Compleated my first station (finally)

[ace.1991]

(I'm not sure if this is ment to go here. If not, please let me know so I can move it )

I finally finished construction of first space station; 'Watchtower'. 3-4 months well spent I think

Unfortunatly, it lags so much it's pretty much unusable, but I still love it.

what do you guys think?

http://imgur.com/a/0T84b

Edited May 23, 2013 by sal_vager

[Tw1]

There is a thread completely dedicated to stations somewhere on here. That tends to be where to go, for station showing of.

You have a lot of solar panels.

[Alephzorg]

I just went through the whole album. Congratulations on a job amazingly well done. It looks like you put a lot of thought into designing it and the delivery vehicules you used to bring the pieces up.

It's making me want to crash the stations I have so far and start again from scratch.

[SmallChange]

Well, the reason for this thread is because OP is happy he completed a space station. The other threads are "Everybody post your XYZ". Besides, all those threads are either dead or rolled back 6 mo. I'd say no move required.

Congrats on your first station, ace! An impressive first at that! I remember the sense of accomplishment when I finally got the big solar modules on mine and it actually looked like something real! When I see people on the forums talking about how hard docking and rendezvous are, I think that if it wasn't, the rewards wouldn't be so great.

[ace.1991]

I just went through the whole album. Congratulations on a job amazingly well done. It looks like you put a lot of thought into designing it and the delivery vehicules you used to bring the pieces up.

It's making me want to crash the stations I have so far and start again from scratch.

Congrats on your first station, ace! An impressive first at that! I remember the sense of accomplishment when I finally got the big solar modules on mine and it actually looked like something real! When I see people on the forums talking about how hard docking and rendezvous are, I think that if it wasn't, the rewards wouldn't be so great.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it

I've already started construction on a new, slightly larger station.

[The Destroyer]

I think it's awesome!

[SollyK]

Nice station, it is really big. Do you know how many parts it is? At any rate congrats.

[ace.1991]

Nice station, it is really big. Do you know how many parts it is? At any rate congrats.

I don't remember the exact number, but i know it's over 300 parts in total

[Alephzorg]

I've already started construction on a new, slightly larger station.

Wait... Did you say larger??

You have to show it when it's done!

[Flixxbeatz]

Neat! Much larger than me already

[M5000]

I really like how it looks. It actually looks like a station, rather than a large cylinder of several modules with a big solar array at the end, like mine do.

However, I think the part count could be greatly reduced in some areas, here's some pointers if you care to think about it:

-Those ladders, you're using the small three-rung ladders. Why not do the job of several small ladders with one big ladder, especially for walking out on long trusses? You could probably eliminate several good groups of parts in that manner. If you have a module that you know is going to extend onto another module, try to plan and use a ladder that will just reach to the next one. Try using as big of a ladder as possible to go between two points, it's less parts!

-The way you have your solar panel arrays put on there looks to be several of the structural fuselages concatenated into a long tube via docking ports. Why not just use a single, very long structural truss (maybe two or more if you need that many panels) and place the panels on there in the VAB. When you dock several ports like that, you're using many parts you might not actually need, like the docking ports, and the use of many connections between all the ports means more wobble when doing any kind of maneuver. The ports also do not auto-align when you dock, so they're probably out-of-rotation a bit. Send a whole array up in one launch, they're very light to handle so it shouldn't be a big issue. Less launches and more structural integrity!

-Those small RCS tanks really aren't necessary, as they're small capacity and their total capacity could be accomplished by a single large tank. This gives you similar capacity for less parts. More "bang for the buck." Really, those RCS tanks only belong on very small craft where other larger tanks simply won't fit.

-The small OX-STAT panels are probably not needed, as you have a LOT of them. Yes, I understand that having more panels will give you a bit of extra power when you're leaving peak output hours and descending into the dark, but ultimately there will be a period where you will not have sunlight. The panels will really only add an extra minute or two of actual charge time over a small, conservative array. I guess you could say the OX-Stats are a good alternative in case a main array were to break for some reason, but really, why not just send up another array at that point? Basically, a small, well placed array of the Gigantor-XL's would be sufficient for a station that size and likely much much larger.

-You have a lot of docking ports where you don't really need them, basically, aim to send up as big of modules as possible, in as few of launches as possible. Docking ports should really only be used to connect major modules, do as much construction in the VAB as possible.

I think it's a great station, though, and I quite like it, but there's a lot of places where you could shave off parts from your part count to make it much larger!

[AustralianFries]

Very nice station. Good job mate.

[ace.1991]

I think it's a great station, though, and I quite like it, but there's a lot of places where you could shave off parts from your part count to make it much larger!

Thanks, I'm already trying to cut down the part cout on 'Progress Station' (my next station)

The only reason I didn't worry about the part count and small modular design on 'Watchtower' was because I didn't know about the lag it would cause

[Scotius]

Very impressive. A bit too many solar panels, but i love the complexity. What is that small module made of nosecone and a bunch or round fuel tanks?

[ace.1991]

Very impressive. A bit too many solar panels, but i love the complexity. What is that small module made of nosecone and a bunch or round fuel tanks?

at the "front" of the station? that's (in theory) a docking adapter for smaller vessels. I felt the station needed something there

[AceGamer]

Nice, Quite a few solar panels! Maybe a mobility module next with RCS tanks and thrusters to move the space station or you could add fuel tanks for refueling in orbit!

[ace.1991]

Finally tallied up the number of parts for my station.

the winning numbers are: 461 parts total.

[Read have Read]

Awesome, inspirational station. The final shape reminds me of the ISS. Creative use of all 3 dimensions. I will keep this one in mind as I build my next one.

[RickyKSP]

Nice ISS remake attempt!

[ace.1991]

Awesome, inspirational station. The final shape reminds me of the ISS. Creative use of all 3 dimensions. I will keep this one in mind as I build my next one.

Nice ISS remake attempt!

Thanks

I was originaly going to make it a Skylab/ISS hybrid, but it ended up more ISS anyway