A.P.U.S. Aerospace Passenger and Utility System

[NESD]

 

 

Hello everyone, I'm back with new mod

APUS is a shuttle parts based on Squad's 1.875 size parts. Slightly larger, with flat bottom side and small lifting effect

Based on 48 edge cylinder instead of 24 edges in stock. Current my own working name for this shape is Mk2F ( or Fat Mk2, name can be changed )

now part list looks like this:

"Swift" 3 seats Command pod with replaceable fueled nose

"Schooner"  5 seats Reentry pod inspired by Russian "Clipper" project

"Commuter" 6 seats crew cabin and "Royal Yacht" VIP - class cabin (Expensive and have only 5 seats but . . .why not?)

Entrance module and Docking port with Airlock for cargo bay (both have 1 seat)

"K-37" parts based on American unmanned "X-37B" project, expanded tail plate and nose with fuel tanks and avionics bay

"Blizzard" Rear control module with tail flap, based on Buran tail

Cargo bays and Cargo hulls without top hatch (can be vented, if you want use science equipment stored inside. Don't forget close outlets before reentry! )

Modular Buran style RCS nacelle with parameters equal to my Internal RCS mod, hard enough to be used as wing attach point

0.625 Engine with 150kn thrust and Solid fuel booster with gimbal and better ISP , thrust 500kn ( just between Thumper and Kickback), whole line of SRBs inside archive in it's folder

2.5 meters adapter with additional 1.875 attach node inside and droppable fairing to round bottom shape

For everyone who don't have Tweak Scale mod I add modified stock  medium landing gear ( 0.75 scale and no steering)

It's only temporary thing and can be removed after releasing my own wheels (or at first Squad request)

And, off course, full set of tanks with Jet, Rocket and Monopropellant fuel

 

All parts have 2 color variants with white and black bottom tiles

Cargo bays also have removable X-37 style black stripe below hinge

Shape and width of bottom surface aligned to small stock flaps moved and rotated with Snap in Absolute mode

More info here:   Imgur

---------------     Download     ---------------

SPACEDOCK

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current version of this mod is 0.8 they fully working but have some issues

No laboratory at this release. Also Cargo with bottom Bomb doors (or more actual in KSP Drill doors) modelled but need some rework

IVAs only have stock seats and walls with simple shadow texture, without hand painting, gauges and custom props

Not all external textures finished (but only in mostly invisible places, so fully assembled vessel looks fine)

Huge air drag, so shuttle descend without engines at 10-20 degrees glideslope (still trying fix that)

[COL.R.Neville]

nice job man this looks good. need more stuff for running supplies and people to bases and stations. 

if these are just a lil wider than existing mk2 and mk3 there are a ton of existing IVA's that would probably work. 

[DriftedCougar]

(Repost, because i posted it in the other tread before this one was created)

Have i installed this wrong, or is the "Swift" Cockpit missing?

[NESD]

@COL.R.Neville   Cargo bay have exact width to fit small cargo bags from one of @Nertea mods. This cockpits just a template, they must be much better in later release

 

@DriftedCougar  They missing completely or only Swift-with-nose, this one not exist, you must built it from 2 parts

Edited May 18, 2019 by NESD

[DriftedCougar]

@NESD oh i didnt see the "fuel nose attached" XD, but anyway im gonna try this mod really soon!

[ARTOBAN]

Craft file ?

[Beetlecat]

:D! :

 

This looks great, thank you for sharing your work.

[GrandProtectorDark]

Looks amazing. Even has custom IVA, I' impressed
Pretty good mod.
But the editor feels a bit cramped with all the different fuel tanks. 
In my opinion, It would feel much more Practical to use one of the available fuel/mesh switch mods to combine the many tanks so that there isn't the same part duplicated 3 times with a slightly different texture

Edited May 18, 2019 by GrandProtectorDark

[Cheesecake]

That`s awesome. Do you have plans for wings?

[eLDude]

Great Job! Your Open Cockpit got mandatory for my first manned airplanes.

fuel/mesh switcher would be a very nice addition indeed, though janitors closet helps a lot

@theonegalen you did a great job at aeropart integration for UnKerballedStart. Any chance you pick up this?

[Cheesecake]

@ Cargo hulls - which effect has the Button 'open outlets'? I cannot see any effect.

[CobaltWolf]

Lovely!

[Barzon]

^^^^^

[Mathrilord]

Awesome parts pack. Does it reuse stock texture? It fit very well with stock texture.

I'm not sure about high ISP solid fuel booster. It should be balanced by higher mass, cost and/or lower amount of fuel. Also I think 7° is too much.

Bugs:
Flag on Swift shuttle cockpit is floating in the air.
A.P.U.S docking port and air lock collide with cargo bay door.
Visual glitch between part (intersection) when launched.

Ideas:
Should add visual indication for outlet position on hull parts and rename outlets to vents.

To be complete:

Spoiler

Inline cockpit(and optionally: drone core/reaction wheel/docking port),
side/bottom opening cargo bay, 
front/side/back/bottom cargo bay ramp,
1.25m-Mk2F adapter, air intake nose,
Mk2-Mk2F adapter,
Mk2F-bi1.25m,
Mk2F-tri1.25m,
decoupler,
separator,
A.P.U.S rcs air intake,
1.875m-Mk2F adapter.

For every adapter make four version:
hull(open on both side),
closed hull(open on Mk2F side only),
hollow(open on 1.25m/1.875m/2.5m/Mk2 side only) and
tank(closed with fuel).

 

Ps: To be clear I'm not saying your addon is incomplete; I'm perfectionist.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Mathrilord

[NESD]

@GrandProtectorDark  @eLDude Using 3rd party mods always have compatibility problem after game update, and I don't know scripting good enough to write my own switcher

Maybe after 1.0 release I create parallel version with B9 switcher

 

@Cheesecake  This button allow you to open cargo bay without opening doors (that not exist), so you can use any equipment stored inside and required open air, just don't forget to close it before entering back to atmosphere

Wings with black tiles already in plans, but not so fast. I have scaled down to 0.65 size stock Big-S wings set, that I create for myself and don't include to mod, so I can post configs here, if you want

 

@Mathrilord  Only my own textures, same as in Open Cockpit and Streamline

SRB,s ISP and gimbal is lower than have real shuttle, thrust and fuel load is just between two stock SRBs. If you unpack all set of my SRB you can compare it with Thumper and Kickback

Flags floating in air on all cockpits (maybe my slightly too far). Intersected only Hull1 part, only yesterday find it. Docking port not collided with door, it have few millimeters to soft walls

 

About requests

Inline cockpit - maybe single seat with short main part and bubble canopy expanded to other parts or maybe completely surface attachable (not in first order)

Drone core and RW - not fast, but in plans ( just use "Blizzard" now)

Surface attachable docking port - half way modelled and textured, maybe in next update

Bottom loading cargo (aka Bomb gate) and venting indicators - already created with same texture list as other cargo but need some rework (in next mod update ?)

Front/rear cargo ramps, many other aircraft parts  and full white Airliner style textures planned but not fast

RCS nacelle intake, non symmetrical nozzles parts and 0.625 adapter( + maybe APU) - already in To Do list

Decoupler/separator - maybe, X-37 style launch frame to tail section, already in plans but not in first order

dual 1.25 adapter - at this time just use node switcher on K-37 tail  ( every tail plate have node variants )

short and long 1.8 adapters - as part of recreating this thing

together with other adapters not in first order, primary need to finish all parts that already exist or half modelled

 

Also in To Do list: Laboratory ( !!! ), Shuttle, X-37 and Clipper wing sets, Wheels, maybe IL-76 style navigator cockpit, maybe Concorde/Tu-144 nose for Swift,

long high speed nose for Swift, cargo nose for Swift, KIS containers to cargobay and major thing, AERODYNAMICS, now it's flying as red brick

 

about Vents/Outlets and anything other, I'm not a native english speaker,

so if everyone have variants of better looking names or descriptions for all my mods write here or in PM

 

and for everyone who say Thanks above and below

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by NESD

[theonegalen]

Beautiful parts, @NESD!

@eLDude, thanks for the kind words. There's definitely a chance!

[RealKerbal3x]

@NESD Looks lovely! I think this'll be a nice counterpart to the bigger Cormorant space shuttle for smaller payloads.

Just a question, what sort of docking port does the airlock/docking port in this mod dock to? It's hard to get a sense of scale from the screenshots.

Edited May 20, 2019 by RealKerbal3x

[NESD]

@RealKerbal3x  it's for 1.25 stock docking port, main size of this parts based on 1.875m stock parts released in MH DLC

And yes, it's a small shuttle created for crew and supply transfer inside Kerbin SOI but not only that.

Don't forget, Swift (Apus it's his scientific name ) is a small bird who can fly more than 10 months never touching ground

[RealKerbal3x]

3 minutes ago, NESD said:

@RealKerbal3x  it's for 1.25 stock docking port, main size of this parts based on 1.875m stock parts released in MH DLC

OK, thanks for the info

By the way, would it be alright if I created a Simple Fuel Switch config for this? It would reduce part clutter by condensing the 10 LF and LFO tanks into only 5. I'm not sure how long it'll take since I'm not particularly experienced in MM patches, but I'll see.

[zer0Kerbal]

44 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

OK, thanks for the info

By the way, would it be alright if I created a Simple Fuel Switch config for this? It would reduce part clutter by condensing the 10 LF and LFO tanks into only 5. I'm not sure how long it'll take since I'm not particularly experienced in MM patches, but I'll see.

https://github.com/KSPSnark/SimpleFuelSwitch/tree/master/examples

[RealKerbal3x]

1 hour ago, zer0Kerbal said:

https://github.com/KSPSnark/SimpleFuelSwitch/tree/master/examples

Actually, the more that I think about it, I wouldn’t need to do much. SFS already automatically targets LFO tanks, so all I’d need to do is make a patch to hide this mod’s LF tanks, like SFS does with the stock ones.

However, I wouldn’t be able to add texture switching between the LF tank texture and the LFO tank texture (again, like SFS does with the stock tanks) because these parts already use a texture switch for the tiles on the bottom, and I’m pretty sure the stock texture switch system can’t swap two textures on the same part at once.

Edited May 20, 2019 by RealKerbal3x

[drtedastro]

Just stumbled onto this.

Great work!

Looks great and fits in nicely.

Cheers and keep it coming.

And.......

if anyone has time to post some craft files, that would be great.....

thanks.

Edited May 20, 2019 by drtedastro

[Well]

@NESD Really nice, i test your mod soon as possible because that look really great, from what i see here you have already put a lot of love to your mod.

Great work! KSP really need those small / mid size shuttle.

And look like you have made it really modular! Thanks for your work

[Cataclism]

I´ve just gotten to know it on Kottabo´s Youtube channel. I like it VERY MUCH! Nice work, @NESD !

[desert]

Yes! Finally good looking spaceplane capsules with dark bottom! I've wanted to have something Clipper-like for a long time. Would be great if there were black tiled stock wings too!