[Min KSP 1.11] Mk-33: X-33-inspired parts for KSP!

[Angelo Kerman]

Finished up the exterior of the cockpit, and updated the pre-release.

Next up is the IVA...

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

updated to the updated pre-release but i forgot to get bandicam set up

[Incarnation of Chaos]

Well i saw this about 2 days ago and decided to download and wack it into my current career save running version 1.8.1 which uses FAR, SMURFF and a bunch of other mods. And i must say; I'm actually rather impressed with this little thing.

Spoiler

https://imgur.com/a/WV4Mibw

Chemical version using Hydrolox is about 5K DV after wacking in a mobile lab, IRSU equipment and 2 reactors. Nuclear is 15K!

This is the Hydrolox version, i wanted to test the aero design before committing to the interplanetary design. And i'm rather glad i did xD

I'm pretty sure i did something horribly wrong because people much smarter than me designed this and it was being actively built by NASA before getting canned in 02, but i needed some additional lifting area to prevent it from a pitch down moment upon the final decent after reentry. And it also wanted to enter a flat spin rather badly.

I absolutely love the RCS on this thing; not sure if it was intended or somehow patched in by another mod but they use the onboard hydrogen as propellant making this pretty easy to keep stable during reentry. And embarssingly enough this mashup of your X-33 parts and OPT wings that i even hesitate to call a plane actually behaves more like a plane than anything iv'e built prior.

All in all; fantastic work on this.

[Angelo Kerman]

4 hours ago, Incarnation of Chaos said:

Well i saw this about 2 days ago and decided to download and wack it into my current career save running version 1.8.1 which uses FAR, SMURFF and a bunch of other mods. And i must say; I'm actually rather impressed with this little thing.

  Hide contents

https://imgur.com/a/WV4Mibw

Chemical version using Hydrolox is about 5K DV after wacking in a mobile lab, IRSU equipment and 2 reactors. Nuclear is 15K!

This is the Hydrolox version, i wanted to test the aero design before committing to the interplanetary design. And i'm rather glad i did xD

I'm pretty sure i did something horribly wrong because people much smarter than me designed this and it was being actively built by NASA before getting canned in 02, but i needed some additional lifting area to prevent it from a pitch down moment upon the final decent after reentry. And it also wanted to enter a flat spin rather badly.

I absolutely love the RCS on this thing; not sure if it was intended or somehow patched in by another mod but they use the onboard hydrogen as propellant making this pretty easy to keep stable during reentry. And embarssingly enough this mashup of your X-33 parts and OPT wings that i even hesitate to call a plane actually behaves more like a plane than anything iv'e built prior.

All in all; fantastic work on this.

Thanks! I did a lot and got help to balance out the aerodynamics on the Mk-33. Using RCS on reentry was done by the shuttle as well. And powering the RCS with the same fuels as the main engines was by design from the start. I wanted an integrated fuel system for the main engines, RCS, and the probe core’s fuel cell.

[JorgeCS]

@Angel-125, I think I've found a small artifact with the texture alignment in the MK33-Cockpit, the vertical backside.

Please have a check here: https://imgur.com/a/oIY0qyf although I'm not sure if it would be visible, hidden post.

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

h 2

Edited June 21, 2020 by Kraken that doesn't exist

[Scorpiodude]

This fills the Donalddahlen shaped hole in my heart.

 

[alberro+]

Loving this mod! Here are some screenies.

 

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Why do the RCS thrusters use hydrolox when the engines are LF/Ox? Is there a patch or something to switch the engines to hydrolox too?

[JadeOfMaar]

25 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Why do the RCS thrusters use hydrolox when the engines are LF/Ox? Is there a patch or something to switch the engines to hydrolox too?

That might be an oversight on my part (I wrote the Mk-33 cryo patch). Or (by chance) something foreign in your install somehow caused a conflict. Anyway, it's all fixed for the next update, whenever Angel posts it.

On 6/16/2020 at 6:06 PM, RaiderMan said:

it works but I keep self destructing on reentry.

Deadly Reentry?

On 6/17/2020 at 7:30 PM, KIMCHI said:

I love this mod, would it be possible to get some vertical cargo bays? I'd like to use this to launch my science rockets or a non-recoverable rover and I need a vertical cargo bay.

It would also be awesome if you could create a rear diffuser that covers the top over the engines to make the entire top of the plane sleek. If there was a few attachment nodes on it to we could add some aero effects to aid in aerodynamics. I really love this plane!!!!

Drop bays, cargo ramps, and delivering anything that requires them are out of scope for what Mk-33 is based on and meant for. Plane parts mods other than this one will meet your needs.

The diffuser might (in practice IRL) interfere with, and defeat the aerospikes in atmosphere as they are designed to use the air around them to form a virtual bell nozzle; and in vacuum as the surface of the diffuser would cause unwelcome thrust torque (especially if there is only an upper or lower one and not both). Mk-33's shape is sleek enough as it is, as the engines are designed to mesh perfectly into the rear profile.

If you want to help aerodynamics, try OPT Wings or procedural wings and provide more control surface area.

[jimmymcgoochie]

26 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

That might be an oversight on my part (I wrote the Mk-33 cryo patch). Or (by chance) something foreign in your install somehow caused a conflict. Anyway, it's all fixed for the next update, whenever Angel posts it.

I've found the cause- the engine patch is dependent on Cryo Engines being installed, not Cryo Tanks like the RCS patch is. I have Cryo Tanks but not Cryo Engines so the engine patch (correctly) didn't apply.

[RaiderMan]

6 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

Deadly Reentry?

I actually had to take two of the engines off...she was literally cooking on her way up...

as to coming back down..I followed my standard reentry profile for shuttles, transferred all fuel to the aft tanks to lighten the nose..so she wouldnt try to nose down into the entry heating..but I couldnt shed enough speed fast enough, I actually cooked through the heat shield which I didnt think possible in this game.

that said, I absolutely LOVE flying this up.

[Virtualgenius]

I was wondering if anyone had a craft file having some difficulty putting the ailerons on

[jimmymcgoochie]

The patches for making this ship use hydrolox fuel are causing a zero-mass bug at low fuel levels- the ship becomes totally immovable when any of the tanks are empty or nearly empty. Using just the drone core, it's also lacking in battery storage to keep the tanks cooled and reaction wheel power to move such a large ship around in space.

I had to throttle the engines back drastically using hydrolox as the TWR was over 4 on the launch pad and at one point I hit 7.5 during ascent with the power at 100%.

[Angelo Kerman]

9 hours ago, Virtualgenius said:

I was wondering if anyone had a craft file having some difficulty putting the ailerons on

The best advice I can say is to build the ailerons with the wing parallel to the floor, and turn off angle snap. Then use the move tool (press F to move relative to the part orientation). I did experiment with using attachment nodes but that really messes up the symmetry...

[JadeOfMaar]

19 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

The patches for making this ship use hydrolox fuel are causing a zero-mass bug at low fuel levels- the ship becomes totally immovable when any of the tanks are empty or nearly empty. Using just the drone core, it's also lacking in battery storage to keep the tanks cooled and reaction wheel power to move such a large ship around in space.

I had to throttle the engines back drastically using hydrolox as the TWR was over 4 on the launch pad and at one point I hit 7.5 during ascent with the power at 100%.

I was made aware of the zero negative mass problem and I've addressed it. The 2000 EC in the battery is enough, I'd think. But the fuel cell is as weak as the stock small fuel cell (1.5 EC/s) which of course can't meet boiloff demands. Better to raise its output than to buff the battery. How much EC/s do you need?

It's not up to me to raise the reaction wheel power (It would be nice if that got a buff. Maybe 2x.) but Mk-33 has dV to spare for use as RCS. Just budget it well and be more patient when turning the vessel. The current setup is more like how things are IRL (RCS is very strong, RW torque is very weak) than in stock.

[Angelo Kerman]

Just a heads up that the configs aren't tuned yet. Mk-33 needs a lot of flight testing; I'm still working on getting the parts themselves done. This is good feedback though.

[KIMCHI]

I like the plane a lot so far I think it could use a bit more lift at high speed though considering th cord length and overall size of the wing. I'm actually a pilot myself and am really enjoying this. You've got some of the best mods.

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

im probably gonna make a video tomorrow about flying this to a comet, who else likes the idea?

also that could make good test flight for 1.10 even though it will most likely work

[Angelo Kerman]

On 6/29/2020 at 10:08 PM, KIMCHI said:

I like the plane a lot so far I think it could use a bit more lift at high speed though considering th cord length and overall size of the wing. I'm actually a pilot myself and am really enjoying this. You've got some of the best mods.

Lift is one of the many areas that needs to be tweaking in the configs. Once I get all the parts done I can look into that unless someone else gets to them first. The Mk-33 is intended to be easy to fly and should feel something like a shuttle.

[Angelo Kerman]

Work is still ongoing for the cockpit IVA...

[Phers]

Awesome mod but I could use some help.... I'm confused.... the main engines run Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer and the RCS runs LH2? or do I have some mod messing things up?

[Angelo Kerman]

4 hours ago, Phers said:

Awesome mod but I could use some help.... I'm confused.... the main engines run Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer and the RCS runs LH2? or do I have some mod messing things up?

Sounds like it. There is a patch for cryogenic engines in the ModuleManagerPatches folder. Just remove that or rename its extension to .txt and restart the game. Mk-33 flies just fine on LFO, but the cryogenics are still in need of work.

Due to a pretty rough week at work last week, I didn't get anywhere on the cockpit, but I'm hoping to unwrap and texture it this week. My policy is no mod support out of the box (with the exception of @Nertea's CryoTanks/CryoEngines mod), so I plan to outfit the IVA with stock props. That said, I'm a fan of @MOARdV's Avionics Systems mod and hope to make a MAS variant after I finish up the Mk-33 part set and take a break. In the meantime, I did actually create some static monitors for the cockpit over the weekend:

[Phers]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Sounds like it. There is a patch for cryogenic engines in the ModuleManagerPatches folder. Just remove that or rename its extension to .txt and restart the game. Mk-33 flies just fine on LFO, but the cryogenics are still in need of work.

Due to a pretty rough week at work last week, I didn't get anywhere on the cockpit, but I'm hoping to unwrap and texture it this week. My policy is no mod support out of the box (with the exception of @Nertea's CryoTanks/CryoEngines mod), so I plan to outfit the IVA with stock props. That said, I'm a fan of @MOARdV's Avionics Systems mod and hope to make a MAS variant after I finish up the Mk-33 part set and take a break. In the meantime, I did actually create some static monitors for the cockpit over the weekend:

Found the issue.... i had cryo tanks installed but not cryo engines.. Doh!

[Phers]

Can i ask what scale this is designed for? It seems to be absolute massive, even when compared to a shuttle..