A Hodgepodge of Whatever I Think of: The Madness of Manatee Aerospace.

[Blufor878]

Decided to make a KSP airplane. This is the T680 supersonic jet. Seats a quartet of (possibly airsick) kerbals. Now available on KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/T680.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

On this episode of "I should have gotten these mods sooner" we have project EOC from @rogerwang86 and Universal Storage II from @Paul Kingtiger.

First, Project EOC's Shuttle-C parts. A beautiful mod, and one I fully intend to exploit alongside ORANGES and Habtech2...and BDB...and Buffalo 2...and Near Future parts-y'all can figure out where this is going.


Then a modified Orion spacecraft with a Universal Storage service module. Our man below is scientist Derler Kerman, who has just finished resetting the mystery goo science rack in the UDS (Universal Deployment System, my name for this particular service module). With the tasked performed to near perfection, Derler spends a couple minutes taking in the view.

Also, Universal Storage allows you to yeet baby sputniks into space, which has to be one of my favorite features of this mod.

Just a neat shot in space.

Seriously, I have no idea why I didn't get these mods sooner. I already know what rogerwang86 can do with SPOCK and Konstellation. Meanwhile Universal Storage II not only provides parts with really cool functions and aesthetics, but it helps give more options for your spacecraft's capabilites (that and it's FreeIva compatible...).

Edited March 4, 2023 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

I wanted to post stuff today but my internet went down. But I'm here now!
First things first. I used a Delta IV core to launch a small spaceplane made from @NESD's SpikeX parts. Finally I made a spaceplane vertical stack that doesn't flip over. Probably because it's very disproportionate in terms of TWR. 


Today, I also made Universal Storage Variants for Crew Dragon, Apollo, and Soyuz (regular version and an elongated version styled after the lunar mission variant). For now I only have pics of the Dragon version.



 

[Blufor878]

Thanks to @goldforest for posting this monstrosity.

Also, South Korean Launch Vehicles! Courtesy of BDB, Eisenhower Astronautics, and Procedural Parts (oh, and Conformal Decals for flavor).

[Blufor878]

The Karo-1B is now on KerbalX!
https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Karo-1B

[Blufor878]

I made use of my N1C rocket to launch my latest station core, Long Zarya.

[Blufor878]

Announcement: I have started a new forum thread. Don't worry, this thread will still be my main. But I wanted to start a thread devoted to making craft files for well-known historical parts mods such as BDB and Asbury Western Stars. Specifically these craft files will be based on actual rockets and their respective variants and configurations, such as the Titan LDC build here:


More images can be seen here on the new thread:

 

[Blufor878]

I have officially joined the LRB Club.

Oh, and I created NLS Centaur, have fun looking at it.

[Blufor878]

Trying some graphic design stuff today. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks to @Kerbas_ad_astra for Kronal Vessel Viewer.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

One more

[Kerballlistic07]

13 hours ago, Blufor878 said:

Trying some graphic design stuff today. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks to @Kerbas_ad_astra for Kronal Vessel Viewer.

Its like a mix of all my favorite rockets! The size of the first stage and its single engine is reminiscent of the Thor, and the color is of course a dead ringer for Delta II, and then there's the Agena style stage on top, which makes the entire thing very Atlas like! Beautiful stuff! 

[Blufor878]

Hi guys,
     So I don't have anything at the moment. Well, I do have stuff. But I am here today to ask your guys' input on something.

     As y'all may have noticed, I don't really do (scratchmade) spaceplanes that often. The fact is I technically do have spaceplanes. However, I could never make an SSTO style spaceplane that works properly. I've always had to rely on cheats, namely infinite fuel and no crash damage, for them to work in any meaningful way. I actually just tried to make one today using the Mark IV spaceplane mod, to no avail. Not enough fuel, constantly flipping, falls back to Kerbin like a brick despite having a bunch of big engines. And it isn't alone. I've tried SSTO and vertical stack options with multiple craft, and they (almost) never end up doing so well. With that said, I am proud of (most) of these "cheat" spaceplanes from an aesthetic standpoint. If nothing else, they look cool, have cool interiors, and they still come with functional systems like power and RCS.

   Now comes the question. Do you guys want to see these spaceplanes anyway? Furthermore, do you want to see me post any to KerbalX? I would make it VERY clear that they require console cheats to work in any effective manner. These craft would basically be for imaginative fun and not mild realism (how I describe KSP's physics). Perhaps by posting them someone can even come along and make them functional. I leave this up to you guys.

Anyway, back to making Saturn and Shuttle derivatives. Florida man signing off!

[Royalswissarmyknife]

I would like to see them but maybe not posted to KerbalX

[Kerballlistic07]

On 3/25/2023 at 3:50 PM, Blufor878 said:

Now comes the question. Do you guys want to see these spaceplanes anyway?

Of course, that would be awesome! Love your designs, whether they fail or not!

[Blufor878]

I don't know, I think Vulcan could use more boosters.

[Kerballlistic07]

MOAR BOOSTERS!!! C'mon Tory, think of the payload capacity!

[Blufor878]

(Duplicate post from the BDB forums)
Just wanted to make a post for my updated Saturn Shuttle. I am now referring to "Saturn Shuttle Phase 0". Basically my personal alternate history/lore is that the orbiter and ET were ready for flight, but developmental problems arose for the flyback first stage. As a result the first few shuttle flights would go without the flyback booster. Hence Phase 0.



IRL I'm reposting the Saturn Shuttle because I've replaced the redirect ET with the ORANGES model, and I've updated the AJ-10 on the orbiter since Benjee10 updated his assets and got rid of the old models.
https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Saturn-Shuttle-Phase-0

[Blufor878]

"MANN CO.! WE MAKE HATS, GET IN FIGHTS, AND NOW WE GO INTO SPACE!!!"


The MCR-7, inspired by the rockets seen in Team Fortress 2.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

So I may have turned the boosters on this thing into their own independent medium/heavy lifter, and the lifter has a centaur upper stage tucked into it.

[Blufor878]

Something I promised a few days back. This is (one of) my take on the Ares I. This version uses the smaller Delta IV tanks from BDB for the upper stage.


I also modified Orion's appearance to better match older concept art.

And of course it's available for download on KerbalX.
https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Ares-I-Delta-Edition

[Blufor878]

I'm gonna let you guys guess what this is.

Work in progress, but the basic overall form is done. Just need to decorate it (which I technically already did but I forgot to save...don't judge me).

[kspbutitscursed]

falcon 9 full reuse?????

[Davi SDF]

More likely to be the Stoke Rocket (it doesn't have a name yet)

[Blufor878]

9 hours ago, Davi SDF said:

More likely to be the Stoke Rocket (it doesn't have a name yet)

You win!

[Blufor878]

I made a Saturn/Superheavy hybrid.