Recreate the Arkbird

[IvanTehFennec]

Jeez, dat necro posting. Well, gotta say, nice design, but can't ya look at thread dates sometime?

[OtherDalfite]

Jeez, dat necro posting. Well, gotta say, nice design, but can't ya look at thread dates sometime?

I wouldn't call it a necro, he provided quality content and there is nothing from keeping this challenge from continuing on.

[SmallChange]

You know, I was totally going to lock this thread, but then I saw the awesome work Swizzlewizzle did! I haven't checked out the Procedural Wing mod, but I like what you've done with it!

Chances are, this challenge isn't going to get updated by the OP, but I'll keep an eye on it.

[DrDima]

this thread is so full of awesome. Ah the memories.

[Swizzlewizzle]

I managed to modify the design a bit (fuel tanks) to get it landing on the mun and back to kerbin. Mission accomplished.

[Shaun]

I've got to try this...

[andrew123]

I'm currently working on an arkbird prototype. I'll have it ready soon. (Warning: Craft file not tested yet, so don't assume it works just yet. I'll fix it as soon as possible.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6ss56lrrs35l3i/Arkbird.craft

[alanone]

Here's my entry using stock parts:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/arkbird-stock/

[alanone]

Here is my entry. While takeoff is difficult, it is possible to orbit this: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/arkbird-stock/

[The_Hamster]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to KSP, but I'm pretty ambitious on making large things.

Over the past days I was actually making an SSTO-based Arkbird design, and when I was looking for the reference pictures (used the first one) it led me to here. So I thought I'd post some pics of my own.

So, the aircraft is obviously incomplete due to the fact that the wings and most of the body is missing, and it already has around 810 parts (pretty much from all the support struts, girder sections and wing pieces. It carries 2 orange fuel tanks each supplying fuel to 4 thrust-vectoring rockets. It has 12 ramjet air intakes plus 8 additional intakes and around 20 150L tanks supplying 18 thrust-vectoring turbojet engines for flight in the atmosphere. It has an SAS nose system with RCS boosters within the interior construction. Because of the weight and size of the wings, they do have a tendency to flap from exterior forces, hence "support-strut city" on the inside. I'm still trying to make it sturdy, and I hazard a guess that if it were completed (which it will be) it would have over 1,500+ parts. Flying this thing as it is, it has enough lift to get off the ground but it is extremely unstable. And yes, it will be hard to fly on my comp, but even so, I shall attempt it.

[The_Hamster]

In hindsight, I may have made the wingspan a bit too long and a bit far back. It has a great tendency to do immelman turns at the moment.

Then again, I want to actually finish the craft as a concept, then move on to completely redoing the interior with support girders. Might make the wings shorter when I get up to that stage.

[AmpsterMan]

Dude if this is what you build when you just started playing KSP, it makes me wonder about the argument for the tech tree being a tutorial for newer players. Congratulations nonetheless

[The_Hamster]

Dude if this is what you build when you just started playing KSP, it makes me wonder about the argument for the tech tree being a tutorial for newer players. Congratulations nonetheless

Yeah, give or take, I started this after 2 days after doing the first 3 tutorials and just mucking around with vehicle assembly, but thank you.

[The_Hamster]

So this is the concept craft which is probably still just for show since if anyone tries to fly it, it lags the comp completely and it will still try and do Immelman turns.

So there are a number of problems here. One of the problems is that because of the wings being so long and far back (not to mention structurally weak) it's centre of lift is so much higher than the centre of mass. Also around the front I think I may have overdone the angle of the curve that goes along to the wings, so I might angle it gently.

Another problem is the amount of parts the prototype has: let's say around 1,4K. This is mainly because of the overlapping of the wing connectors along the front (which may also lead to why there's so much lift being created).

So what I need to do now is to start from the ground up, lay down the frame with support girders, go easy on (lessen) the angles leading to the wings and make the wings shorter and closer to the main body for a stronger structure and fuselage.

Still, not bad for about 2-3 days of work, quite proud of the shaping of the large intakes for the ramjets inside.