SkunkTwerks Presents STAR WARS: High-Fidelity Craft Designs

[SG Aero]

Liking the new Craft so far! Is there any chance I could have the craft file for the v torrent and see what I can do with it? Also I have not gotten a chance to work on the hinge. I have the design thought out though. I've been busy with a school project so I haven't been able to do any complex building, just occasionally cobble together a plane. I'll try to get a design for the hinge finalized today, what with no school and all. I also like that you are building some of the more obscure ships in the star wars universe. It adds creativity to your hangar, and differentiates it from all the over used craft replicas on the forums.

EDIT: With the torrent I have an idea for how to stabilize it, that I want to try out, but I'll need to see the actual craft file first. As for the landing gear issue, there are two things you could try. Either it takes off upside down before righting itself, or it's a vtol. I shall not give up this easily!

EDIT OF AN EDIT: Well I almost finished the hinge design. I'm having to build the rotating parts without symmetry so that they rotate opposite directions, but I'm getting it done. I got the first rotational direction down as well as the docking.

Edited November 24, 2017 by ShadowGoat

[SkunkTwerks]

Okay Kerbal Engineers, gonna sound like a young padawan here, but are there any Jedi/Sith Lords who can direct me toward some solid tutorials/how-tos/explainlikeimfive/educational material on construction methods for various stock hinges/axles/bearings? Especially content that focuses on Thermometers vs RCS Ports, and Drone Cores vs Airbrakes?

@ShadowGoat and I are collaborating on a swing-wing version of the V-Wing and trying to shake the wobbles out of the system. We've got a bit of "wiggle room" so to speak, but the axle still needs to be pretty small while still being reasonably hardy.

I had landing gear-based axles/spindles pretty well figured out back in the days of v1.0, but outstanding projects like @klond's brilliant tracked rover and @Azimech's astounding V4 & V8 Diesel Catamarans have made it painfully apparent that rotating joints can be much sturdier, steadier, and more compact.

I've taken a close look at their designs, but I'm still very curious about how they got their collision mesh tolerances so well dialed in... What's the magic spacing for thermometer or RCS-ball bearings that allows the hinge to rotate freely (instead of clipping & exploding) without introducing excess wobble? Was that all determined empirically through what my old research adviser liked to call "trial by error," or is there a more efficient method to the madness? Some kind of KSP part-distance measuring mod, or pure keep-trying-it-until-it-works?

Also, will I need to do any modding or file editing to offset my hinge decouplers far enough away from the hinge itself?

May the Force of curiosity be with you,

-SkunkTwerks

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by SkunkTwerks
Edited for phrasing

[SG Aero]

The force of actually having the information we are looking for would probably be helpful too.

[klond]

19 hours ago, SkunkTwerks said:

Also, will I need to do any modding or file editing to offset my hinge decouplers far enough away from the hinge itself?

 No.  On the last few versions of KSP you can hold Shift and get it gives you ALOT of offset leeway.  Holding shift also gives you alot more steps in both setting positions and rotations with snap on.

19 hours ago, SkunkTwerks said:

trial by error

 OMG so much trial and error.  But it's also a community effort.  I got all my bearing designs from here!

19 hours ago, SkunkTwerks said:

What's the magic spacing for thermometer or RCS-ball bearings that allows the hinge to rotate freely (instead of clipping & exploding) without introducing excess wobble?

 I'll snap a cubic strut straight and square with the world (Absolute setting, love it - it's pretty new), then put 4, 6, or 8 thermometers on the sides, then hold shift and slide them into position with snap on.  If it's a low-speed bearing, like a ball joint, you can tighten the tolerance by twisting the thermometers (shift-rotate) one or two little ticks.  I'm getting excited just talking about it.  

Spoiler

 This one is my new fav tho.  Bigger but lighter.

Spoiler

 Sorry to hijack your thread.  Hope this helps.

Edited November 29, 2017 by klond

[SG Aero]

How are 4 thermometers lighter than 4 metal girders?

[klond]

33 minutes ago, ShadowGoat said:

How are 4 thermometers lighter than 4 metal girders?

Caption is above intended pic instead of under.  My bad.

[qzgy]

22 hours ago, SkunkTwerks said:

I've taken a close look at their designs, but I'm still very curious about how they got their collision mesh tolerances so well dialed in... What's the magic spacing for thermometer or RCS-ball bearings that allows the hinge to rotate freely (instead of clipping & exploding) without introducing excess wobble? Was that all determined empirically through what my old research adviser liked to call "trial by error," or is there a more efficient method to the madness? Some kind of KSP part-distance measuring mod, or pure keep-trying-it-until-it-works?

Klond has already given a very nice stock answer, but please don't mind me chiming in here. I personally use EditorExtensionsRedux for the infinite offset thing (it also allows a bunch more useful stuff) and for bearings in turbo props, I've used Collide-o-scope to help dial in fit. It gives a visual representation of the cllider meshes, the thing to actually calculate collisions.

Also, something of an idea - use the jr docking ports as decouplers - less messy and less likely to break stuff. (of course not my own original idea. This forum is great for cool little tricks in KSP!)

Edited November 29, 2017 by qzgy

[SG Aero]

Sorry I meant how are 4 cubic struts lighter than 4 thermometers?

[qzgy]

3 hours ago, ShadowGoat said:

Sorry I meant how are 4 cubic struts lighter than 4 thermometers?

According to the wiki, the thermometer weighs 0.01 tons and the cubic strut is 0.00 tons. (in game IIRC its 0.005.... I think) 0.01*4 = 0.04 > 0.02 = 0.005*4

[klond]

3 hours ago, ShadowGoat said:

Sorry I meant how are 4 cubic struts lighter than 4 thermometers?

 when hovering over a part in build mode the game claims the cubic octagonal strut is .001t and the thermometer as .005t.  Sounds backwards but that's what it says.

[SG Aero]

Well then.

[HeroBrian_333]

I am working on Darth Vader's TIE Advanced Prototype. Already has VTOL, just need more lifting surfaces an speed. Will post it here when done if anyone is interested.

[SkunkTwerks]

It's been an offbeat week in the Twerkshop, trying to learn new hinge designs and struggling with some "sensitive" crafts.

The Z-95 Headhunter ATMO+VTOL prototype is giving me headaches... I'm so close, yet so far! I've run into some unexpectedly tricky challenges during flight testing. It handles decently during very casual, cautious flight, but in harder maneuvering the Headhunter's long nose catches the wind and the wings/elevons are too far aft to control the momentum. Plus, there's not much room for vertical stabilizers, so yaw control is difficult. For something I assumed would be a cake-walk, it's proving to be a surprisingly tough craft to balance. Stay tuned!

Spoiler

Wheeee! This would have been an impressive aerial trick if it had been intentional. The maneuver proved unrecoverable and Jeb took an unscheduled swim.

 

Thank you @klond for the thoughtful hinge reply! I tried a few hinges this evening, including your cool cubic strut one. And thank you @qzgy for suggesting Collide-O-Scope! That sure takes a lot of guesswork out of part spacing. I'm all fired up about finding a very compact & sturdy low-speed axle for variable-geometry crafts like the V-Wing and possibly the Aurek, and the hunt is on... Here's a glance a couple of my experiments so far.

 This thing just goes round and round to test hinge stability. Here I tried to replicate the RCS-ball hinges I saw on @Azimech's engines (collision mesh highlights from Collide-O-Scope). It's pretty nifty, but I'll need to keep working to get more stability on the vertical axis. As you can see, this one's pretty floppy on everything but the horizontal axis. Next step might be to play with EditorExtensionsRedux so I can make longer axles and taller stacks of axle-housing.

Checking collision meshes on a thermometer-thermometer hinge. Still trying to find the sweet spot!

 

TL;DR There's no shortage of stuff spinning around and exploding in the Twerkshop right now. Mistakes are being made in a semi-systematic manner, and science is happening.

 

But I made solid progress on the Aurek prototypes! I will post  SSTO and ATMO+VTOL variants once I've snapped some screenshots. A variable-geometry version might come later if I can make some hinges that are small enough, strong enough, and stable enough to work during flight.

 

On 12/1/2017 at 1:03 PM, HeroBrian_333 said:

I am working on Darth Vader's TIE Advanced Prototype. Already has VTOL, just need more lifting surfaces an speed. Will post it here when done if anyone is interested.

AWESOME. That's a super cool craft! Can't wait to see what you've created.

May the Force of sheer stubborn persistence be with you until it works,

-SkunkTwerks

Edited December 3, 2017 by SkunkTwerks
spel cehck

[SG Aero]

Oh I see I have created a new trend. May the force of carrying on this trend be with you.

[HeroBrian_333]

 @Avera9eJoe's Volta XV Switch is a rotating engine VTOL with a pretty good and compact rcs/thermometer bearing. You could probably modify it to be powered, because right now it rotates due to the engines being on. You should check it out.

7 hours ago, SkunkTwerks said:

May the Force of sheer stubborn persistence be with you until it works,

It has been, along with the force of the thrust to weight ratio equation.

[SG Aero]

Alright I actually put some hinges in the x wing but the wings explode upon decoupling. They also appear to become possessed as they slowly move closer to the main body of the craft after exploding.

Edited December 2, 2017 by ShadowGoat

[SkunkTwerks]

Yikes, lots of posts, not enough new crafts to download... So much work, not enough play.... SkunkTwerks to the rescue!

Here's the original ortho from unusualsuspex at deviantart. I tried to stick to it as closely as I could, and I'm happy with the results.

 

The SkunkTwerks Aurek-class Tactical Strikefighter ATMO+VTOL

Specially requested by @ShadowGoat, this flashy fighter is an excellent choice for winning a Sith War, a Galactic War, or a Bidding War in the Mission Control Building.

Well-balanced VTOL makes takeoff easy. Hotkey 1 toggles vertical engine, hotkey 2 toggles horizontal engine. A vertically-oriented QBE (Hotkey 4) is included to facilitate vertical landings.

Flight notes: Nimble and quick, though sometimes does funny things when pitching and rolling simultaneously. Capable of cool, controlled yaw slides.

 

And of course, the SkunkTwerks Aurek-class Tactical Strikefighter SSTO

Because of course we wanted to fly it in space! RCS sold separately. Clamp-O-Tron Junior behind the cockpit allows orbital refueling.

Super easy to get into orbit. SkunkTwerks “SSTO Or Your Galactic Credits Back” Guaranteed Ascent Profile: Engage SAS and throttle to full before starting engines. After takeoff, pitch up to 10 degrees and hold 10-15 degrees climb. At 10,000 m altitude, pitch down to 0 degrees to begin level flight, then allow pitch to drift up naturally. Switch RAPIERS to closed cycle (Hotkey 1) as soon as velocity begins to drop, allowing pitch to drift up naturally until desired apoapsis is reached. More efficient ascent profiles may exist, but will void the warranty.

AIRBRAKEs extended for no-stress re-entry. The forward wings and 70% deployment shield them from most of the aero heating, meaning you probably won't need to retract them to keep them from burning up on all but the most aggressive descents.

These birds were a blast to build! The ATMO version will likely be one of my first projects to revisit once I've mastered some small & sturdy hinges --- this one is supposed to have variable wing geometry and I'll be thrilled if I can make that work.

 

16 hours ago, HeroBrian_333 said:

 @Avera9eJoe's Volta XV Switch is a rotating engine VTOL with a pretty good and compact rcs/thermometer bearing. You could probably modify it to be powered, because right now it rotates due to the engines being on. You should check it out.

Now THAT is a cool craft. I downloaded and examined it, then promptly downloaded EditorExtensionsRedux so I could try to replicate it. The hinge is simple, strong, and compact, and might be exactly the kind of thing that might work wonders for the V-Wing. Thanks for suggesting it!

 

10 hours ago, ShadowGoat said:

Alright I actually put some hinges in the x wing but the wings explode upon decoupling. They also appear to become possessed as they slowly move closer to the main body of the craft after exploding.

Well shoot. Have you checked the SPH for potential saboteurs? Some of those hardhat-wearing kerbals wandering around on the hangar floor look like they might be Empire sympathizers...

 

May the Force be with you all, and all your KSP projects,

-SkunkTwerks

 

 

EDIT:

P.S. It was really fun being one of the Threads Of The Month for November. I'm so grateful for all the love these crafts have received, it really inspired me to build and share more crafts. When I joined this forum I thought it would be cool if my replicas made a couple dozen people smile... But wow, over the past two months you crazy KSP forumers and KerbalX followers have downloaded SkunkTwerks crafts over 1,220 times. Thanks @Dman979 and whoever else nominated the thread, and thanks a bajillion to the rest of you for reading along. I never expected such an awesome warm reception. May the force be with you always! 

Edited December 3, 2017 by SkunkTwerks

[Dman979]

They're good crafts, Bront.

[SG Aero]

^^^^

I like the Aurek, but does it have special control to be flyable by goats? It looks cheap, and cheap ships are the most important thing for establishing my goat empire. Goats don't exactly have good reflexes. Also @SkunkTwerks please check the pm. I'm not sure if we can actually use a thermometer bearing,  due to the placement of the reaction wheels and probe core.

EDIT: Also just eyeballing it here, but the wings of the Aurek actually look like they should be a little shorter so maybe offset it inwards a little. Also the variable geometry is gonna be difficult due to the guns on the side. Actually upon further inspection in not quite sure what but something with the scaling of the wings is off. Maybe it's just me being a perfectionist, but just something there seems scaled wrong.

Edited December 3, 2017 by ShadowGoat

[SG Aero]

From deep within the secret department of the SC hangar, comes a new Star Dreadnought that will ravage all Processors that dare to defy the Empire.

Image removed because it’s not my thread.

Hope ya dont mind the image @SkunkTwerks

You can join in the CPU killing fun too if you want.

Edited December 27, 2017 by ShadowGoat

[mrsinister]

haha! Ravage all processors... Love the thread! Awesome work!

[SkunkTwerks]

Happy Holidays, Star Wars KSP nerds!

As a boxing day present, SkunkTwerks and ShadowGoat proudly present their collaborative craft, the GoatTwerks Variable-Geometry Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing. In addition to VTOL capability, this starfighter can lock its wing radiators into flight position for extra maneuverability during combat and swing them back to stowed configuration for landing. After many hours of hinge testing and flight testing, 9 out of 10 rebel Kerbals agree: this ship is the coolest Twerkshop project yet (the other one misheard, and thought we were talking about the B-wing).

Based on these two orthos from unusualsuspex: Flight Configuration and Landing Configuration.

GoatTwerks Variable-Geometry Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing

Flight notes:

Use of SAS is strongly recommended, RCS not included.

Craft geometry changes are not guaranteed to function at airspeeds over 110 m/s in level flight. Similarly, wing-swings have been tested one at a time. Releasing both sets simultaneously may result in undesirable flight patterns. Don't forget to throttle back up after each wing set re-couples and locks into place. Not sure why, but KSP automatically cuts the throttle to 0 every time the craft becomes "whole" again.

Make sure to swing the wings back into Landing Mode and extend the rear landing strut before returning to the ground. Velocities under ~12 m/s are strongly recommended for touchdown.

Hotkeys:

• 1: Toggle vertical engines
• 2: Toggle horizontal engines
• 3: Toggle horizontal afterburners
• 4: Control from vertical "astromech droid" (most useful during landing)
• 5: Control from cockpit
• 6: Toggle vertical engine gimbals. Disabling gimbals significantly reduces craft wobble when using SAS's Hold Retrograde function during landing, but enabling gimbals can be handy for takeoff in rough terrain.
• 7: Undock lower wings for Landing/Flight Mode switch. Transfer control to the OKTO2 and hit W (landing -> flight) or S (flight -> landing) to finish the job. The lower wing Landing -> flight switch usually happens all by itself thanks to gravity and drag.
• 8: Undock upper wings for Landing/Flight Mode switch. Transfer control to the OKTO2 and hit W (landing -> flight) or S (flight -> landing) to finish the job.

Folding the wings from Flight -> Landing Mode...

Lower set locked into place.

Upper set in motion.

Fully reconfigured and ready for landing.

Vertical landing using Astromech Droid and SAS's retrograde hold.

Many special thanks to the KSP engineers who helped make this craft functional. @ShadowGoat made the initial request for this craft, then designed a brilliant functional prototype dual hinge system for this Variable Geometry version. The slick, lightweight, strong RCS port hinges were first introduced by @quitessa and refined by @Azimech. Yours truly, @SkunkTwerks provided the initial fixed-wing model and made lots of tweaks to the hinge prototypes to adapt them to the V-Wing.

I personally had a blast making new friends in the KSP community, and a ton of fun learning about hinges. Fun fact: the V-Wing's hinge assemblies required at least 15 major overhauls to become as smooth, strong, and stable as they are now.

Also, stay tuned to @Jett_Quasar's Star Wars Replicas thread, as a V-Wing is scheduled to make an appearance in one of his upcoming videos.

May the Force be with you this holiday season,

-SkunkTwerks

P.S. As @MiffedStarfish just pointed out in the KerbalX comments, ideally the wings would all swing into position at the same time. But ShadowGoat and I couldn't wrap our head around a good way to do that... If anyone reading this has a clever idea for how to do it, I encourage you to join the collaboration!

 

Edited December 26, 2017 by SkunkTwerks

[SG Aero]

Pleased to have been a part of making this wonderful craft!

[SkunkTwerks]

Time for another peek at the Twerkshop behind the scenes...

The quest for hinged craft continues. Next up, the X-Wing!

@ShadowGoat and I bounced some hinge ideas off each other today, and I came up with what I shall fondly call the "BOBA IN A STRAW" hinge. Plot twist: it does not actually involve Boba Fett. Very disappointing, I know.

The challenge:

I needed a hinge strong enough to support HEAVY S-foils loaded up with Drill-O-Matics, fuel tanks, and engines. Did I mention they'd be experiencing aerodynamic forces during motion as well? This hinge needs to be SOLID.

I also wanted to keep the part count to a respectful minimum so more people can enjoy flying the X-Wing at decent framerates. After trying a few other options with much higher part counts, I took inspiration from, you guessed it... bubble tea with wonderful chewy boba / tapioca pearls, sipped through a big fat straw.

Today I learned that the "BOBA IN A STRAW" hinge idea is strong, quite low in part count, and seems to work beautifully in partial prototype! And all it took was at least six major revisions and a TON of delicate fine tuning.

Radically simplified X-Wing prototype using loaded ore cans as engine stand-ins. Structural I-Beam and Panel colliders highlighted in yellow, RCS port colliders highlighted in red with Collide-O-Scope.

How it works:

I used structural panels and long I-Beams to create a long "straw," then filled it with RCS port "boba." The outermost RCS bearings on each side belong to (and rotate with) the left S-foil. The middle RCS bearings on each side belong to (and rotate with) the right S-foil. The innermost RCS bearings are part of the fuselage and keep the S-foil bearings from sliding fore/aft. I will add more "boba" to this "straw" later when I add the lower S-foils.

Looking down the straw. When the S-foils are released from the docking ports, the RCS ports are trapped in place and can only rotate in place... theoretically speaking, of course. If the docking port angle & offsetting is even a little bit off, they can easily break out of their straw and cause all kinds of explosions.

Using AIRBRAKES to push the S-foils up from flight configuration into combat configuration

 

S-foils locked in combat configuration without support from AIRBRAKES. Note that the red RCS ports still aren't quite in perfect alignment despite many meticulous attempts... *shoots force lightning from fingertips*

Lessons learned so far:

1) It seems that all docking ports must reach a certain distance apart before they can re-magnetize and re-dock. A meter, maybe? Hard to tell exactly. Docking ports will need to be closer to the wingtips so they'll have enough swing distance.

So unless someone can think of a better solution, a few docking ports will probably just have to hover in midair above & below the ship when it's not in combat configuration. It's not super pretty, but I'll grudgingly sacrifice some beauty for functionality. Hopefully this won't conflict with the landing gear when I get around to adding the lower foils.

2) Docking ports must be *perfectly* aligned, or they rip their attached RCS ball bearings right out of their I-Beam housing upon docking. Or sometimes they only partially rip the RCS bearings out, and then everything falls apart the moment the docking ports are released.

3) Saving on part count means using heavy parts. Fortunately the X-Wing is really overpowered with its stacked Panther-RAPIERs. Not sure I'll be able to get it to work on the VTOL craft (so many potential part-clipping problems), but it might work just fine on the traditional runway takeoff variant.

 

The prototype craft file is available upon request, PM me for the download. I'm all ears for insight and collaboration.

 

May the Force of fine-tuning be with us all,

-SkunkTwerks

Edited December 29, 2017 by SkunkTwerks

[HeroBrian_333]

Can you try and make this? It's from the Clone Wars TV Series.