Adding uncentered parts to a rocket

[Padarom]

Hello there,

is it possible in some way to create a rocket with something like a cargo bay that's only connected to the bottom by beams, like I tried in this picture, without any mods?

I wanted to create a small rover that's not radially attached to the rocket (which must be balanced then), but in such a cargo bay. However I found no way to do something like this with beams and go back into inline design.

And if there is a mod that allows that, could you please tell me its name?

Thanks in advance

Padarom

Edited August 13, 2013 by Padarom

[annallia]

NovaPunch and AEIS Aerospace mods provide fairings that can hold gear/parts in place and allow building on top/below them.

There are also a few other mods that have true cargo bays though I forget the name, maybe B9?

[capi3101]

Hmm...have you tried connecting the bottom end of the i-beams together with a large structural panel (or a set of large structural panels)? Only suggestion I can offer that might work in stock (and then I would guess that you might have to strut up one end of the panels to one of the i-beams, but since struts are massless that shouldn't throw the balance out of whack).

[Padarom]

So there is no mod available, that allows me to do something like this on my own?

Am I able to re-attach crafts into the cargo bays of the addons you are talking about?

[annallia]

AIES and NovaPunch will let you do what you are trying to do in stock. True cargo bays there are a few though I am unsure if they are updated to .21 yet. I know tyberdyne (not sure if spelled right) had a shuttle with cargo bay. When I was using his mod I took his cargo bay and put it on rockets so its there.

Edit- By re-attaching do you mean say landing on mun, deploying the rover, putting the rover back into the bay and going home? If so then you would need KAS and a winch system inside the bay. Of the mods I talked about however it wouldn't work as the fairings jettison when you stage them.

[Johnno]

I would advice you to learn stock parts before taking the easy way out and grabbing mods. There's plenty of ways to build 'complex' stuff with stock parts, the limiting factor is your imagination and knowledge/testing of parts.

First I used a small cubic octagonal strut to center the adapter.

Then a different alternative with a radial attachment point (removed the cubic octagonal strut first).

[Padarom]

That looks exactly like I wanted it

Thank you, I'll try something like this!

[Johnno]

To take it even further you can attach decouplers and build fairings/shrouds on them with structural panels. If you haven't looked up keybindings yet, pressing C in VAB/SPH changes between the two angle snap modes, holding Shift while pressing WASDQE rotates/tilts/yaws a part 5° instead of 90° and Alt+leftclick copies a part + all parts attached to it. So in my pictures here I built the shroud on one side, then alt+left clicked the decoupler, copying the whole shroud (as seen floating on the side) and then attached it to the opposite side's I-beam.

These fairings/shrouds are more for looks than actual function, in zero or low gravity they'll shoot off, but if they're larger you can attach sepratrons onto them to get them away from your craft.