Half-Stock Half-KWRock. Realistic Good-Lookin' Space Shuttle

[samhuk]

Hello Kerbal Space Programmers, I have been playing KSP since 0.17 and this is always something that I have wanted to do but could never get right.

Well, let's just say after about a total of 4 hours of trial and error and making the shuttle not spin and explode, I have done it, a working, not that hard to use, non-modded Space Shuttle, based of the NASA structure.

Of course there are a few additions, it is more like the Russian Buran, as the big main fuel tank also has an engine to increase Thrust-to-Weight ratios and balance things out. And trust me, everything on that shuttle is absolutely necessary for it to be easy to fly, and efficiently.

I initially tried to make it look more like a NASA design, but that quickly became an impossibility, as KSP's fuel flow system and no individual engine control made that absolutely impossible without employing massive gimballing to about 45degs, which is just looks ridiculous. I have employed on both large liquid fuel rocket motors a 10.5deg gimbal, like the real NASA Space Shuttle, and that seems to be juuust enough to make the shuttle not spin out and explode. Let's just say the thing, in real life and now KSP, launches on the absolute pinnacle of feasibility, and constantly is about to spin out and explode.

Well here it is... Space Shuttle V2 (V1 was the one I tried to make look like a real one, which is impossible without 45deg gimbals)

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Thank you if you read this and please comment, it would be great if you could give me feedback, and/or have a discussion about rockets, I love those! If the design gets enough attention I will upload it to things.

EDIT: I forgot to include what mods I used:

- Mechjeb - For TWR and delta-v analysis, and before you go nuts, mechjeb can't fly this so no, I am not using it to fly it!

- KW Rocketry - Used for the bigger parts, and the pretty nosecones, like the "Thor" SRB's and the main fuel tank

- B9-Aerospace Pack - Wings and nice shuttle-like cockpit (the stock one has a stupid shape that fits nothing)

- NovaPunch Pack - I could have used the big orange Rockomax engine, but this one looks nicer, and has lower thrust which was needed.

Sambo

Edited November 2, 2013 by samhuk

[samhuk]

Just fixed the imgur album, I am new here and there is no correct info about how to embed albums properly. I got it working eventually, now you can hopefully see the awesome orbital insertion screenshot with just the main tank!

Sam

[Astraph]

A stupid question, but... How exactly does the engine gimball feature work? I've tried searching the wiki, but couldn't find any idiotproof guide to explain this to an engineering imbecile like me ^^'

[Virindi]

Impressive! When the counterbalance SRBs run out, do you have to transfer fuel or anything? How well does the thing fly in landing mode? I don't see any landing gear

[samhuk]

It does have landing gear Virindi, it is just folded away. And just before the SRB's run out the SAS is almost fully down, when they do run out, the SAS is completely the other. It has a 10.5deg gimbal on the shuttle rocket motor, that provides a lot of torque. Also smaller engine on the big orange tank (seen in the orbital insertion image) helps with the balance.

It flies rather well in air, however it is recommended to burn atleast some fuel before landing, as one has to be very skilled to land it fully fuelled, because it is very heavy.

Ah, and Astraph, you have to go into your KSP folder, into Gamedata, into squad, into parts, into engine, into a part file, into the part.cfg file, and edit the gimbal value within. It doesn't work for all parts, however I got the novapunch bearcat (the main shuttle engine for my case) to a 10.5deg gimbal. Don't forget to rename the title of the part, inside the cfg file and the actual name of the file, as it will over-ride the original, and trust me, you don't want 10.5deg gimbals on normal vertically stacked rockets; it'll wobble like it's in disco 1965/break-apart and explode.

Hope that helps. And the KSP wiki is ridiculously out of date, as KSP isn't exactly as popular as Minecraft or something (whose wiki page is basically updated like every second with every little bit of news about MC)...

Sam

Edited November 14, 2013 by samhuk