Wildcat Industries: Quest to SSTO [Several Pics]

[Specula]

After mucking around with rockets, and only paying trivial attention to planes, Wildcat Industries has decided it's time to expand their borders. True to W.I. attitude, they decided to bite off far more than they could chew. They decided, as always 'go big or go home'. And so, after many small tweaks on their ultra secret prototype, they unveiled their hard work and labour of love and took it for a test fly out over the nearby ocean. Wildcat Industries presents the first iteration of:

Fat Cat 1 v1.

The first version barely even hit 7,000m before failing (partially due to ineptitude of the pilot's training)

But none the less! Wildcat Industries has never been about giving up! They will try:

And try:

No matter the odds:

No matter how close they get before failing:

Until FINALLY:

They succeed:

The Fat Cat 1 (v3) is now on station in a 90,000m orbit, piloted by the ever hardy Jebidiah Kermin! And not a drop of fuel to spare. This 14 passenger, 1 pilot craft stands testament to Wildcat Industry's progress and aptitude.

[Cashen]

Wow that's a huge SSTO.

[Specula]

It's been a while since I updated, mainly because I've had -NO- luck with getting this whale of a ship into space again. First time seemed to be a fluke, until I remembered how I'd done it. I went through multiple redesigns, shed as much weight as I could think of and tried different methods of getting into orbit until I remembered how to do it. I need to take rollercoaster dips and hills, moving up and down between about 16,000m and 26,000m, slowly rising a little more each time as I shed fuel and gain speed until finally I can project myself off one of the crests and into space. Essentially like this:

But now, Bill Kerman joins Jebediah Kerman in an orbiting Fat Cat 1 (version 13):

The next version will likely have a docking port senior version, just so it can dock with any ship anywhere. I just need to find somewhere I can place it that doesn't look horribly out of place or tacked on.