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Caged Canary Extended

Elmetian

By Elmetian
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Elmetian

Elmetian

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Horizon Heavy Industries presents the extended version of the Caged Canary. This craft is a very Kerbal solution to a particular problem: mounting the orbiter asymmetrically as with the real shuttle requires careful engine placement and often several reaction wheels, while placing the orbiter on top of the booster causes instability due to a high centre of pressure. The answer of course is to place the shuttle towards the rear! Never mind that Jeb now sits in a cage constructed of steel tubes filled with highly combustible rocket fuel, with precisely zero chance of escape should the unthinkable happen :sticktongue:

The Extended Canary comes with an enlarged Mk2 cage booster, docking port, internal drone AI and hidden boarding ladder, thus we have converted the original Canary from a curiosity into a working, pointful vehicle. This comes at the cost of an increased part count, but not by much. It weighs in at 130 on the pad, and only 32 parts once detached from the booster.

Action groups:

1 toggles the Canary's engine

2 toggles the docking port and spotlight

3 toggles the solar panels

4 toggles the boarding ladder

Flight Notes

Make sure to watch the fuel in the large orange tank. As soon as it runs out, press 1 to cut the Canary's engine so that you don't use the internal supply. Begin a gradual gravity turn at around 10km (minimum 8km) and reduce the throttle as you climb past 25km to conserve fuel. The Mk2 Cage should can reach a 70km orbit comfortably without using any of the Canary's fuel.

Change Log:

Solved overheating problem caused by changes to Rockomax 48-7S engines in 0.23
Reduced part count of the Cage booster from 166 parts to 130
Used 'tweakables' introduced in 0.23 to retract landing gear for launch
Edited by Narcosis
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Elmetian

Elmetian

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This is completely awesome, and a creative solution to the problem that most KSP shuttles tend to have. I also really like how you've set this post up. Really great, all around.

Thanks :) The shiny new buttons are the product of my holiday. I reckon I used my time productively.

How do you land such small thing on the runway? I can't even lift off when I build a small craft like that.

Well... Those delta-deluxe winglets stack nicely and I have two pairs on it. Unfortunately you can't attach anything to them though, so there's a pair of AV-T1 winglets there as well to hold the rear landing gear (though it flew perfectly well without these). Canting them all up slightly raises the centre of lift making it stable enough to turn and land. You may just be able to remove one pair of the delta-deluxe and still be able to land this.

If you're averse to stacking and clipping, then the Canary might not be the plane for you. I did it as an aesthetic choice. Otherwise I would have needed to use structural wings, which would in turn have made the booster wider and uglier.

Edited by Narcosis
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Elmetian

Elmetian

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Please upload the craft file!

Err, it's there already isn't it? Just click on the button that says 'download' next to the screenshot in the first post. Starting to think my pretty buttons are more confusing for people than they are helpful... :huh:

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Elmetian

Elmetian

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No way! that craft is way too cute for its own health and wellbeing!

Glad you like it :D

I'm currently experimenting with an extended version of the Canary that includes an inline clamp-o-tron. I feel like it's a bit gimmicky at the moment and I'd like to give people more reasons to download it than how cute it looks, though don't get me wrong, that's a major consideration :wink:

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Elmetian

Elmetian

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I learned that you don't need the fuel line :D

The Canary's engine doesn't have to burn at all!

Heh, I never even bothered to try that. Figured it would be more efficient to have the Canary's engine burning during at least some of the ascent. Thanks for the info :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Elmetian

Elmetian

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have you got a link or page with links to all your crafts?

Liking the look of some of them and wondered what else you had

I've posted quite a few in the past, but most were lost to the forum meltdown. Hopefully I'll get time to post more over the coming weeks, and I should have a some ready in a few days. Just click on my signature banner to see what I've done since 0.21.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Javster

Javster

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AMAZING ship. Really easy to control, gonna try the extended version now/later. Might hack a space station up for "science" (mainly to test my docking ability (I can dock now (I think))and whether the shuttle makes it to orbit)

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  • 5 months later...
Elmetian

Elmetian

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Just a bump to showcase the updated version of the Caged Canary Extended. Seems that there was an issue with the LV-T45s overheating a few seconds after take off that required fixing in 0.23, and I figured since the Canary was quite popular you might appreciate a rebuild.

I've removed all the Rockomax 48-7S's (they were overheating the main engines and made the part count bigger than it needed to be) and swapped the T45s for T30s. Since the new engines lack gimbaling you've got to be a bit more careful with your gravity turn, and keep the throttle below 2/3 when out of the atmosphere because can't compensate for the unwanted rotation due to the asymmetric CoM.

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The14th

The14th

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Just a bump to showcase the updated version of the Caged Canary Extended. Seems that there was an issue with the LV-T45s overheating a few seconds after take off that required fixing in 0.23, and I figured since the Canary was quite popular you might appreciate a rebuild.

I've removed all the Rockomax 48-7S's (they were overheating the main engines and made the part count bigger than it needed to be) and swapped the T45s for T30s. Since the new engines lack gimbaling you've got to be a bit more careful with your gravity turn, and keep the throttle below 2/3 when out of the atmosphere because can't compensate for the unwanted rotation due to the asymmetric CoM.

An update to one of my favourite craft! yay! :D

I'm a little on the fence about the change to the non-gimbal T30s. The cage seems a lot more susceptible to rolling over during accent if you're not super careful with the throttle and it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

It's not enough to sour me on the Canary, but I'm not convinced it's better as a result.

I'm also having some action group issues - but I've listed that in more detail in the Spider topic.

On the plus side, I've got a tip for any fellow Canary pilots out there! :D

Make sure to watch the fuel in the large orange tank. As soon as it runs out, press 1 to cut the Canary's engine so that you don't use the internal supply.

As an alternative to this, right-click on the Canary's T400 fuel tank and lock the LF and OX:

2014-03-31a.jpg

The orange tank will still feed the Canary's engine during ascent, and when the orange tank is empty the engine will safely flame-out leaving the internal supply untouched.

Re-enable the Canary's T400 when you undock from the cage and things have calmed down. This saves having to monitor the level of the orange tank during the launch.

Still love the Canary! :cool:

Edited by The14th
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Elmetian

Elmetian

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I'm a little on the fence about the change to the non-gimbal T30s. The cage seems a lot more susceptible to rolling over during accent if you're not super careful with the throttle and it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

It's not enough to sour me on the Canary, but I'm not convinced it's better as a result.

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.

As an alternative to this, right-click on the Canary's T400 fuel tank and lock the LF and OX:

http://files.the14th.eu/forum/2014/2014-03-31a.jpg

The orange tank will still feed the Canary's engine during ascent, and when the orange tank is empty the engine will safely flame-out leaving the internal supply untouched.

Re-enable the Canary's T400 when you undock from the cage and things have calmed down. This saves having to monitor the level of the orange tank during the launch.

Still love the Canary! :cool:

I didn't even know you could do that! I'll have to edit the craft file so that it comes that way as standard.

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