[0.21] PWB Engine fairing for clustered engines

[codepoet]

The PWB engine fairing for clustered engines provides a fairing for and engine enclosure that enables multiple engines to be used on an upper stage, getting around the problem of where to attach the lower stage to. The part is a plat that can be attached to the bottom of the upper stage stack - you can attach an engine cluster using octo-structs, and then attach the lower stage (probably a decoupler) to the node that is floating below the stack, at which point then fairing will be added.

Download from spaceport

License

Licensed under CC BY terms (attribution)

Version History:

• 0.0.1 - Initial release
  

Edited September 12, 2013 by codepoet
spelling

[restordoc]

Oh, goodie! This looks very interesting, I'll try it out.

EDIT: Looks nice, works nicely. However, the fairing is a tiny bit wider than the adapter, as well as there being no differentiation between the two parts in the editor. I'm not sure if they should be in the structural category, or the aerodynamic category of parts. I will be looking forward to what this mod can bring in the future, though. Great job!

Edited September 5, 2013 by restordoc

[wasmic]

Fantastic mod. I've been needing this quite many times.

[Ratzap]

Thank you, this will be dead handy

Edit: You have a space in 'Game Data' so the mod will not unpack cleanly for people who don't notice

Edited September 5, 2013 by Ratzap

[codepoet]

Thanks for the heads up Ratzap. Silly me, all fixed now.

[boberts314]

Does anyone know if this will still work in .23? I can add it to the tech tree myself, but I'm wondering if anything else would ne

[codepoet]

Does anyone know if this will still work in .23? I can add it to the tech tree myself, but I'm wondering if anything else would ne

I think I have used it in 0.23. I know I have used a closely related part that I have not released in 0.23 and it worked. If anyone wants to make a suggestion as to where it should go in the tech tree, I will add it and make a release.

(I don't get much feed back on this so I rather assumed that it was not being used)

[JeffreyCor]

I think Advanced Metalworks is a good place for them. This looks like it will be a big asset in rocket building!

[boberts314]

I think I have used it in 0.23. I know I have used a closely related part that I have not released in 0.23 and it worked. If anyone wants to make a suggestion as to where it should go in the tech tree, I will add it and make a release.

(I don't get much feed back on this so I rather assumed that it was not being used)

My first thought is that it would be most useful in the early-middle stages of the rocketry tree, when you're unlocking 2.5 meter tanks but are still likely using 1 meter engines. On the other hand I think a lot of people favor assemblies of small engines even with the bigger ones available, so maybe it should be later?

I've had this thread bookmarked forever, but never had downloaded it. It's brilliant, but I have to be careful adding new parts. I already have to run at half texture res so that B9 will fit.

[codepoet]

OK, I am planing to just sling this stuff unti the tech tree, and re-release it along with another part that I wrote for my own use called the "floatnode". Float Node is just a baseplate (ie with no fairing), and a floating node below it (or above it - you can rotate it if you need to). The clever bit is that the position of the floating node can automatically adjust to be just clear of whatever is also attached to the base plate (engines, or tanks+engines or anything else). I will try to dig out a few pictures of stuf I have been doing with it - it just did nit really occur to me to release it, but perhaps it is worth a go.

The next step after that is I think to add the idea of floatnode to the engine fairing, and generate the fairing procedurally to account for the required length. This was the original idea, but prcedural fairings came along, and I stopped to see what functionality it ended up with. Most fairing things can be done with procedural fairings, and the floatnode can solve the problem of attaching a lower stage. Perhaps with a little work (and now I have more experience writting plugins for KSP) and a little time I can come up with something that is not currently possible.

[bowman3002]

Have you ever thought of having the radius of the part procedurally adapt to the part it is attached to as well? This could work well with parts packs such as KW and Novapunch where there are tanks with radius larger than the basic 1.25m and 2.5m. Also, this could be powerful with Stretchy Tanks's variable radius. Just a few ideas. Thank you for making this, I've been wanting something that works this way for a while and I don't know how I passed over this.

[codepoet]

Nice idea - I could make the whole thing fully procedural. I was also considering procedurally adding patterns of Nodes into the bottom of it so do away with the need to use octostructs. So a ring of 2,3,4,5 etc and you could move then together or apart.

[Icabob4]

Nice idea - I could make the whole thing fully procedural. I was also considering procedurally adding patterns of Nodes into the bottom of it so do away with the need to use octostructs. So a ring of 2,3,4,5 etc and you could move then together or apart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_packing gives you a lot of information that might help you, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_covering_problem and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_packing_in_a_circle might be of more help. You also need to make these symmetrical. Hard. http://www.ams.org/leavingmsn?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2371320 gives you a theorem on the first page.

One or the other would be nice.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Icabob4

[boberts314]

Nice idea - I could make the whole thing fully procedural. I was also considering procedurally adding patterns of Nodes into the bottom of it so do away with the need to use octostructs. So a ring of 2,3,4,5 etc and you could move then together or apart.

That would be handy! Perfect symmetry every time, no muss no fuss.

[codepoet]

I have decided to do away with this part and start again. I am no good at modelling so I figure that my best bet is to procedurally generate the fairing each time rather than trying to model it. That way I can also have the option of no fairing, and then you have got the "floatnode" that have also been using.

I have started a new development thread for this work, and would welcome comments, ideas, feedback and people willing to play around with the part wile I work on it.

I will not be updating the part that this thread refers to any further.