Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation

[roboslacker]

48 minutes ago, aagun123 said:

Beautiful

[purpleivan]

4 hours ago, aagun123 said:

I planed to sail along the coast, but  ...

 

 

I've been at it for about two weeks, piloting a leg of the journey until the fuel runs out almost every day. So far I think I've made it to about 10% of the way along the coast.

This is going to be a loooong trip.

[aagun123]

9 hours ago, purpleivan said:

I've been at it for about two weeks, piloting a leg of the journey until the fuel runs out almost every day. So far I think I've made it to about 10% of the way along the coast.

This is going to be a loooong trip.

so i am waiting for something new like kspwind...

[Jacke]

I'm not seeing anything from those Google User Content pages.  Just a round circle with a minus sign.

[purpleivan]

4 hours ago, aagun123 said:

so i am waiting for something new like kspwind...

Some wind or variation in the sea conditions would be interesting. It's kind of nice and predictable being able to point the boat in a direction and go make a cup of coffe for a couple minute, but it can get a bit monotonous.

The only thing that gives you a bit of a fright is passing through shallow water at 50m/s and the boat shadow starts coming up awfully quick.

[purpleivan]

Map check... or Jeb gets distracted with all the boating fun.

It was an early morning start at Fuel Depot Alpha, as one of the birds hit all the afterburners to get its fat load off the grass.

With the sun behind it, the Juice Goose soars majestically into the air.

Then the pilot realises they're heading to wrong way and does a 180.

The sun's kinds blinding at this time in the morning.

The pilot spots the thin strips of land with an island at the end, that the Coastal Cruiser moared at last night.

Now to find a good place to land.

Nah... too wet.

Too bumpy.

This looks just right.

And now we play the waiting game.

With the news that their fuel has arrived nearby, Jeb takes the boat out and heads around the spit of land, to a cove on the other side.

"Mornin' Jeb... where'd ya want this?"

"Anywhere'll do, thank".

Val goes topside to see if the Goose grabbing hold of the boat by the solar panels has caused any damage.

With the boat fully fuelled once again, the crew heads out.

With its work done, the tanker climbs into the air, heading for a landing further along the coast, where it will wait for the boat to catch up.

Val decided to take her lunch up on deck, which lasted about half a seconds before ending up in the sea. She still seems to be enjoying the ocean spreay though.

However she does notice something that's bad news... the boat's first bit of damage.

An entire garden set has gone overboard, probably when the Goose disconnected, as the boat shook badly and hit the water with a big splash after that.

Well, they still have one set left, so the Coastal Cruiser speeds on.

Mun's back in the sky, watching events on the sea.

With the boat down to about 20% of fuel, Jeb checks the map and find that he's shot almost 40km past the location the Juice Goose was parked up at, waiting for them to pick up fuel. A bit late to be asking them to head down the coast to meet them, so he points the boat at an inlet.

The terrain might have been a bit flat along this leg, but at least the we're at the latitudes now that gives us a nice display at night.

[KerballingSmasher]

Keep going, dude! Your time shall not be spent in vain! (Nor will the hilarious commentary)

[purpleivan]

Toe in the water... or, watch what you're doing or we're walking home.

Well... the trips into double digits in terms of the number of legs and the boats in good shape, except for a few missing seats and a table from the starboard deck.

Again the crew of the Coastal Cruiser was up with the dawn, making breakfast... then 2nd breakfast. Finally Jeb put in a call to have Hildard Kerman, in the Juice Goose he'd swept by the previous evening, com to their current location to gas them up.

Hildard's bucking for promotion, so didn't make any jokes about map reading at Jeb's expense. Instead she hit the afterburners, sending the Goose careening up the shoot slope she'd parked near the previous day.

After a few minutes in the air she made it to the boat's location.

The beack looked a little steep for fuelling, so Jeb moved the boat along the shore.

Not a lot better there, but it's something and Hildard heads in to grab that small advantage, as well as the boat.

All gassed up the Coastal Cruiser headed out to sea.

The terrain for the last couple of legs has been pretty monotonous and Bob was getting an itch to go ashore and do some driving. With no mountains around, some lakeside driving will have to do and Jeb can see a nice place to drop off nearby.

Yep... Bob really likes that rover, he's slept in it almost the whole trip so far.

With the boat moared, it's time to head ashore for some driving entertainment.

"That do ya son?" asks Jeb.

Jeb sat back and relaxed as Bob took a trip along the lake's edge.

"Watch yer'self Bob... this ain't no boat. If you go in to far there's no coming back, and I don't want to hike to the boat".

With the wheels wet, but keeping out of deep water, Bob and Jeb headed back to the Coastal Cruiser and the leg resumed.

The rover approached from a moaring to the right of this image, and the lake in the center is Bob's little watery playground.

This is about as bumpy as most of the terrain gets around here.

More of the same.

Val's getting so bored with the view she fell asleep on deck. Jeb decided to hand over the wheel to give her something interesting to do.

Cheer up Val, this is looking a bit better.

What's that off in the distance... could it be a mountain... yep, that's a mountain alright.

This is about as close as the boat's going to get. Even Bob isn't going to drive that far to play in the foothills.

Only 50 units of fuel left in the tanks when Val brings it in to shore.

Edited February 27, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Farewell old friend... or, time to get launching more fuel.

Today we said goodbye to Fuel Depot Alpha. With its fuel depleted it was time for one last flight out from the northern outpost

With a new full load of fuel onboard, the tanker plane fires up the afterburners and heads South.

The location of the Coastal Cruiser is dead ahead, but the Juice Goose swung out over the sea for a better approach.

Once on the ground the plane taxied over to the waiting boat.

Bob's guides in the Goose from the rover, while he finishes his breakfast.

Refuelled, its time for the boat to head out to sea one more.

Val's very aware of the dangerous shallows that threaten to rip parts off the boat if she's not careful.

This seems to be a very stetch of coast.

This leg includes a very large, which the crew had to head deep in to, so as not to loose sight of the coast.

Looks like that lake almost made it as part of the coastline.

Val parks the boat so that Bob can take a quick look at the lake that came "this close" to being part of their route.

Not an enormous area, but Val's glad that they don't need to spend the fuel to drive round it.

Bob then confirms it scientifically... it is indeed a lake.

Before legging it back to the boat.

With the facts on the ground confirmed, the Coastal Cruiser once again continues its journey.

The tanks are still about 15% full, but Val decides this might make a nice place to stop overnight, plus it looks good as a landing site for tomorrows refuel.

She heads for the shallower of the two passages into the lagoon, but at the last moment has second thoughts... is it too shallow.

Best to turn around and head for the other entry.

But after some goading by Jeb, she swings the boat around yet again and takes it in through the shallow spot real slow.

It's more like wading through a puddle than piloting a boat.

Well that seems to be the worst of it... looks like  much deeper water ahead.

With the trial of the shallows over, the Coastal Cruiser heads deeper into the lagoon, before moaring near the far side of it.

Tomorrow brings the morning sun... plus more fuel.

BTW... this got posted by accident to the "What did you do in KSP today" thread yesterday. I need to be a bit more careful, that's a big post to be dropping in there.

[KerballingSmasher]

Hey, you're about 10% of the way there, right? That means that you should have... oh lord. Over 100 legs... *immediately bows* You, sir, have some serious dedication.

[purpleivan]

13 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Hey, you're about 10% of the way there, right? That means that you should have... oh lord. Over 100 legs... *immediately bows* You, sir, have some serious dedication.

I've got a plan to reduce the amount of time I spend flying the tanker planes around to refuel the Coastal Cruiser, which should shave a bit of time off, but it's still going to take a very long time to complete the trip.

[purpleivan]

All Change... or farewell to the chilly North.

With the empty Fuel Depot Alpha now abandoned, it was time for the move South West into the Desert of Desserts. So named as no matter how hard kerbals looked, there were no sweet treats there to be found.

With sun up came time for Hildard Kerman to headed for the Dessert Airfield to be refulled and refitted... her plane doesn't have action groups set up for toggling afterburners, so we'll fix that.

On the long flight she took in some of the sights.

Including a low pass through some high mountains... I think that looks like desert ahead.

Finally Hildard's getting close to the airfield, but where exactly is it.

There it is... better hang right to line up with the runway.

That's better.

"Welcome to the Dessert Airfield Hildard."

With a couple of hundred units of fuel remaining she parked her plane next to the pilots lounge and headed in for a cold one.

Next it was Gusman's turn to take to the air.

After a short flight he met up with the Coastal Cruiser.

"Right in my eye".

Refilled it was time for the crew to take to the sea.

"Hey... go get Bob".

"M... m... m... mountains!" stutters Bob.

"N... n... n... no chance" replies Jeb with a grin.

This terrain is starting to change... less of the green, more of the deserty colour.

With a fair slug of fuel remaining, daylight runs out and Val brings the boat in to the shore.

It's morning, so time to head off once again, now that the pilot can see where she's going.

The plan for today is to try and make it to where Aldin Kerman landed Juice Goose 1 at almost two weeks ago (real time). This will hopefully enable it to refuel the boat twice before making its way on to the Dessert Airfield to be resupplied.

But fuel is going to be tight... real tight, as there's a large headland the crew have to go around between here and there.

To stretch the fuel, Val throttles down and cruises at 30m/s instead of the usual 50.

Bob's a jibbering wreck.

All these mountains and they can't afford the fuel to make any stops.

The boat's been driving for quite a while today and here's the problem.

It's less than 40km to the tanker and its precious fuel, but about 3 times that on the route around the coast.

After much driving their fuel is still about 33km away. Not too far to go with the fuel we have though... right!"

Wrong... if we do that, we'll loose sight of the coast (that's a mission no, no) so the boat needs to head into that bay, consuming fuel along the way.

With the coastline in sight it's time to change to a more direct path towards the plane.

But with fuel running perilously low, Val panics, thinking they won't make it to the tanker and get stranded out on the water, so she heads for shore.

It's always scary when the fuel level drops into double digits and the decimal point display starts rolling down at a rate of knots.

That plane will just have to come to us."

She nurses the fuel, eeking out all she can, heading for the near side of the cove ahead.

But it's only 8.7km to the plane and all that fuel.

Val's panic suddenly changes to grim detemination and she decides to swing the boat around and head straight for it.

At last Val can see the plane off in the distance, just a speck a little way back from the shoreline.

It might be time to start breathing again.

Yes... take a big gulp of ait Val... you've earned it.

Only 20 units of fuel left, but that plane's got plently.

"Hey, I come to you... it says so right here in the manual."

Aldin hooks up the plane to refuel the boat, then climbs out of the cockpit to go have a few words with Val about mission protocol.

Well that's it, probably the longest leg so far, but finally we're into the realm  of the desert.

Edited March 2, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Get Juiced... or, we've got planes at the Dessert Airfield... now what?

With the Coastal Cruiser having left the northern territories, it was time to bring the remaining bird up there (Gusman Kerman in Juice Goose 2) South to the Dessert Airfield.

Here it is making its typical, low fuel load, short takeoff.

Gus headed over the mountains for the desert. Strange, for such a dry place, this bit of it's got a lot of puddles.

That's the coastline Jeb and the crew will be venturing around in a couple of legs time.

Ok, where's that airfield.

Must be getting close... that's the old temple complex in the distance.

Ok, easy does it now Gus... just set he town on the tarmac.

Not a moment too soon, this seems to be a day for making it to your destination on fumes.

Ok, that's gotta be Hildard in Juice Goose 3... but what the hell is that!

"This is Tanford here in the Juice Moose... got a full load of fuel for you Gus."

Although plans for a longer range variant of the Juice Goose (the "Juice Moose") were abandonded in favour of an alternative fuel delivery system, the engineering dept. still wanted to use the friendly sounding name.

"Roger that Tanford, fill her up, but keep a firm hold of those controls in case that thing breaks loose... I think I remember it from my nightmares".

Now Juice Goose 2&3 are refueled and ready to resume tanking operations.

Well.. in the morning anyway.

[KerballingSmasher]

Okay... I love the Juice Moose! Can we get a Juice (uhh... what rhymes with Goose?) next?

[purpleivan]

Unlucky for none... or, reaching leg 13 only missing some lawn chairs.

So far I'ts been pretty smooth sailing, with only a minor bit of damage to the boat.

The crew said goodbye to Aldin in the Goose and headed out.

Leg 13 took our little explorers further along the coast of the desert region.

There was much sand to see... in front.

..too the side...

... even to the rear.

Jeb was keen to make good time today, so didn't bother going into this small bay.

Hey... more sand.

At least there's some rocky outcrops to break it up, which there wasn't a lot of on some portions of the travels through the northern sea.

The view outside didn't matter to Jeb, as most of his view was filled by the back of Val's head.

 

 

Bob was feeling pretty low back in the rover. It had been days since he'd been let out to play in it.

Finally he got to unleash it on some terra Kerma.

Bob made for the top of the nearest hill... no mountains around here, so this will have to do.

The going was a bit "angular", but Bob says there's a special kind of geometric beauty about this desert terrain.

Bob spies a higher peak and heads over to it, which gives him this view over a nearby lake.

Bob's favourite view... sliding sideways down a steep hill.

Time to head back.

I know I go clambering around on mountains in this thing, but I don't think I can hop this thing up over that kind of step.

That looks better.

With Bob and the rover back on board, Val goes to join him, leaving Jeb to pilot the Coastal Cruiser.

He's still in the back seat though, so his view is diminished.

Jeb tells the crew not to worry... "I'll navigate by sense of smell"

The peninsula the boat has recently sailed around.

I think you'd better nudge to the left a bit there Jeb.

The rolling desert dunes.

"sniff, sniff... I smell shallows"... better easy down on the throttle.

The golden glow lets the crew know that it's time to put in to shore.

After dinner Bill entertains the crew with some of his magic tricks.

"Nothing in my right hand, nothing in my left hand".

So leg 13 went without a mishap. Hopefully things continue this way.

Edited March 3, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Birds of a feather... or, all three Juice Goose now based at the Dessert Airfield.

Aldin in Juice Goose 1 made her way to the Dessert Airfield today, after tanking up the boat yesterday. Looks like there's plenty of fuel on board to service the Coastal Cruiser enroute though.

Really liking how this bird leaps off the ground from almost any kind of terrain.

Going to skim past the southern edge of these mountains.

Getting up close and personal.

Well hello down there.

Ok... nice and easy does it.

Now to grab that funny looking face of yours.

Jeb watches as the boat drifts out from shore.

Ok, now to get to that airfield, with a trip across the bay.

Coming back over the coast. I guess the boat will be travelling that coastline soon.

Ok, I see the runway, just need to swing around for approach.

Nicely lined up.

Hi Hildred and Gusman... and whatever that is.

Freshly refitted and refuelled, Aldin joins the other two pilots waiting patiently for the call out.

[FleshJeb]

It took me a bit to realize the solar panels are antlers.

This remains top-notch entertainment.

Edited March 3, 2019 by FleshJeb
Words are hard

[purpleivan]

Aiming for the top... or, Bob's off in the rover again.

After he Aldin left them in the Juice Goose, the crew headed out along the desert coast.

Spotting a large with a very shallow entry, Jeb was curious to see if the boat could make it inside. He got this close before chickening out.

Seems to have almost dried up in the heat.

With the boat temporarily stopped, Bill opted to sit out on deck and catch some sea air.

Then... these mountains came in to view.

Before Bob could even make it to the cockput, Jeb swung the boat into a nearby bay. These could do with a save break anyway.

Those mountains don't look too far away (but then they never do, do they).

Bob and Val unhooked the rover and headed off.

As they would be waiting a while for the rover to return, Jeb joined Bill out on deck.

It was already evening when the rover headed inland and what with it's short battery life, Bob and Val stopped in the foothills until morning came, bringing tasty sunlight with it.

Right... that's where we're going.

Bob sees a cactus and parks up, so Val can grab a picture of herself with it.

The goings begining to get steep.

The slope shallowed and once again a cactus came into view.

Hmmm... another cactus. Val wonders if they're follow the rover.

Bob handn't expected terrain like steps, but the pair press on anyway.

Reaching a fairly large plateau, Bob stops the rover and takes some readings. 2276m up, that's about 150m lower than the peak of their last mountain climb, but there's more to go in this trip.

Ok... that's the peak up there. Some steep looking terrain, but Bob thinks he can make it to the top.

He stops for a moment to take in the view.

2728m... a new record.

But there's still more climbing to go.

Bob stops the rover at the base of the last part of the ascent. It's very steep, maybe as much as 45 degrees.

He takes a moment outside the rover to get a better view and have a good scratch.

The pair take a look out to the North, into the desert.

Bob says he thinks that if he just floors it towards the top they might make it to the summit before the battery gives out. Val gives him the thumbs up, and he hits the errr... electricity.

But the battery doesn't have enough juice for the haul to the top. 300 units is pretty pitiful capacity for a rover if Bob's honest. Then again the intention when it was made wasn't to try hauling it up mountains.

But the pair set a new altitude record for the rover at exactly 2900m.

After slipping back down slowly, Bob charges the batteries again and has another try, this time on the face that well... faces inland towards the desert.

But it proves even worse, so 2900m is the best they're going to get today. They slip back down to the base of the peak and they take a last look at the summit.

Then they charge back down the towards the waiting boat. At least going this way doesn't need any juice.

Back at the Coastal Cruiser, Bob swings the back around and hops up onto the rover platform, before securing it.

With everyone back inside Val takes the controls and heads out to sea.

Everyone except Jeb, who seems to have fallen asleep while sunbathing.

After Jeb's absence was noticed by the crew, Val slowed the boat, then bounced it around a bit until he woke up.

As predicted by Aldin earlier in the day, it didn't take the boat long to reach the same part of the coast he crossed that morning.

Ok... just gotta swing to port round this big island... with it's own baby island.

Val spots a nice place to park the boat for the night, with some nice terrain for the morning tanker arrival, and pull in.

With it safely secured on the beach, she takes a moment to go outside and have a look at the sky.

Hmm... is that the Mun up there she wonders.

Yup, according to "My Little Book of Space", that is indeed the Mun.

It's been a long time since this crew has been anywhere near a spacecraft and it's beginning to show.

[purpleivan]

The colour of money... or, all things come to an end.

"This is Goose 3 ready for takeoff".

"Roger that.. get going already, this isn't that fancy KSC runway with all it's rules, just get in the sky."

""We take things relaxed here."

Hildard had a later departure to go fill up the Coastal Cruiser.

Taking in the mountain view on the way out.

Sun's about to set... better get a move on Hildard.

Ok... night landings without runway lights is interesting, but she made it down in one piece. Plus it's a short trip, so plenty of fuel onboard too.

Shame it took so long to come to stop though.

Ok, she's made it to the boat, but looks like there's a party happening.

She'll go knock on the door and see if it's ok to crash.

With tanks filled in the morning, it's time for the crew to head South West again.

Still plenty of desert coastline to go.

A solitary rock... wonder if it's lonely

Endless near white sand from horizon to horizon.

Bill wonders what real estate prices are like around here, as he's looking for a summer vacation home.

Jeb sees some... well, not exactly cliffs, but some of the taller and steeper coast he's seen for a while, and pulls the boat over.

Bill goes out to keep an ey out for prime vacation spots.

A bit past the halfway point in tank capacity, so plenty more sailing today.

"You know what I miss" asked Bob.

"What" replies Val.

"Green... I miss green".

"Me too, this unpaid extended vacation's a killer on the old bank balance".

Talking of green, there's some signs of it showing up in the terrain around here.

Could it be...

... might it be.

It is... it's the end of the desert.

Jeb sees a nice looking cove with some interesting shallows and heads in to park up for the overnight stay.

Yep, pretty much the only sand is on the beach now, as far as the eye can see.

Nice beach it is too.

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

It's all just texture... or, things look different when you get up close.

As usual, leg 16 began with a tanker flight. Good old Hildard in JG3 took off from the last meeting place and headed to the next.

The setting sun off her starboard wing.

Argh... night landing. Now where's that boat.

Ah... there she is.

After a night snoozing in the cockpit, the sun rise woke Hildard and tanking operations began.

A little later they concluded.

Looks like the start of a nice day.

Val, back at the wheel, enjoys the early morning sun streaming through the boats' windows.

Speeding along the coast (well cruising at about 35m/s to conserve fuel) the scenery is more lush than that of the previous day.

Again the Mun is keep a watchful eye on them.

But it's heading for the horizon... see you on the flip side.

The Coastal Cruiser zipps pass some small islands and make a quick save stop.

Although some big waves might make things more interesting, these flat seas do make for a comfortable life for those onboard.

Bill gets a decent view from inside the cabin.

Nice sandy beaches around here.

Val spots some chunky bits of coastline and heads over for a closer look.

There's something strange about thes cliffs. Val can't quite put her finger on it, so Bill goes out to take a look.

"So how's the cliffs look out there Bill?"

"Hmmm... in this engineers opinion they look... blurry".

The engineers' appraisal done, the Coastal Cruiser continues on, past more lumpy coastline.

Hmmm... I wonder is that's something beginning with "M" ahead.

Might be time to break out the rover again.

Fuel's getting a bit thing and Val's uncertain if there's enough to reach the back at the foothills of the mountain.

She makes it there with a little to spare, but this is where they will be staying overnight.

Not quite as low as the last time Val got worried about getting marooned at sea, but still pretty close to empty.

Edited March 7, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Twin Tails... or, sometimes you need a helping hand.

After waiting for the morning sun, Hildard headed out to the Coastal Cruiser again. The Goose didn't have enough fuel to fill the boat, but no point in draging the spare fuel it had around, only to take it back to base.

That'll be them, dead ahead.

Managed to stop a little closer to the boat than last time.

Now it's time to transfer what fuel Hildard can spare to the Coastal Cruiser's tanks.

She sends across 880 units, leaving her with about 500 to get back to base later in the day.

With the boat needing further replenishment, Andin takes off in JG1, with full tanks. The runway just isn't long enough for one of these birds to make it off the ground fully laden, so he heads for the bump in the terrain to the right of the end of the runway, to get into the air.

Andin's digging these dunes... he's thinking of heading out there later with some water and a bucket and making some sandcastles.

On approach to where the boat is moared, Andin comes barrelling in, nice and low, before dropping the landing gear.

So where do you want be to snag onto.

That'll do.

With tanks filled, the Coastal Cruiser moves down the shore to give the planes some space to maneuver.

"Ok Hildard... just move that fat old bird out of the way, so I can swing around".

"Who are you calling fat, you're the one stacked with fuel".

Bob and Jeb go over to make sure this little squabble doesn't escalate.

Before heading to the mountain... well, not quite a mountain.

Bob's looking less than please at the trivial task ahead of him.

Bob thinks they've almost reached the top, and the altimeter is only up to 1064m. Hardly worth coming up here really.

They come over the edge of what they think is the top of the hill, only to see more of it above them.

Still climbing they say hell to Bob's old friends, the cacti.

Definitely following us.

Still heading up.

Surely this is the top now... nope, still a little more to go.

With the top of the hill vanquished, the pair head back down to the boat.

Once they return Hildard departs in Juice Goose 3 for the Dessert Airfield.

On arrival, Hildard heads over to join Gusman by the runway, before the Moose heads over to tank the plane up.

The subtle art of smashing a big claw into the side of an aircraft.

But the pair enjoy their work.

Edited March 8, 2019 by purpleivan

[FleshJeb]

1 hour ago, purpleivan said:

The runway just isn't long enough for one of these birds to make it off the ground fully laden

Reduce the Spring setting on your rear landing gear.

You've inspired some work on long-range, rover-carrying hydrofoils:

Spoiler

50m/s fully-fueled, with a 10T cargo; 100+m/s near empty, with cargo; Range, 500km at least (2.5+ hr endurance).

A rover-loading system that WORKS:

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by FleshJeb

[purpleivan]

2 hours ago, FleshJeb said:

Reduce the Spring setting on your rear landing gear.

 

Might sound like a silly quesion, but where do I set that?

I'm not seeing it listed on the right click menu, either in flight or in the hanger.

[FleshJeb]

2 minutes ago, purpleivan said:

Might sound like a silly quesion, but where do I set that?

I'm not seeing it listed on the right click menu, either in flight or in the hanger.

Probably have to turn on Advanced Tweakables in the General-Gameplay settings. Then it will show up in the right-click. One of the new things in this version is that you can set them in flight. I'd try Spring 0.5, Damper 1.0 to start. If it causes wobble, turn them up, if not, turn them down.

[purpleivan]

12 hours ago, FleshJeb said:

Probably have to turn on Advanced Tweakables in the General-Gameplay settings. Then it will show up in the right-click. One of the new things in this version is that you can set them in flight. I'd try Spring 0.5, Damper 1.0 to start. If it causes wobble, turn them up, if not, turn them down.

That's fixed it... thanks

I went for Spring Strength of 0.5 and now the thing will lift before the end of the runway.

I rarely make winged craft, so don't get to use the landing gear very often. That plus not knowing about the advanced tweakables (been playing for years and although I'd heard of it, I'd not turned it on) held me back a bit.

Edited March 9, 2019 by purpleivan