Community Manager Dakota Posted April 22 Community Manager Share Posted April 22 Build a plane that's also a boat! It must be able to take off from and land safely on water. Primary: Launch an aircraft from the water and land it on the water. Secondary: Build an amphibious seaplane that can also land on a runway. Jeb: Land a seaplane on Laythe's ocean that is able to take off again to explore the planet. Val: Build a seaplane that is also an SSTO vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Here is my take on it. I really struggled to build something that actually floats. How do you normally do that? Does the physics engine event allow/support this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flush Foot Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 33 minutes ago, Goddchen said: I really struggled to build something that actually floats. How do you normally do that? Does the physics engine event allow/support this? That's what I was wondering last night too... I occasionally managed to get (and stay) airborne from a water-launch but had (slightly) more success lifting off from the runway and then gliding down to the water just beyond the runway to see if I could survive a water landing. /summon BuoyancyMasters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meecrob Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 1 hour ago, Goddchen said: Here is my take on it. I really struggled to build something that actually floats. How do you normally do that? Does the physics engine event allow/support this? IIRC use empty fuel tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 3 minutes ago, Meecrob said: IIRC use empty fuel tanks. That totally did not work for me at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flush Foot Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 1 minute ago, Goddchen said: That totally did not work for me at all Likewise... I went from 1.25m empties up to even 2.5m empties as 'pontoons' and it barely had my cockpit out of the water. :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I came up with a cool technique that I named "dippedidip launch", check out the video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meecrob Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) Lol, ok now I'm gonna have to try it myself. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead, I was just remembering how it was done in KSP1 Ok, so it sorta works, but I keep running into the bug in the VAB when you revert, it puts half your stuff that is in symmetry in the floor, so I give up. I'm still working on last weeks challenge anyways. Good luck! Edited April 23 by Meecrob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattihase Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Funnily enough I was working on something like this over the weekend. Only really hits the first objective and it's not very practical but I had a lot of fun working on it so I may come up with something specific for the challenge later this week. Aside from the tanks/tank intake on the engine block, most of that is empty tank. So... yeah, if you want bouyancy you really do need a hell of a lot of empty tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattihase Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 I wouldn't be surprised if Goddchen's dippedidip launch methods ends up being the most practical way to get anything with the right shape and fuel distro to cut it as an SSTO out of the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrobond Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 11 hours ago, mattihase said: Funnily enough I was working on something like this over the weekend. Only really hits the first objective and it's not very practical but I had a lot of fun working on it so I may come up with something specific for the challenge later this week. Aside from the tanks/tank intake on the engine block, most of that is empty tank. So... yeah, if you want bouyancy you really do need a hell of a lot of empty tanks. OMG Porco Rosso Plane ? Excellent xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 (edited) Alrighty, after fighting several glitches I got my Float SSTO working. Now that Val is out of the way I'll try something a little more traditional. Edited April 25 by ralanboyle . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 5 hours ago, ralanboyle said: Alrighty, after fighting several glitches I got my Float SSTO working. Now that Val is out of the way I'll try something a little more traditional. Wow! Dippedidip launch it is And very impressive how it can generate that much lift with less than 40 m/s! Is it because of the 4 wings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattihase Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 6 hours ago, ralanboyle said: my Float SSTO Kinda reminds me of a hypothetical midpoint of sea dragon and the space shuttle. Very cool idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 4 hours ago, Goddchen said: Wow! Dippedidip launch it is And very impressive how it can generate that much lift with less than 40 m/s! Is it because of the 4 wings? Yep, stall speed is directly connected to wing loading. So if you want to be able to fly slower, increase your wing area relative to total weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 Here is my more conventional Sea Plane, I imagine it being what Icon Aircraft would make if they made a twin jet. It is not useful but its fun and easy to fly. @Goddchen A note on what you are calling Dippedidip. This move you are doing is giving your wing a positive angle of attack. When you take off from a runway, your elevator causes the tail to go down, which creates a positive angle of attack on your main wing. Since these planes are in the water, the tail cannot go down so you have to go underwater and then pitch up in order to get the tail down. In real life, sea planes use flaps to overcome this, but since flaps aren't available in KSP, you can just angle the whole wing up a little bit. I could nerd out for awhile talking about how various shapes create lift but I'll leave it at this for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 (edited) 1 hour ago, ralanboyle said: Here is my more conventional Sea Plane, I imagine it being what Icon Aircraft would make if they made a twin jet. It is not useful but its fun and easy to fly. @Goddchen A note on what you are calling Dippedidip. This move you are doing is giving your wing a positive angle of attack. When you take off from a runway, your elevator causes the tail to go down, which creates a positive angle of attack on your main wing. Since these planes are in the water, the tail cannot go down so you have to go underwater and then pitch up in order to get the tail down. In real life, sea planes use flaps to overcome this, but since flaps aren't available in KSP, you can just angle the whole wing up a little bit. I could nerd out for awhile talking about how various shapes create lift but I'll leave it at this for now. @ralanboyle Wow, congratulations. I have to say, I am really impressed and this gives me a lot of ideas that I have to try out this evening, thanks! Edited April 25 by Goddchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattihase Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 Ah. You can also change your angle of attack by angling the wings during building, so that might be a good workaround. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 3 hours ago, mattihase said: Ah. You can also change your angle of attack by angling the wings during building, so that might be a good workaround. Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. You worded better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meecrob Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 4 hours ago, mattihase said: Ah. You can also change your angle of attack by angling the wings during building, so that might be a good workaround. *Cough cough* angle of incidence. As in the angle the fuselage meets the wing, vs angle of attack which is the angle the relative wind meets the wing. I know you meant the correct thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 I decided I needed to go big, I ended up with something that I imagine as a military cargo float plane... It is fairly hard to fly due to adverse pitch while commanding roll, but she stalls super slow so spot landings are fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Thanks again @ralanboyle and everyone else for the tips. I came up with an improved version of my sea plane: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralanboyle Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 @Goddchen, looks good. Thanks for the shout out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urus28 Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 I explored Laythe with a seaplane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddchen Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 9 minutes ago, Urus28 said: I explored Laythe with a seaplane looks quite windy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.