Some plane building advice.

[WhiteWeasel]

My design:

You CoM is supposed to be as close to your CoL as possible, so I got that part right.

Issues:

-Keeps turning on runway

-Sometimes the wheels wobble on take off and rip the plane apart

-Difficult to control-namely pulling up/flipping without the aid of the avionics package, but flies fines the, just turns slowly with it on.

Any Ideas that make it better with minimal changes to the aesthetic would be nice and much appreciated .

Edited June 7, 2013 by WhiteWeasel

[Johnno]

I've read in a lot of posts that tilted landing gear can result in the issues you're having (wobbly and/or veers off the runway). Could try making sure they're horizontal and pointed straight ahead.

Pulling up / flipping is likely due to your center of mass and center of thrust not being in line with eachother. Not sure how far you'd be willing to go with aesthetic change, but I was thinking that balancing out the rear with an equally heavy (and extra engine) part angled downward might be the way to go. You'd have to elevate your landing gear but other than that I don't think instability can be helped as long as your CoM, CoT and CoL are all offset from eachother.

Looks awesome though, well done.

[Shrike42]

Get your wheels straight and flat.

[Syhrus]

Your flipping issue is thanks to your COT here. Because it is slightly up from your COM, the engines will cause the plane to tilt backwards under thrust.

Also, your COL is close, but forward of your COM, which helps for takeoff, but at high speeds actually causes your plane to become more unstable, as the nose will try to lift up. Couple this with the aforementioned tilt induced by your engines, and you're gonna have a bad time anywhere faster than 100m/s.

Turning on the runway is caused by a glitch in the Spaceplane Hangar's 'symmetry' option. For reasons unknown to science, if you place something using symmetry mode it has slightly more drag/weight/Element Zero (I actually don't know what is increased) than its symmetrical partner. This effect is not noticeable in flight, but on the runway, where things are more precise, you will drift off to your favored side of building. You can counteract this by either building your crafts one side then the other when using symmetry (place 1 set of wings on the left, then the next set on the right) or by using ASAS to keep the craft stable on the runway until you reach takeoff speeds.

As for the wheels falling off, I'd take a guess that has to do with the platforms they're mounted on. Those things are pretty weak, and I reckon they are the part that is actually breaking. Try attaching the wheels to the outer wings instead.

Also, take a look at my SSTO series in my sig. I've got a video on design tips... I think...

EDIT: Actually I don't. I'll do one tonight!

[WhiteWeasel]

Fixed CoM/T And landing gear, anything else?

As for the wheels falling off, I'd take a guess that has to do with the platforms they're mounted on. Those things are pretty weak, and I reckon they are the part that is actually breaking. Try attaching the wheels to the outer wings instead.

Also, take a look at my SSTO series in my sig. I've got a video on design tips... I think...

EDIT: Actually I don't. I'll do one tonight!

They don't break at all, just when I turn the plane shakes violently until it rips itself apart.

EDIT: Actually The wheels are fixed-no death wobble, much easier to control, (still flips sometimes, but it may be because I'm still inexperienced at flying). But it still turns left on the runway.

Edited June 7, 2013 by WhiteWeasel

[WhiteWeasel]

Even betterer now!

Also is it bad that I need the avionics package to fly well?

Edited June 7, 2013 by WhiteWeasel

[Syhrus]

Even betterer now!

Also is it bad that I need the avionics package to fly well?

Gooood! You might still get a bit of tilt from the engines, but not as much.

And I can't fly most of my ships without ASAS, the reaction times needed for SSTOs is on Jedi levels.

[WhiteWeasel]

Gooood! You might still get a bit of tilt from the engines, but not as much.

And I can't fly most of my ships without ASAS, the reaction times needed for SSTOs is on Jedi levels.

So it seems the design is fixed, I guess it's my inexperience flying is the rest now.