The KERBAPULT!!

[Twitchi]

This started off as an honest attempt to improve an old design.. and then BAM.. i'm throwing stuff

Can i see your height, distance attempts? go on set me a challange

[Captain Sierra]

That aha moment . . . as Danny2462 would say: "I can abuse this . . ."

I need to go back and count how many kerbals died to bring us this amazing footage.

And FYI, you don't need a faster computer. That load time thing is a .21 bug. All of us get it.

[zekes]

that was an awesome video! Cant wait for more!

[Twitchi]

And FYI, you don't need a faster computer. That load time thing is a .21 bug. All of us get it.

Ahh awesome thanks for letting me know.. was starting to get worried that i had become obsolete

[Twitchi]

that was an awesome video! Cant wait for more!

Thanks dude.. should hopefully have a new one in a few days.. have some big plans

[Geschosskopf]

Can i see your height, distance attempts? go on set me a challange

Bravo! Glad to see you didn't give up on this instrument of mayhem .

Anyway, since you asked, I made one that would, if launched JUST right, put a Kerbal on the roof of the VAB.

This pic shows the machine itself, which didn't change throughout the process. However, this particular attempt fell well short of the mark, as you can see from the shadow of the parachute.

Instead of trying to wrap a box around an axle, I used the "Ball Bearing" parts from TT's Modular Multiwheels mod. I made the arm as follows: Started with a small probe core with a small fuel tank and radial engine on top and a string of girders below. At the far end of the girders was a decoupler with a lawn chair and radial parachute. Then I put the Ball Bearings on the sides at approximately the arm's CoM and built the supporting towers off from there. Put a capsule at the bottom for the Kerbal, who would walk over and get in the lawn chair hanging upside down between the towers. I never thought to use the launch supports--wish I had .

Anyway, this thing tossed the Kerbal underhand to get a high, arcing trajectory. The drill was to seat the Kerbal, then fire the rocket at idle and gradually throttle it up to about 1/3. The whole thing was a bit flexible and the arm not quite balanced, so any more thrust and the Kerbal would crack his head on the ground between the towers. Either that or the whole thing would fly apart. Anyway, so the arm's going round and round showing about 40m/s at the Kerbal. So then it was a matter hitting the seat's separator at the right spot in the arc to get the desired trajectory. And you didn't have more than 5 or 6 revolutions to pull the trigger before it fell apart or vibrated out of line with the VAB. Then it was a matter of judging when to open the parachute. Of course, once you fired the Kerbal, the loss of weight on the business end really threw the machine out of balance so it would tear itself apart while the Kerbal was flying.

Anyway, after a few dozen failures and splattering many Kerbals on the ground and wall of the VAB, I finally managed land one on the near edge of the roof, about 3 Kerbal lengths in from the near side. I was of course trying for the helicopter pad but by this point I decided this was good enough .