Can we please address node strengths

[DeathRoams]

Can we please address joint rigidness. Making it stronger for planes. Cause planes keep breaking apart and exploding upon spawn cause nothing is sticking together, but if I connect same parts in vertical mode that work perfectly fine. This has real been hindering my and others experience with SSTO craft, I understand its EA but please this has been problem since day one and no love has been given to this area, and not to mention if this doesn't get fixed or worked on before heating gets put in everyone going to be in trouble.

[pandaman]

I agree that attachment nodes need work.  But I do suspect your design is the main issue.  

The reason I think you are having issues is basically gravity.  Vertical stacks won't have a tendency to sag in the same way that a horizontal stack supported at the ends will.   The vertical one is no 'less' fragile, it's just dealing with different stresses.

Also...  How does the game know what you think is a plane and what's not?  

[Lyneira]

For aircraft fuselages especially, they could be reasonably expected to endure sideways stress on their nodes due to being supported in gravity by landing gear and wings. But even in the case of rocket fuel tanks, the tanks do need to be engineered to withstand all sorts of launch stresses and vibrations too, and plenty of Kerbal spaceplane designs do incorporate, by necessity or by choice, cylindrical tanks in them. So I'd rather not the game give too much special treatment to aircraft fuselage node strength.