[1.8.1-1.12.x] Modular Launch Pads v2.7.0: Launch clamps evolved: Real-style launch bases and towers [04 July 2024]

[AlphaMensae]

Third Mini Milkstool Launch Stand size, for 1.875m and 2.5m rockets, is done.  This one was tall enough to warrant making three height variants: short, medium and tall.

I was using my stripped-down dev install, with only the separate Solid motors from BDB, so part selection was slim, and used my go-to Vector and Rockomax tank demo thing.  

I'm now making standalone part versions of the mini-milkstools, with each height a separate part. Not launch clamps, but a snap-in part for use with the launch plates and launch bases. No integrated hold-down bolts either, use the separate hold-downs.

Speaking of the launch plates, those are going to be remade, and they plus the new snap-in mini-milkstools will be put in a new Launch Plates tech tree node. The snap-in mini-milkstools will also be in the Launch Plates sub-category of my stock custom MLP category.

[MuriloMoreira]

On 3/17/2020 at 12:10 PM, AlphaMensae said:

As it is, no, everything is designed for stock scale rockets (roughly 2/3 real scale).  For RSS, you'll have to rescale them bigger, although the larger General Launch Bases can accomodate large rocket sizes without rescaling.

Is it possible that only Tweak Scale can solve this issue of resizing all the pieces or will I have to mess with the files.

[AlphaMensae]

19 hours ago, MuriloMoreira said:

Is it possible that only Tweak Scale can solve this issue of resizing all the pieces or will I have to mess with the files.

Yes, you can use TweakScale, but I don't provide any configs for it, nor am I interested in doing so.

You can also make MM patches to adjust the rescaleFactor.

[AlphaMensae]

All three of the new Mini Milkstool Launch Stands are now on the AlphaDev branch of the GitHub.

All three sizes of them are meant to sit with the large foot pads (which are not part of the launch clamp transforms) on the top of the pad static (i.e. on the floor of the VAB), so offset the whole assembly so those foot pads are partially under the floor. There is only a partial collider on them, so there is some leeway to how far down they can go. They will look quite odd otherwise.  

[Invaderchaos]

With the addition of the Titan II tower, are you planning on redoing the Gemini astronaut elevator as well? It would be awesomely timed as the Gemini from BDB is currently being revamped.

[AlphaMensae]

54 minutes ago, Invaderchaos said:

With the addition of the Titan II tower, are you planning on redoing the Gemini astronaut elevator as well? It would be awesomely timed as the Gemini from BDB is currently being revamped.

Yes, I am, but needed a break after the Titan II tower.  

[AlphaMensae]

I also fixed the new Titan II GLV tower umbilical cfgs on the AlphaDev branch, as I had a typo in the "TechRequired" line that prevented them from showing up in the tech tree, which would be the Launch Stands node.

[AlphaMensae]

I've remade the already-new Launch Plates as I wasn't really satisfied with them. They were too thin, so they didn'y allow any clearance for the rocket engine. and the plate ring was too narrow, without any room to place the large sizes of the hold-downs so you could get clearance under the engine.

The new plates are 0.6m thick, and are much wider, with plenty of room for hold-downs. Currentlyy there are three sizes (1m, 2m and 3m wide openings) of round and square types, with the square types having a rectangular hole option (only 1 rectangular size option for the size 1 plate, the other two have two sizes). They were designed to and have to be put flush to the floor of the VAB, or they will look very weird, as I deliberately put in only two stretchy launch clamp legs, and they are real skinny. 

The Launch Plates are low-profile minimalist "bases", good for use on launch pad statics that resemble a launch platform, where having a large launch base would look out of place. Also good to use with the new separate Mini Milkstool parts.

Two represenative images:

 

The new plates are on the AlphaDev branch of the GitHub, and the old ones have been removed. The new plates do have a different part name.

[VoidCosmos]

12 hours ago, AlphaMensae said:

[snip]

[snip]

Looks good!

Edited March 29, 2020 by VoidCosmos

[AlphaMensae]

Next thing up is the Thor/Delta launch stand, for the 1.5m BDB Thor and Delta/Delta II.

It's going to be a bit complicated, as over the long service history of the Thor/Delta, it used different launch sites with different mounting structures, but I've identified the three types used the most. I should be able to combine them into one switchable part without having to make three competely different stands, by sharinh some components and just have toggleable options.

They are:

A ring-type stand seen with the early Thor-Ables, Thor-Agenas and Thor-Deltas/Deltas:

This has the Thor "sunk" into the stand, so I'll have to make the stand taller to accomodate the engine nozzle.

Thor-Able and Thor-Ablestar used a fallback tower, which I'll also make. Thor-Agena, at least at Vandenberg (where most were launched), had a fixed skinny square truss tower.

Then there is the type used for the Thrust Augmented Thors/Deltas, i.e. the Castor SRMs, especially when more than three were used. This type has either 6 or 4 prong-like supports to allow clearance for the SRMs:

That's Delta 34 shown (notice the triangle ("Delta") with the number 34 inside), the first of the Thrust Augmented Improved Deltas (TAID), a Delta D to be specific. Notice the launch pad and tower: they have been upgraded to something like the Delta II's; in fact, this tower style (if not in fact the actual tower) would be used all the way through Delta II, just with added things like side panels and other details.

Then there is the Delta II version, which has four wider support prongs and is sunk into the exhaust hole of the concrete launch pad. I'll just add a square variant to the round type and have the prongs toggleable between 6 skinny, 4 skinny and 4 wide variants.

[AlphaMensae]

Ok, furthur refining what I'm going to do with the Thor/Delta stand:

I'm going to go with just four hold-down prongs/supports, it will make it easier to accomodate all the different Thor/Delta/Delta II variants. They will have short (no SRMs), tall (with SRMs) , extra-tall (something like the Vandy launch pads for Thor/Delta), and special Delta II variants.

The main stand structure will have round and square variants that will both use the same hold-downs, though with custom connecting detail for each. The stand also will be designed to sit flush to the launch pad static.

Also, since this is a 1.5m rocket launch stand, it will also work with the BDB Jupiter and Juno II-IV rockets, also in 1.5m size--but I'm also going to make the special Jupiter IRBM petal cover launch stand as a separate part.  

[Thave]

When I drag the part up with the handle, it will automatically move to the right, and it ca n’t keep him in the middle. What should I do?

[AlphaMensae]

4 minutes ago, Thave said:

When I drag the part up with the handle, it will automatically move to the right, and it ca n’t keep him in the middle. What should I do?

Hold down left shift when dragging the handle to get 20m of offset range.  

Note, if you have been using the same settings.cfg file from, oh, say, KSP v1.0 or earlier (by copying it over or installing a new KSP over the old one), you won't have the 20m of range, that was a change done after v1.0.5 or so.

[Thave]

5 minutes ago, AlphaMensae said:

拖动手柄时，按住左移可获得20m的偏移范围。  

请注意，如果您使用的是KSP v1.0或更早版本中的相同settings.cfg文件（通过将其复制或在旧版本上安装新的KSP），则范围不会达到20m ，这是在v1.0.5左右以后所做的更改。

Thank you

[AlphaMensae]

With the Thor Launch Stand, I've decided to not have a square base option, as it turned out to be a little too detailed to be an alternate option. Also, the round type is seen most commonly in pictures of Thor and Delta launches, so the square one wouldn't really fit. So, I'll set it aside and probably use it for something else.

What I will do instead is make this Delta II stand as a separate Delta II special version:

(The MSX launch from Vandenberg)

It's too different from the other Thor/Delta stands to include it as a variant, so it will be separate.  

[alberro+]

I've seen some people use the Shuttle Tower FSS with a black and white option. Where can I find this? 

[AlphaMensae]

@alberro+ It's in the v2.1 dev build available on the AlphaDev branch of the Modular Launch Pads GitHub.

It's the complete MLP, only with all the v2.1 stuff done so far.

[AlphaMensae]

Thor Launch Stand is almost done, save for some tweaking of the hold-down bolts....turns out that the BDB RS-27 engine fairing is slightly narrower than that of the LR-79, so I need to add an alternate bolt position for that engine.  

Pics showing the three bolt heights: short, tall, extra-tall:

[AlphaMensae]

Alternate hold-down bolt position for the BDB RS-27 engine added:

 

Also added an alternate mini-stand option, which removes the full ring, leaving only the hold-down mounts:

I should be able now to add the special Delta 2 stand variant as another option for the Thor stand, while still using the same hold-down bolts.

[alberro+]

Could something for KK Launchers' Delta IV be implemented into MLP? I'm a bit tired of using the same stock, red hold down arms. 

[AlphaMensae]

5 hours ago, alberro+ said:

Could something for KK Launchers' Delta IV be implemented into MLP? I'm a bit tired of using the same stock, red hold down arms. 

There's already plenty of options available for something like that, like the Large Clamp Arm hold-downs, which seem to be popular.  But I do plan on making a specialized Delta IV hold-down/launch stand at some point in the future.  

Edited April 5, 2020 by AlphaMensae

[AlphaMensae]

And the Delta II variant didn't take too long to make:

I know it's not a proper Delta II (it doesn't even have an upper stage), it's what I had already. 

The light dawned on me when I realized those ramp thingies were the SRB blast deflectors....they line up with the SRBs. The rest fell into place after that.  

[Nnimrod]

Have you got any plans to make an angled launch rail for sounding rockets? They typically don't have TVC, so they rely on the rail to keep them going in the right direction until they're moving fast enough for  their fins to keep them going straight. Of course this really isn't necessary in KSP because there's no wind, the vector of thrust is always perfect, etc. But a rail like they used for WAC Corporal or the later ones sure would be awesome to have. They are angled mostly because what goes up must come down, and it would be best if it comes down in a safe designated area, I.E. not in the immediate vicinity of the launch facilities.

This is a Black Brant, ~1960

And a modern launch rail made by "Amateurs"

[AlphaMensae]

@Nnimrod Yes, I do have plans for a launch rail, but it won't be as fancy as those, due to the limitations of the lanch clamp module. It will work like a standard surface-attach launch clamp, but with a rail instead of the stock clamp's umbilical. That way it can be rotated for a directional launch. 

[Nnimrod]

24 minutes ago, AlphaMensae said:

@Nnimrod Yes, I do have plans for a launch rail, but it won't be as fancy as those, due to the limitations of the lanch clamp module. It will work like a standard surface-attach launch clamp, but with a rail instead of the stock clamp's umbilical. That way it can be rotated for a directional launch. 

Amazing! This will be the first mod to add an angled launch rail as far as I know.