Asymmetrical Aircraft Challenge II

[Klapaucius]

Build an asymmetrical aircraft. The wilder and weirder, the better.

 

This is an expansion of the original challenge with a different twist.  This time there is no restriction on doubling up parts.

RULES:

1. Build the wildest aircraft you can. Go nuts. 

2. Three categories:

       A: Newbie: Build anything asymmetrical.

       B: Advanced: Build with an off-center fuselage.

       C. Expert: Build a  craft where terms like fuselage are pretty much meaningless.  (See example photo below)

3. Within each category there will be special prizes (well not really, but go for the glory anyway) for:

      A. Number of different parts used. (1 point for each type of part).

      B. Largest/ Heaviest

      C.  Subjective lunacy award.

      D. Graceful award--an asymmetrical that actually looks good. Again, totally subjective.

4. No reaction wheels, probe cores or fly-by-wire.  Piloted with internal SAS only, and bonus kudos if you can fly and land it with SAS off.

5. The plane must takeoff and land horizontally. No VTOL.  SSTO's welcome.

6. An exception to #5 will be made for helicopters.

7. Anything else goes. All mods that do not alter physics are fine.

8. Keep in mind the spirit of the challenge. I cannot foresee every loophole.  Be clever and innovative, but remember, this is about creating something unique using your building skill to achieve it.

9. Post photos, or if you can, video.

10. Bonus: post craft files and attempt to fly other participants' creations. Share you thoughts.

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/Klapaucius/Pablo-Cubist-Dadaist-aircraft

 

Spoiler

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Guest]

Patch?

[Klapaucius]

3 minutes ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Patch?

In time.

[Guest]

I might try it out. Going  to do your first one though

Overall I think it's a great challenge idea

[Mikenike]

@Klapaucius, HOW?DOES?THAT?THING? FLY?

 

[Klapaucius]

Just now, Mikenike said:

@Klapaucius, HOW?DOES?THAT?THING? FLY?

 

Try it out and see.

[Mikenike]

17 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

Try it out and see.

No PC. I play Xbox EE

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

sorry im a little late.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

i cant seem to get my craft to work  i will try tomarrow. 

[vyznev]

2 hours ago, Mikenike said:

No PC. I play Xbox EE

Well, I'm on PC (Mac, actually), so I flew it for you. Consider this an unofficial extension of my "bad plane flight test" series.

Anyway, the answer seems to be "surprisingly well". Takeoff was kind of wiggly, but I'm positively surprised that it didn't crash on the runway. And once I got it aloft and properly trimmed, it wasn't bad at all.

Spoiler

I even nailed the landing on the first try. And probably could've done it bit more carefully, if I'd remembered to clear the runway of all the previous crappy planes I'd left there first.

 

[Klapaucius]

I forgot to mention, it works a lot better with the afterburner on.  Action group 1. You are also missing the full crew compliment .  The tail fin looks empty without an engineer. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Klapaucius

[DRAG0Nmon]

Any requirements for landing, does it have to be on the runway and with all parts it started with?

 

[Klapaucius]

15 minutes ago, DRAG0Nmon said:

Any requirements for landing, does it have to be on the runway and with all parts it started with?

 

Do the best you can.  No strict requirements, but you should strive for a good landing on land.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

is this asymmetrical?  its a giant triangle with an engine that flies surprisingly well and can go pretty fast.

[DRAG0Nmon]

Full album of the AA-1 here: https://imgur.com/a/gzhpy2T

Probably gonna do some more crafts for this challenge. The original was one of the funnest I have done, and cant wait to see what else I and others come up with!

[doggonemess]

Oh man... I was having a blast designing this off-kilter wing-copter lifting thingy and then read the rules more carefully - NO VTOL.

DOH!

I still wanted to post of picture of it. It actually got off the ground for a few seconds and set back down without blowing up without reaction wheels or SAS. Everything was in balance, I guess. There's no way to steer it, though. I'll shelve it for another goofy challenge.
 

Earlier model:

 

Later model, with counter-spinning balance weights:

[Klapaucius]

4 hours ago, doggonemess said:

Oh man... I was having a blast designing this off-kilter wing-copter lifting thingy and then read the rules more carefully - NO VTOL.

DOH!

5. The plane must takeoff and land horizontally. No VTOL.  SSTO's welcome.

6. An exception to #5 will be made for helicopters

Thus your entry qualifies. No VTOL was meant to keep folks from just stuffing a bunch of jets underneath. Not much challenge in that.

I would LOVE to see video of this.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Bej Kerman]

On 7/19/2020 at 11:52 PM, vyznev said:

Well, I'm on PC (Mac, actually), so I flew it for you. Consider this an unofficial extension of my "bad plane flight test" series.

Anyway, the answer seems to be "surprisingly well". Takeoff was kind of wiggly, but I'm positively surprised that it didn't crash on the runway. And once I got it aloft and properly trimmed, it wasn't bad at all.

  Reveal hidden contents

I even nailed the landing on the first try. And probably could've done it bit more carefully, if I'd remembered to clear the runway of all the previous crappy planes I'd left there first.

 

SAS would really help you fly that thing

[vyznev]

3 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

SAS would really help you fly that thing

Perhaps. But I wanted to see how it flies without it.  

And to be honest, KSP's SAS isn't all that great when it comes to flying planes. For one thing, it doesn't allow trimming the controls while it's active, so you can't tell it to e.g. "hold prograde but pitch up by this much." It's also not very good at making gradual turns — even in fine-tuning mode, its steering tends to be a bit jerky. In my experience, most of the time, if a plane is stable enough to fly without SAS, it often actually flies better without it, once properly trimmed.

(For the specific task of "hold prograde but pitch up by this much" there is a workaround, but it involves using DLC parts. Basically you put a probe core or a docking port on a robotics hinge and control the vessel from there. You can even map the hinge angle to some unused control axis like "translate up/down" so you can adjust it without right-clicking the part. But it doesn't help with the other issues of flying planes with stock SAS, and of course you have to build that feature into the craft — it doesn't just work with any random plane downloaded off KerbalX.)

Edited July 21, 2020 by vyznev

[doggonemess]

On 7/21/2020 at 3:06 PM, Klapaucius said:

5. The plane must takeoff and land horizontally. No VTOL.  SSTO's welcome.

6. An exception to #5 will be made for helicopters

Thus your entry qualifies. No VTOL was meant to keep folks from just stuffing a bunch of jets underneath. Not much challenge in that.

I would LOVE to see video of this.

Challenge accepted! I'll get back to work on it. I can see it possibly working if I can get the control issues worked out.