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Amphibious VTOLSSTO (Image heavy)


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I made some further small modifications, adding quantum struts to give the plane rigidity while docked to the drive ring, as well as some nav and general visibility lighting.

Also added are a pair of retractable solar panels to feed the extremely power-hungry fuel generator, which allows the vessel a measure of self-sufficiency (at the cost of a great deal of time waiting on-orbit to top off) until more permanent fuel facilities are built and deployed to the major points of interest about the Kerbol system.

Here is HSTAC WhiteRaven, about to embark on its rushed shakedown flight to Duna to retrieve Dragonfly-X's crew, who have become stranded after successfully proving the theory that the huge rover could return to orbit using its descent flight pack.

e3xYHaQ.png

Following a (hopefully) successful rescue, future WhiteRaven flights will not carry the experimental fuel generator, as its addition has made the ship difficult to control reliably (and adds enough weight to require its activation just getting into LKO in the first place!)

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That can't be right. It's using vanilla parts, and loaded just fine for me in my install of 0.19. Could you have somehow deleted any vanilla parts from your parts inventory? Do you get an error stating what part is missing? I haven't yet seen a general error saying an entire craft is incompatible; only errors indicating a missing part.

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Well, I sorted out the problem, and tried to make a craft based off of this using firespitter props. Unfortunately, the electric props don't have a TWR nearly high enough to take off from Duna vertically, so it seems I've had to can it =(. Oh well, I've learned a lot from trying it.

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I don't know if it's my skill level, or if the Kethane rig is just not up to the task, but I can't get it to go to Mün in an effective way. I have tried adding drop tanks to supplement the liquid fuel, I have tried swapping tanks with dedicated fuselage parts, I have tried trading for lighter or more fuel efficient engines, nothing I do will get the craft to Mün in one shot while maintaining the SSTO designation. Has anyone else tried this variant out?

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  • 2 weeks later...

this is the most perfect VTOL and SSTO, however unfortunately it doesn't dock sucessfully with the hyperspace ring. As soon as i dock everything explodes and not because of my docking skills as i am an excellent docker. it just goes boom :'(

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this is the most perfect VTOL and SSTO, however unfortunately it doesn't dock sucessfully with the hyperspace ring. As soon as i dock everything explodes and not because of my docking skills as i am an excellent docker. it just goes boom :'(

It does that if you don't dock VERY carefully. I mean even to the point of countering the magnet draw with RCS. Afterward, I discovered it's really a good idea to mount quantum struts to the bird so it links solidly with the drive section while docked. Otherwise it tends to wag just a bit and throw off fine maneuvers.

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That is the coolest looking SSTO I've seen yet. How did i miss this when it was originally posted? :cool:

I agree, this is amazing and seems very useful.

However, the file is a .rar instead of a .craft? Does anybody know how to convert the format, or if there's something I'm not doing right? I really want to try this out :D

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How do I install the 5-man bus version? I use the link underneath the bottom of the 5-man bus versions' pics...

I think that one requires the Kethane mod in order to work.

You can make your own though.

  • Just download and install the basic version
  • In the SPH, hit Alt-F12 and turn on part clipping
  • Remove the nose spars from the ship
  • Add small capsules on top of the VTOL intakes, and on the ends of the fuel tanks where the nose spars had been connected
  • Fly!

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I think that one requires the Kethane mod in order to work.

You can make your own though.

  • Just download and install the basic version
  • In the SPH, hit Alt-F12 and turn on part clipping
  • Remove the nose spars from the ship
  • Add small capsules on top of the VTOL intakes, and on the ends of the fuel tanks where the nose spars had been connected
  • Fly!

I can't remove the nose caps without removing the whole fuel tank bit, with or without part clipping

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I can't remove the nose caps without removing the whole fuel tank bit, with or without part clipping

Hi there, thanks for bringing it up. I've forgotten to put a download link for that craft. Here it is for you:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/Amphibious%20VTOLSSTO%20BUS%202.rar

The OP has been updated too. Please let me know if you have any more trouble with the craft and I'll sort it out :)

p.s. Also, this 5-man ship is very heavy, so it's really pushing it's SSTO ability. Expect a very long horizontal flight and slow ascent to build up speed before it's ready to transition to it's orbital rocket engines.

Edited by Levelord
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Hi there, thanks for bringing it up. I've forgotten to put a download link for that craft. Here it is for you:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/Amphibious%20VTOLSSTO%20BUS%202.rar

The OP has been updated too. Please let me know if you have any more trouble with the craft and I'll sort it out :)

p.s. Also, this 5-man ship is very heavy, so it's really pushing it's SSTO ability. Expect a very long horizontal flight and slow ascent to build up speed before it's ready to transition to it's orbital rocket engines.

Thank you so much! You just saved Jebs life and made my day:P

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Is there any way to open it without having to pay for a subscription or using a default program? (I tried notepad but it doesn't seem to be right)

umm... Winrar is free (it will just nag you to pay for the full version but will still open those files).

7zip is completely free.

Just install one of those and you'll be able to open and extract the actual .craft file.

Yes, you need a "default program" to open up archive files.

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