAmericanAviation said:

Another Ex.- The X-29 is a high-maneuverability test aircraft, defined by its design's inherent instability.

Oh god, now I'm scared my X-29 won't be unstable enough! Then again, I could just say the three SAS modules are making 40 corrections a second...

[Triop]

Going through the list, I'm a big F-5 fan (I live near a base where they were stationed,I'm getting old...), so I know my stuff, but I have never seen  THIS:

Awesome, maybe I'll have a go

[NorthAmericanAviation]

3 hours ago, Triop said:

I see here on the forum that some of us wants to replicate the same jets.

Why not let everybody design them and present them all on the day the jet is up ?

Hope you know what I mean, (my English is not so good when it comes to explaining things)

 

We have two options: (1) Let everybody present an article, (2) or only let the best one present. I'd like option 1, but i have to figure out how to do record-keeping so i know who presents on what day. Stay tuned.

Also, feel free to add any craft not currently on the list, I'm going to add a few I have seen in books. The list started out including everything, but we whittled it down to things that actually flew -scram-jets. They'll probably be back soon.

[Triop]

My suggestion: Make the article about the jet yourself, and show pictures of the ones that were send in.

Putting on top your favorite.

What do you think ?

[NorthAmericanAviation]

Perfect, Going with that and changing OP

6 minutes ago, Triop said:

My suggestion: Make the article about the jet yourself, and show pictures of the ones that were send in.

<snip>

Will also include download links
 

Edited May 10, 2017 by NorthAmericanAviation

[Jollyfellow]

(Leaving this here after edit. I will not be doing these (as they're not part of the challenge) but I will still enter)

I will be doing a minimum of two entries, one of these will be the Concorde:

And another will be the solar impulse 2 (Have to re-download mods for this one)

Edited May 10, 2017 by Jollyfellow
Didn't understand the challenge

[NorthAmericanAviation]

2 minutes ago, Jollyfellow said:

I will be doing a minimum of two entries, one of these will be the Concorde:

And another will be the solar impulse 2 (Have to re-download mods for this one)

Unless the Concorde has an early experimental prototype I'm unaware of, it doesn't really classify as an "X-Plane"

As for Solar Impulse, if you can do it with stock parts, that's fine despite it breaking the trend of U.S. craft. One-time thing---A complete worldwide list of experimental aircraft would be far too much to manage (for me, anyways).

[Jollyfellow]

1 minute ago, NorthAmericanAviation said:

Unless the Concorde has an early experimental prototype I'm unaware of, it doesn't really classify as an "X-Plane"

As for Solar Impulse, if you can do it with stock parts, that's fine despite it breaking the trend of U.S. craft. One-time thing---A complete worldwide list of experimental aircraft would be far too much to manage (for me, anyways).

Ah, okay. I was wondering what the "X" meant. Well, I'll still compete, but I'm unsure of what I'll do now...

 

[NorthAmericanAviation]

If you still want Solar impulse, electric stock props are easy! It's Swiss, but you can still do it. Ex-Post-Facto we'll stick to U.S. origin stuff. Squiddy, on YouTube, has made a wonderful tutorial for two sizes of E-engines, which I discovered while making my NASA Pathfinders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVKFKRDFm8

(not embedding since it's not my content)

[Jollyfellow]

1 minute ago, NorthAmericanAviation said:

If you still want Solar impulse, electric stock props are easy! It's Swiss, but you can still do it. Ex-Post-Facto we'll stick to U.S. origin stuff. Squiddy, on YouTube, has made a wonderful tutorial for two sizes of E-engines, which I discovered while making my NASA Pathfinders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVKFKRDFm8

(not embedding since it's not my content)

I would do it stock, but I've tried electric engines and they almost never work for me. Also, I already had a solar impulse 2 model, and I was going to use it because it was halfway across Kerbin (I have about 11 hours of recording from it). The only problem with it is that it uses KAX.

I'm currently working on the X-36, and I may have to compete with @MiffedStarfish for the X-29. I love me some forward swept wings!

[Servo]

1 hour ago, Triop said:

My suggestion: Make the article about the jet yourself, and show pictures of the ones that were send in.

Putting on top your favorite.

What do you think ?

 

1 hour ago, NorthAmericanAviation said:

Perfect, Going with that and changing OP

Will also include download links
 

That's a really elegant solution to the problem @Triop Kudos for the idea. Obviously, there will be some logistical problems with that (namely making sure that we know ahead of time if a craft doesn't have any submissions so we can make one ourselves). Also, we'll try to find a way to even it out. Even through the X-29 is really cool, I don't think we need 12 of them.

 

 

4 hours ago, Triop said:

Going through the list, I'm a big F-5 fan (I live near a base where they were stationed,I'm getting old...), so I know my stuff, but I have never seen  THIS:

Awesome, maybe I'll have a go

Yep - that's a really cool design. I was going to modify my own F-5 for the job, but I guess that now there's room enough for two of them :).

2 minutes ago, Jollyfellow said:

I would do it stock, but I've tried electric engines and they almost never work for me. Also, I already had a solar impulse 2 model, and I was going to use it because it was halfway across Kerbin (I have about 11 hours of recording from it). The only problem with it is that it uses KAX.

I'm currently working on the X-36, and I may have to compete with @MiffedStarfish for the X-29. I love me some forward swept wings!

I'm pretty well versed in stock moving parts and turboshafts/electric engines are still completely lost to me.

If you stick to it, you'll find a way, and if not, there are 70 other craft on the list that aren't powered by electric props.

[Triop]

38 minutes ago, Servo said:

@TriopObviously, there will be some logistical problems with that (namely making sure that we know ahead of time if a craft doesn't have any submissions so we can make one ourselves). Also, we'll try to find a way to even it out. Even through the X-29 is really cool, I don't think we need 12 of them.

Let's be real, you'll never get 12x X-29, maybe 4.

Just let us know in advance what craft you need and I'm sure one of us will be happy to make a replica.

Signed; "The Dirty Dozen" 

[NorthAmericanAviation]

1 hour ago, Jollyfellow said:

I would do it stock, but I've tried electric engines and they almost never work for me. Also, I already had a solar impulse 2 model, and I was going to use it because it was halfway across Kerbin (I have about 11 hours of recording from it). The only problem with it is that it uses KAX.

I'm currently working on the X-36, and I may have to compete with @MiffedStarfish for the X-29. I love me some forward swept wings!

Good deal! I don't blame you for being weary of stock bearings, I forget how comfortable I've become with them. Also got a little excited, admittedly. Ex:

57 minutes ago, Servo said:

Obviously, there will be some logistical problems with that (namely making sure that we know ahead of time if a craft doesn't have any submissions so we can make one ourselves).

Definitely a point to watch, yes.         Idea: There should be a 1-week threshold between the time a craft is done and the time it will appear on X-Plane of the Day. Therefore, once that line is crossed, it will be assumed that there are no entrants. If one does come up, it will be accepted, but may be accompanied by the build meant to fill the once empty slot. Will most likely implement this.

[qzgy]

Spoilery spoiler. Do not open unless really intrigued.

Spoiler

Currently working on Have blue. Pain in the (unspecified part) to work on, cause of the wing surfaces forcing it down...

Had to cram in like 10 SAS modules to get it to even barely control...

Still, a WIP(Those canards on the back are not true to life). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Also, liking the sound of the new system.

Edited May 10, 2017 by qzgy

[Triop]

I'm afraid that we would get many spoilers on this thread before the actual challenge is opened...

I'm suggesting not posting pics here of our work, but just send them to OP.

Maybe post on "work in progress" ?

 

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by Triop

[qzgy]

4 minutes ago, Triop said:

I'm afraid that we would get many spoilers on this thread before the actual challenge is opened...

I'm suggesting not posting pics here of our work, but just send them to OP.

Maybe post on "work in progress" ?

 

 

Probably a good idea.

[MiffedStarfish]

I know it might be a bit late, but can put my name down for the Rockwell XFV-12? It looks really interesting and challenging to build. If we're still doing the put your name down thing. 

Edit: I've got an idea. How about whatever plane was built by the person on the sheet gets shown as the main plane, while any others built could be put in a Dropbox folder which can be downloaded. So the download would look like this:

Main Craft: -download link-

All Crafts Built: -download link for every submission of the plane-

There could also be signature-size pictures of them. This would mean everyone who wanted to could have their plane featured, while not cluttering up the main post with with pictures of different builds.

Edited May 10, 2017 by MiffedStarfish

[swjr-swis]

6 hours ago, Jollyfellow said:

I would do it stock, but I've tried electric engines and they almost never work for me.

I made some electroprops for my Kerman Flyer that are absolutely 99.99% reliable (the sole exception being not to switch focus to a craft, or debris, more than 2km away... the game's automatic unloading will dislodge the bearings when you focus back). It uses two bearings to stabilize the rotor and will happily run for hours without a hitch through all kinds of acrobatic flying.

The design is pretty straightforward I think, all parts are placed using the stock snap positions, it needs no freeform fiddling, just a bit of extra offset allowance (settings.cfg, VAB_FINE_OFFSET_THRESHOLD, works for SPH too; I have it set to 10). If there is any interest in it I can record a video of how I assemble them.

Feel free to reuse them, in this case the root part is the cubic octagonal strut which allows them to be radially attached with a lot of freedom.

 

Speaking of which: @NorthAmericanAviation, would a replica of the Wright Flyer fit as a submission for this thread? After all, it is the quintessential experimental/prototype/tech demo aircraft. You'll find all you need to make an article on the Kerman Flyer craft page (craft file, lots of pics, several videos).

[Yukon0009]

I've built an X-34, a design I haven't seen anyone replicate in KSP before. I did build one way back in 0.25, but it couldn't actually fly if I remember correctly.

Long story short, X-34 was supposed to be a testbed for SSTO technologies or something like that. Mine flies with the help of clipped reaction wheels, something I haven't done in a long time, because it's just too unresponsive to controls without. Was intended for it to launch from a Lockheed Tristar, which I don't have at the moment.

Download (WIP)

[qzgy]

Are we doing scramjets as well? (X-51, X-43 etc.)

[Hodo]

15 hours ago, NorthAmericanAviation said:

Unless the Concorde has an early experimental prototype I'm unaware of, it doesn't really classify as an "X-Plane"

As for Solar Impulse, if you can do it with stock parts, that's fine despite it breaking the trend of U.S. craft. One-time thing---A complete worldwide list of experimental aircraft would be far too much to manage (for me, anyways).

The Concorde did have an experimental version, it just never had the "X" designation because that is a USAF military designation, and the Concorde was a French aircraft.

[qzgy]

12 minutes ago, Hodo said:

Concorde was a French aircraft.

Minor correction - French-British

[Servo]

3 hours ago, qzgy said:

Are we doing scramjets as well? (X-51, X-43 etc.)

I had them on the list originally, but I removed them (along with all concept planes that weren't built) because the list was 100+ planes.