The Argos. Massive Grand Tour mothership

[Rune]

Hey! I promised to post the files for this:

So here it goes, as promised. The ship is assembled through 6 launches (1 core, 4 fuel tanks, and 1 heatshield section), and refueled with another flight of a tanker. So, the three files are as follows:

The core

Fuel Tank

Heatshield section

Now to the construction notes. First of all, beware! A hellish maneuver known by my pilots as penta-dock is awaiting you at the end. Unless docking is second nature to you, this may not be your craft:

Failure to come in perfectly aligned on all three axis will bring about the visit of the kraken, followed by a rather spectacular RUD eventually.

So, you get the idea. First you launch the core, and leave it in a nice accessible orbit. Then you go about bringing up the fuel tanks and rearranging the engine pods (which are independent spacecrafts) around them. Tractor design, so be sure to disable their gimbals or they will screw with your control. 9 also switches on and off their RCS ports to save monopropellant.

And then, in one final docking maneuver, you make or break the whole thing by putting the heatshield on and locking the structure rigid. Quicksave is your friend!

After that, another tanker flight can fill the tanks on everything, and you can dock the auxiliary vehicles to visit all those planetary surfaces. Enough delta-v to go anywhere, of course, and that's a Tylo-capable lander it's towing in the pictures. The Razors are in my thread, and eventually I'll upload the Tylo lander, and an Eve one once I get around to actually flying it, but you could use any lander as long as you dock it either at the back or in pairs. Oh, I almost forgot! It has 4 small probes in case you want to leave some junk around, or probe the depths of Jool from a distance. For SCIENCE! And stuff.

So, if you have what it takes to assemble one of these, I would love to see where you take it. Show pics!

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Rune. It's such a high to see it completed in all its 900 and something part glory.

[meatballcannon]

Absolutely beautiful! It would kill my computer, so disappointing. Nevertheless, I love the entire thing. I've tried "octo-docking for a laugh, I sincerely hope 5 ports is more possible. Anyways, great job as always.

[eran100]

A bit big, might try it out if it won't crash my pc

I miss the days where a rockets ruled and a rocket to other planet wasn't more then 500 parts

Edited August 5, 2013 by eran100

[Rune]

Well, ~900 parts with thew two Razors and the Tylo lander and all the probes. It will drop to about 700 without auxiliaries. But this was certainly not meant for utilitarian, this is my "how complicated can I go?" experiment.

And she looks a glorious experiment to me, even if now I have to summon a lot of patience before loading it.

Rune. I mean, ask not yourself why, ask yourself why not.

[Cupcake...]

I got lost just looking at it!

Cupcake...