Uses for Structural Cylinders

[KingDominoIII]

What are your plans for the structural cylinders? I was planning to use them for docking, but they can be a little small for that.

 

[sevenperforce]

First thing I used one for was to do a Mercury-Atlas launch, with the structural cylinder acting as the mounting point for the jettisonable side engines.

I may also rework my Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 models to use a structural cylinder instead of the Mk3 short payload bay I had been using.

[Bill Phil]

I used it to stuff a bunch of reaction wheels to get massive amounts of torque in a relatively small space.

5 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

First thing I used one for was to do a Mercury-Atlas launch, with the structural cylinder acting as the mounting point for the jettisonable side engines.

Neat. Got a screenshot handy? I was thinking about making an Atlas but I couldn't think of a good way to do it while keeping the rocket looking nice.

[sevenperforce]

7 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

I used it to stuff a bunch of reaction wheels to get massive amounts of torque in a relatively small space.

Neat. Got a screenshot handy? I was thinking about making an Atlas but I couldn't think of a good way to do it while keeping the rocket looking nice.

Sure, lemme just refly the mission and I'll take a few.

Fairings still work quite well for most purposes (I used a fairing for the upper structural cylinder of Mercury-Atlas so I wouldn't have to worry about decoupling it) but if you need pass-through, the cylinders are beast.

I'm also anticipating using the cylinders for some stock bearings.

[klesh]

I like using them in a service module role, as a hiding spot for various rcs minitanks, some batteries, maybe a secondary probe core. 

The problem I've been having with them (and a few of the new MH parts like the actual service modules) is that placing things on the inside of the tube with angle snap turned on seems impossible.   Angle snap seems to force the part to the exteriors walls of the structural tubes, whereas placing without angle snap lets you place along the inside walls... albeit not nice and precisely.

[Foxster]

Just watch the drag with all the new parts, its pretty messed up. For instance, the structural cylinders do not shield the parts inside from drag. 

[OHara]

46 minutes ago, Foxster said:

... the structural cylinders do not shield the parts inside from drag. 

That is unfortunate, because new players would expect them to do so. 

I am thinking of how to write an enhancement request to ask for structural cylinders and nose-cones to act like always-closed cargo bays to shield enclosed from heat and drag.   KSPs code here is reasonably sophisticated (although sometimes we hear complaints about the message "cannot deploy while stowed"  when KSP mistakenly considers some landing gear to be inside a cargo bay).

 

[klesh]

2 hours ago, Foxster said:

For instance, the structural cylinders do not shield the parts inside from drag. 

 

What about the shielding/interstage on the engine plates, same thing?

[Foxster]

27 minutes ago, klesh said:

What about the shielding/interstage on the engine plates, same thing?

Yup, same. Extra things added inside are not protected from drag. 

AFAIK it's only the parts classed as Payload that do that job.  With everything else the wind blows straight through, in KSP's odd way. 

[DerekL1963]

19 hours ago, KingDominoIII said:

What are your plans for the structural cylinders? I was planning to use them for docking, but they can be a little small for that.

They're a useful part because you can put stuff inside them.  I use them in place of the ugly-butt service bays.  For instance, on the tug I use to deliver space station modules, a structural tube contains the reaction wheel, the probe core, batteries, and monopropellant tanks.  I've also played a little with using them as the structural base of probe landers but I haven't flown one yet.

And if you haven't realized it yet - they're resizeable!