Caged Canary Extended

[Javster]

I remember I signed up as a test pilot a while ago. Any crafts need testing other than this one? (please PM, I'm more likely to see it)

[The14th]

Hmmm. Might have another look at the booster then. I only tested it once yesterday, perhaps I posted it a bit hastily. The T45s don't have the TWR to get it to orbit alone, and I can't pair them with the little 48-7S's anymore. Might try a mix of 45's and 30's and see where that gets me.

I've been doing some tests since installing 0.23.5, and I think the instability comes from the way the fuel currently drains.

By the time the Cage's orange tank is empty and the lower T800's are about half full, the Cage's CoM is right down near the Canary's Center of Lift (which is perpendicular to it's thrust) and it's too much for the non-gimbal T30's to compensate for, making it want to tip over.

(In this pic I drained the tanks to those levels with the tweakables to illustrate)

As a test, I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow... ahem... I meant reverse the fuel flow by switching round the fuel ducts hidden beneath the tail connectors, and ran additional fuel ducts from the orange tank to the T30s.

This way the orange tank drains last (except for the Canary's internal fuel supply which again is switched off with tweakables as I suggested a few posts ago) and the Center of Mass stays much higher.

It's not as clean looking as before with six long fuel ducts (I'm not very good at hiding them over long distances).

I personally found this configuration much more stable going to orbit.

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EDIT

OR you could ignore ALL of that.

As a second test I replaced the T30's with the T45's you used to have, but supplemented their thrust with six Rockomax 24-77s placed on the orange tank between the bars of the cage.

This second test only added 6 to the part count, and I didn't need to redirect the fuel flow.

The 22-77's obviously flame-out when the orange tank is dry, but by that time the cage has climbed through most of the dense air and the six T45s can handle the rest of the assent with ease.

Until you've released the next official version, I'll probably use this modification.

I don't know if this is any help to you, but I thought I'd share in case you find it useful is some way!

Edited April 6, 2014 by The14th
Added better alternative