A brand new way to push things around in space (maybe)

[adinfinitum]

Are you bored of docking your space tug the old fashioned way, moving a bit, checking alignment, move a little more, and on and on...? Maybe you don't want to mess around with any fancy pants docking cams? Well then give this here tug a try, it might bring a little joy back into your boring life as a space tug pilot.

I present to you the dully named LKO Tug mk V

It comes complete with all the handy features a discerning kerbal looks for in a tug. It has forward and rear thrusters, an extra set of RCS thrusters, and dual reaction wheels so that you can handle heavy loads while still being maneuverable enough to navigate crowded construction areas. Also included with your tug are both a spotlight and area light. And of course, the most important feature of all, is the side mounted cockpit with a transparent aluminum canopy. The side mounting of this canopy allows an unobstructed view of the entire docking process, from start to finish. No more having to bother with tedious checking from different points of view to make sure you're still aligned to your target.

Here are some additional pictures that show more of the craft.

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A small note: The craft in the pictures has the docking clamp cover obstructing part of the view. This is because the engineers at KSC put it on upside down on the prototype craft. It should be fixed in the current version of the tug.

As far as docking procedure goes, it should be fairly straight forward if you have a good handle on docking and rendezvous already. The one thing that is different is how you know if you're aligned or not. As far as rotational alignment goes, you're going to just have to go by eye on that, there isn't really any other than "it looks good". Which has worked just fine for me, it has given me really nice dockings where it just fits like a glove and there's no wobbling around trying to attach. To determine if you're aligned along the translation axis, there are a couple things you will need to keep in mind.

1. The cockpit is located to the side of the docking port, so you want to aim a bit to the side of the docking port you are approaching.

2. On the cockpit where the canopy meets the panel, near the sides, there are two metal clip things. If you draw a line connecting both of those, that is your horizon line. Anything on that line is what the ship is pointing at.

Here are the .craft files, one with a launcher and one without.

LKO Tug, with launcher

LKO Tug, no launcher

I did a quick search on the forum and didn't find anything else similar to this, so I hope you guys enjoy it