KB-52 Near perfect Roll/heading control!

[Arugela]

Newest version of my 1000t cargo to orbit plane. I've made a major breakthrough.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1j0tsawt6zqmp07/KB-52 1_10_1_2939 x108 8_7_2 PI test.craft?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/19dujzrhf8s6mir/KB-52 1_10_1_2939 x108 9_0_0 PI test.craft?dl=0 <- New version with 90k Fuel.

https://imgur.com/a/drAOPRN

Still working out small things like if i can get away with 70k fuel to get to orbit. You are aiming for as fast as possible before using up 70k fuel at 98,100 lf remaining. Might change the fuel to 90k if needed. 70k is better for in space DV. Might need to change out two fuel tanks for liquid fuel.

But the aerodynamics are basically perfect at high speeds. Just have to figure out how to get to 400m/s faster to start gaining speed. If I can do this with the current fuel this ship is basically maximized as far as abilities. Edit: BTW, I used to make it to 400m/s in 15000 lf usage. That means 153,000 remaining in the current configuration. Having hard time achieving this now. I'm currently hitting this at about 25k use or 143,000lf. If the latter part can be aggressively speed up this might be doable.

BTW, this thing can maintain perfect heading to 00.0 degrees of control. It occasionally needs to be tapped back in the other direction. This does allow for very minute dips of the nose for speed though. This is imperative to gaining speed. Tapping up and down at lower speed can be costly. It's something I"m still testing for low speed gains. High speed is about getting past mach 4 and as close as 5 to possible within the fuel allotment. Edit: Some of the roll stability was lost at higher speeds. Not sure how as I was afk. (It was user error. Fuel tanks were not burning symmetrically..)

780 parts(2 are an old marker for the potential empty spot from fuel/cargo being removed.) Takes several hours to get to orbit real time. I think a max of 11 minutes in game time. Not sure with new more optimized speed gains.

I've almost made my perfect cargo SSTO. After god knows how many years.

This big change happened after I change the tail wings then put the COM as close to the COL as possible in the new position. Once you get to high speeds you can nudge the nose down to get insane speed gains. Like 50m/s or more per nudge. Not sure on max speed yet. It may max out near 1400-1500m/s. This requires lots of manual adjustments to maximize speed gains.

To get off the runway you have to hold up at the end of the runway about where those last two sets of shapes are. Then hold up to 10 degrees and keep it until you get fast enough or high enough. I usually hold up to 10 degrees then let it drop  a little then pull it back up. Watch out for splashes though. Not sure if gaining altitude is better first. Still working out the most optimal early flight.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Arugela

[SpaceFace545]

wow thats a chunky plane

[Arugela]

This is basically like his second example. Gain speed at the ocean, but get as fast as possible at sea level. Unless I'm missing something. I get between 1100m/s and 1350m/s. Then allow it to build up vertical velocity and punch past 28,000km. Although my last attempt blew it self up mysteriously at 1200m/s. Might have been that I had heat gauges off and didn't notice something. Edit: BTW, once gaining vertical velocity/climb rate, don't let it drop for anything. It will let you cruise past the 20k-28k gap extremely fast on rapier fumes. Any slow down will get you stuck like mud. I've been using around 250m/s climb rate to get past. It might be able to be lower.

I'm not sure what altitude. I think the closer to the water the better. Except to nose down a little to get between 360 and 400m/s. I haven't tried letting it nose up after 500m/s without additional speed gain. That might work for the 70k fuel version. That might net it more delta v in space from oxidizer. I may have been trying to get it to too high of a velocity.

This plane was originally designed around having stacked engines. It had around 64-72 stacks with a nuke, rapier, whiplash, and toroidal spike. Although It started with just nuke and rapier and I added in with different designs. This meant it originally used similar to example 3 to get to orbit.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Arugela