Prop planes

[randomspacedude]

I've had the breaking ground expansion for about a year now and i still can't figure out how to build propellers and helicopter so if people could post either example designs or how to build one that would be great.

[Mikenike]

2 hours ago, randomspacedude said:

I've had the breaking ground expansion for about a year now and i still can't figure out how to build propellers and helicopter so if people could post either example designs or how to build one that would be great.

Alright, there are enough examples to kill you, @Matt Lowne's quad copter, forum space craft exchange has too many to count, Gordon's Workshop, another yt channel, has done some stuff with them, I bet good money Stratenblitz75 has as well. They aren't in depth looks but heres the basic idea. The rotors leading edge or the gray part, has to face the direction of rotation, and when deployed, the back of the rotor must face downward, which is prop/rotor pitch, to make the helicopter go up/down faster. I'd attach a basic set of four main rotors to the main rotor head. As for the tail rotors, I typically take the number of main rotors and -1 for that number, except for 2 bladed helos, like the Bell 206/212 and others.The same rules apply for the tail rotors except the lack thereof of deploying them, for any reason whatsoever.

@Gargamel, is this thread eligible to be moved to the spacecraft exchange??

Edited October 20, 2020 by Mikenike
More detailed info

[Wobbly Av8r]

There's a really good tutorial on the front page of the forums but I'll repost it here...

This should go a long way toward helping you figure out them props and blades...

There was also a post, IIRC, about using props and blades but I can't locate it now - if I do, I'll post that link as well.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Wobbly Av8r

[Guest]

Start with a small twin-Juno jet plane you've created, where the engines are mounted on nacelles in the wings.

1. Replace the air intake with a light-duty electric rotor, and the nacelle with 0.625 m batteries capped with a 0.625 m small nose cone.
2. Add small prop blades to the light-duty electric rotor, two on each.
3. Add a tiny nose cone.
4. Set the deployment angle on each of them to 0, and "Deployed" to true.
5. Bind torque on the motor to main throttle, and deployment angle on the prop blade to the Up/Down axis.

Here's a tricky bit to work around a somewhat silly limitation/construction UI issue in KSP.

1. Remove the electric rotor with the blades and nose cone.
2. Set symmetry to None.
3. Copy the electric rotor to each side.
4. Set the rotation direction to Counterclockwise on one of the motors, and the blade variant also to Counterclockwise

Then verify that you've done everything correctly:

1. Launch.
2. Use the Up/Down axis. Verify that when going Up, the prob blade angle increases -- the shiny edge of the blade moves forward relative to the plane.
3. Adjust the prop to a slightly positive angle, and tap on the main throttle. Verify that the propellers are rotating in opposite directions, and the plane starts to move forward.
4. Add more throttle and watch the acceleration. Once the acceleration slows, tap on Up to increase angle. Repeat until you're at lift-off speed.
5. Rotate and climb. Increase blade angle to accelerate, decrease to slow down; if your blades stall (you increased the angle too much and the speed drops abruptly), decrease until you're accelerating or flying at a steady speed again.

Enable aero overlay (F12) to see how the thrust produced by the props varies depending on airspeed and blade angle. You can also open the info box for each of the electric rotors and watch the RPMs, they should be at max unless you're near minimum throttle as the motors are stupidly powerful.

From there on out just go wild. Add solar panels or fuel cells for more endurance, make bigger, more powerful planes, planes with coaxial contra-rotating props, single-engine planes that produce torque that you'll have to deal with, and so on.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Guest