Two secrets hidden in all my planes

[katateochi]

Just thought I'd share two little tricks I use in nearly all of my planes.

1 - A nice way to fit the avionics pack and save jebs life

Its kinda hard to find a place to put the avionics part which looks good when your using the Mk1 cockpit. This is my solution;

Its mounted on a small cube strut which is placed on its side partly inside the top of the cockpit. The strut also is then a handy place to stick a parachute (and I also put the TAC fuel balancer on it and a couple batteries for good measure)

If you have a decoupler behind the pod then Jeb may thank you when you next do something daft when attempting aerobatics;

2 - add steering to the plane

It really bugs me not being able to taxi a plane after landing it, so with the use of a DamnedRobotics rotatron I've added steering to most of my planes.

If you look inside the nose cone you'll find a cube strut and a rotatron

Taken out it looks like this;

The cube is placed on top of the pod, then with the WASD keys rotated round so the wheel is underneath the pod and angled nicely.

I set the rotatrons keys to be \ and z to turn it, but also assign an action group which moves it to center. That action group toggles on a return to center behaviour, so as soon as you stop pressing the turn keys it returns to center.

Not sure if those are of any help to anyone, just thought I'd share them anyways

[RoboRay]

That's a nice trick for nosewheel steering.

I prefer putting my avionics package out front, though, by sticking the little truss piece just below the point of the nose.

No parachutes. Parachutes encourage Jeb to not bring my expensive plane back.

Edited April 25, 2013 by RoboRay

[Hacktech]

"No parachutes. Parachutes encourage Jeb to not bring my expensive plane back." Classic!

[Ryu Gemini]

Indeed, I'm stealing that.

[EvilotionCR2]

For the avionics,I'll always hide it somewhere inside the cockpit,and for steering,I edited stock landing wheels which are both landing wheels and rover wheels

[Catullus]

No parachutes. Parachutes encourage Jeb to not bring my expensive plane back.

That was official British military policy during the First World War. Seriously.

[Tex_NL]

That nose-wheel steering is fragging brilliant. I implemented it right away on my latest plane and it works like a charm. Best of all it doesn't even need a return to center while still on the ground. The weight of the plane combined with the tilt is enough to center it as soon as I let go of the steering keys.

If you're using ram scoop intakes you can attach the avionics to one. It snaps easily in the center and still looks OK.

[katateochi]

That nose-wheel steering is fragging brilliant. I implemented it right away on my latest plane and it works like a charm. Best of all it doesn't even need a return to center while still on the ground. The weight of the plane combined with the tilt is enough to center it as soon as I let go of the steering keys.

If you're using ram scoop intakes you can attach the avionics to one. It snaps easily in the center and still looks OK.

it returns to centre on it's own? oh cool, I didn't think it would so I'd not even tried.

I've noticed one problem with this steering idea, if the plane is really heavy then it can cause wobble in the front wheel during take off resulting in it careering off the runway and turning into a fireball. Some strengthening struts inside, attached to the cube strut part its mounted on can help with that.

[Tex_NL]

it returns to centre on it's own? oh cool, I didn't think it would so I'd not even tried.

Turns out it does NOT return to center on its own through the weight of my plane. My bad. But once you set the rotator to 'return to center' it does return automatically.