Feanor Rocketry - NEW 0.5 Stock pack released!

[MC3craze]

Now someone should make the Silbervoegel in KSP. Maybe something like Vanguard? But with that huge booster at the end?

Call it Silver Hawk, make it an ancient relic from wartime Kermany... that KSP conveniently \'found\' in a junkyard. Hohoho.

I don\'t know about that, that\'s a little edgy...

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Now someone should make the Silbervoegel in KSP.

Seconded. I wanna launch it using this thing:

[feanor]

Allright, some thoughts -

The problem with SRB\'s in KSP is that you don\'t have access to a thrust profile. In real life, you can decide that you want to 'throttle' - in a pre-set pattern - your SRB thrust by pouring the propellant in a specific shape. The Thrust profile drops after a while to prevent insane G loads at the end of SRB burns.

You can try to prevent this by setting the dry weight higher, but that only works so much. I decided, as a test of my payload assist module, to construct something like a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONTOUR craft - that is, a spacecraft that is almost build around a PAM last stage.

Boy, does that accelerate. from (just) suborbital to very high escape.

I think that will just stay - That\'s sort of the appeal of SRBs, that you don\'t exactly get to throttle them - it\'s more of a fire and hope it turns out in an orbit where i want it.

In further testing I have been able to do this, go from normal 100x100 orbit to lunar apogee with a single PAM stage and a modest lunar manned orbiter.

I\'m done with the ICBM retexturing; it\'s still not as nice as I want it, but to fix that i\'d have to rebuild the whole thing. I\'m going to make a new 2- position baseplate and decoy MIRVS

now.

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

A satellite with a PAM shoved up in it?

Seems legit

[feanor]

A satellite with a PAM shoved up in it?

Seems legit

Yeah, sadly it didn\'t work

Also, im not gonna make Silbervogel. I\'ll be too busy with nanosats and upper stages...

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/images/rockets/n1/block_d/block_d_zem_1.jpg

[feanor]

ICBM version 0.2 has been added to the first post!

Various fixes, balancing and some new added parts. Also some screenshots, and fixed craft files.

Note that I still see that some things aren\'t perfect- but at this point I feel more like finishing my upper stages instead of pulling more time into this ICBM pack

Comments / critique are, as always, very welcome.

Now, back to work..

[feanor]

Have a Block-DM upper stage tank!

Hell yeah, that went faster then expected!

Now to make it nice by adding all sorts of frills and of course a good texture - and then onto the drop tanks.

I\'ll make some really nice drop tanks ( I hope, with good textures, and in various lengths + sizes.

here is my 'design' sketch for them. 4 tanks clustered with symmetry around a standard size core, together they make a nice circle.

( I R GUD WIT ZE PAINTING )

Also, PAMs are complete in 2 sizes, 1 and 2 meter. They make for nice escape orbits, for when we can go to other planets, or for lifting heavy sats from a low orbit to high or even moon orbit.

Small photo session:

( used parts include PAM, Probodyne parts, and a KWchallenger small RCS tank )

Initial nice 180 x 200 orbit

Craft seperating; note the PAM, hidden behind some solar panels...

Nearing the end of the burn.

Orbit at the end of the burn.

Yep, interplanetary allright!

[Cepheus]

Looks like you\'ve got a crap-ton of Delta V there, mate.

[feanor]

Looks like you\'ve got a crap-ton of Delta V there, mate.

That\'s the idea, but i\'m still tinkering a tiny bit with burn time and thrust..

[feanor]

Working today on new textures - Just a simple 1 and 2 meter diameter fuel tank. It\'s just a nice model I wanted to make.

Textures possibly not final.

Now come the drop tanks, that\'ll be interesting. I\'m thinking of making 2 versions, both in 1 and 2 meter, for 4 possible versions; a short version and a long one.

Now comes a design question - should I use simple models ( ie flat circular outer surface + texture ) - or should I do something like this core stage, ie seperate tanks, or some more detail on plumbing etc?

That way, stacking might become harder, but it\'d look better....

Anyone got an opinion on this?

[feanor]

Here, early prototype of drop tanks. 4 of them, got symmetry working pretty good so far - and they handle nicely!

This is the 2 meter core version; i\'ve got another 1 meter core version.

( last image is decoupling )

I think I\'ll make them work on the normal decouplers, although those are actually too heavy to make it worth it; a weight of around 0.1 would be way better.

Also, 3 posts in a row - is anyone even reading these posts, or has this thread pretty much died after the release of the ICBM pack?

Guess I should make a new thread about this upper stage engine pack once it\'s finished...

[CAPFlyer]

Don\'t start a new thread. Just update the title and first post as needed.

I haven\'t posted yet because I haven\'t been home to download and try the v0.2 version and give feedback. That\'s on the list for tomorrow though.

[feanor]

Small update today - made the 1 meter version. It\'s not perfectly fitting yet, but that\'ll be no problem.

That\'s 5 standard tanks fuelwise, but with a much nicer profile. And only one engine!

I want to make them so that if you use a standard fuel tank and you stick this on them, you end up with a 2 meter craft. For that, however, I kinda need the size of the standard radial decouplers. Anyone knows that?

( The same for having a 2 meter core and then adding a set of droptanks - it should be 3 meter diameter )

The other solution -but I don\'t quite like that- is to make my own radial decoupler, but we\'ve got so many decouplers floating around already...

I can always just adjust scale, test, adjust scale, repeat.

[feanor]

Finally made them fit. The outer diameter is exactly 2 meter. I\'ll make the inner diameter a bit smaller, so that I can add more fuel in the tanks.

These ones have a good node_collider as well.

I think I\'ll texture them in a colourscheme close to the stock parts.

[feanor]

Time to go to bed, but here\'s one last update. I like this size.

Tomorrow I\'ll go make a better mesh with some more features, possible extra attachment points for vernier engines, and work on some other projects.

[sarkun]

This is a cool idea

Make sure that you can attach stuff to the other side of droptanks too - like lander legs - this would make for a fine lander I think.

[semininja]

Is there a low-profile decoupler specifically for these tanks as well?

[feanor]

This is a cool idea

Make sure that you can attach stuff to the other side of droptanks too - like lander legs - this would make for a fine lander I think.

That\'s possible already

You can also stack more of these drop tanks on top of each other, with only the bottom one being connected through a decoupler.

Is there a low-profile decoupler specifically for these tanks as well?

No, at the moment they are made for the stock radial decouplers, but the node_collider is sunk into the object.

It is possible to make a new decoupler - and for balance reasons i\'d like to do this - but I\'m a bit afraid that it\'ll be just another radial decoupler, and people might not use the correct one from their inventory and then say that the parts don\'t fit.

But it would help a lot with making the parts....

Do you want one?

[sarkun]

It is possible to make a new decoupler - and for balance reasons i\'d like to do this - but I\'m a bit afraid that it\'ll be just another radial decoupler, and people might not use the correct one from their inventory and then say that the parts don\'t fit.

But it would help a lot with making the parts....

Do you want one?

Do it!

[feanor]

Do it!

Allright, its in the works!

Currently working on another pack which will be released soon. After that, this pack will get all my attention again.

Drop tanks will be thicker for use with the low-profile decoupler.

Still screwing around with the ICBM command pod - it\'s SAS is annoying me.

[Goddess Bhavani]

I kind of feel like making an enormous cargo aircraft to see if its possible to air-launch an ICBM.

Because Tom Clancy :3

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

I kind of feel like making an enormous cargo aircraft to see if its possible to air-launch an ICBM.

Because Tom Clancy :3

With my current wares, I can conclude that it\'s possible. 8)

[CAPFlyer]

Clancy didn\'t come up with the ALBM concept -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-launched_ballistic_missile

You had the Skybolt that was service ready when cancelled in favor of the Sub Launched Ballistic Missile - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAM-87_Skybolt

and then you had the Air-Mobile capability of the Minuteman ICBM - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-30_Minuteman

While neither were actually fielded (the Minuteman capability was negotiated away as part of the SALT treaty), they were interesting concepts.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Awesome stuff there.

It\'s been decades since I caught up with those interesting Cold War tech.

The first time I came across the ALBM concept was reading in Clancy\'s novels about the evil Chinese putting a redneck engineered ICBM in a cargo aircraft and dropping it out of the cargo bay suspended on a parachute. Get it to orient at the correct angle suspended on said chute and light it off.

[CAPFlyer]

Yep. He lifted that directly from the Air Mobile ICBM test that is talked about on the Minuteman link.