totm june 2018 Work-in-Progress [WIP] Design Thread

[kapteenipirk]

Just taught id drop by to tell a little bit about what i have lined up in the workshop right now.

 

 

I have also resently been working on a whole bunch of WW1 inspired aircrafts.

I have also done quite a lot of stuff for the KBM-300 project comeback: trucks, tanks and even a new launch system that John Kerman thinks is honestly a bit old fashioned (i just gave you a hint on what its based upon).

 

Oh, and as you can see, ALBUMS ARE BACK .

[NorthAmericanAviation]

Something big is rolling out of my hangar:

A faithful A-4 chase plane trails behind this lumbering giant: The Convair YB-60

Here's an an album of the build thus far:

Edited March 21, 2017 by NorthAmericanAviation

[Azimech]

I'm really going to finish it this time. I promise!

Now with winter camo! :-P

I've continued the development of my Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4 from where I left it last August. A lot has improved. I've redesigned the core so it's possible to exchange the engine for a newer one (only in the editor) without disrupting the fairings. The engine is the improved Chakora 4.0 using 60 blowers. Lowered the cockpit somewhat and increased pilot size. Made the canopy detachable and the pilot should be able to jump/fall from the cockpit and use his parachute. The list with improvements is far from complete.

Max speed is ~540 km/h (German planes didn't measure speed by tying ropes together) using adjusted aero and almost empty fuel tanks, which is a bit slower than a real one. It's very easy to fly and the engine is reliable unless running in overspeed.

I might build an A8 using a GM-1. I might even build a D9 or later.

To do: clean up the exteriour, improve the pilot, create the dashboard. Change the position of the prop blades so they look good at operating speed.

Edited March 23, 2017 by Azimech

[Gman_builder]

Ive taken a hiatus from KSP for a while and gahdang this stuff is beautiful. The design meta for good looking stuff has changed in the past couple months and turboprop technology has improved monumentously. It'll take a while for me to catch up.

[Jefzor]

F4 phantom: 

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

It turns out my S-IVB is highly volatile and may explode at any moment. 

I think it might be some kind of bug with the fairings and how they interact with rigid attachment and/or autostruts, because it didn't explode until I tried to fix some sagging that I noticed after launching the first time.

[DarkOwl57]

On 3/18/2017 at 2:15 AM, Columbia said:

 

 

#WhatMod

[RocketPilot573]

Today I have a very quick update for you all. I noticed that despite the huge wing strakes, the New Jeb was very difficult to maneuver during descent. Particularly, roll control was an issue. Whenever the rocket pitched "up," the lifting forces of the wings were so much that the vehicle would roll uncontrollably, which caused it to spiral downwards, negating the promised cross range capability of the wings. I added the big shuttle control surfaces (the 2nd largest ones) which fixed the problem. The extra control authority along with higher actuation speed keeps the booster under control easily. I eagerly put this to the test to see how accurately I could land it at a target.

 

 

 

I aimed the camera directly downward so I could see precisely where the booster was flying over. That along with the navball targeting enabled me to guide the rocket straight in.

 

 

This cropped imaged shows a close up of the fins in action. They are clipped in to keep true to the proper look of New Glenn's fins (this craft is a replica so I am making few compromises on the looks).

 

 

Stay on target! The rocket is able to make surprisingly aggressive maneuvers with those wing strakes, but that is not needed here. I imagine the booster could alter its landing spot by several kilometers with just the wings alone.

 

 

Landing burn always starts at 2 km. However I will probably lower this because the booster now descends at slower speeds due to the wings.

 

 

 

 

 

I will continue work on the VIF in the coming days. There are several hurdles I have yet to overcome. Namely vertically integrating stages safely, especially without angering auto-struts, will be interesting.

 

-Rocket

 

 

 

 

 

 

[He_162]

I havn't really uploaded anything in a long while, except for a couple really quickly put together and hardly "quality" jets, I would like to know if anyone would like to see a 2000 ton lifter, or a more efficient 1000 ton lifter?

I would like to get back into KSP and develop something new on Sunday, not sure what I'll make, let me know if you guys think it would be cool for me to do something like the above.

 

Oh, and as for a WIP build, this thing crashes my PC every time I load it into the hangar, so I cannot work on it any longer, but it needs 3x the amount of engines it currently has and about 2.4x the fuel  to take all 300,000 tons of cargo it has to orbit, I doubt any machine could load this beast. (All fuel tanks shown except those the engines are attached to are the cargo)

Edited March 25, 2017 by He_162

[Azimech]

Small update: redesigned engine and introduced a simple fairing. The old one had the looks of a fairing but was really just a drag hog. The result: 80 parts less and a speed increase from 540 to 576 km/h. But now this engine needs a cooling system as well - it overheats in 10 minutes and explodes. Dimensions and position need some tweaking. The hole is a problem to get right, the fairing system has the incredibly irritating tendency to snap, making the hole too small or too large.

 

 

I'm very happy with the results so far!

Edited March 26, 2017 by Azimech

[Triop]

Working on some indication lights for my ore rig,

press 1 to start converting ore to LF (red light off,green light on starting converting).

Press 2 to stop (red light on, green light off, stop converting).

I like how the lights reflect on the ring of the converter.

TBC

[Azimech]

 Forgot to mention the redesign of the engine involves a radical departure from the Chakora form factor I introduced almost a year ago. Instead of using a MK3 cargo bay as the engine frame I'm using a MK3 short fuel tank as the base and attach the blowers & bearing elements floating behind the fairing. The result is a superb increase in fuel capacity. Craft empty: 54t. Tanks full: 91t. 

I also discovered joint strength is not only based on basic part mass but also resource mass which is a serious bug! To illustrate: flying with tank full, everything fine. Tank almost empty: kraken attack. Solved it with a few struts. I believe the landing gear autostruts might switch dynamically to which part they're connected to, another reason we need more control over their behaviour.

[Azimech]

On 3/21/2017 at 11:10 PM, kapteenipirk said:

Oh, and as you can see, ALBUMS ARE BACK .

Terrific news!

[Azimech]

Important read for all aspiring turboheads:

 

[Regor]

Hello, I have a plane that needs some improvements. Sorry, no pictures. It weighs 44 tons. It has 23 engines, 20 are Junos and 3 are Whiplashes. It produces 790kn of thrust at Mach 0. Liftoff and landing are very easy. Can get to Mach 2.8 in less than 1 minute.

[Triop]

Upgrading the ore business... hooked up the first drill.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Triop

[Servo]

I developed a comparatively simple method of controlling swing wings, and it even works!

 It uses airbrakes sandwiching RCS pods to actuate the wings, which are hinged by thermometer bearings. All that translates to a lot of part-on-part interaction and a lot of chances for exploding in midair. Some modification will be required before I post this tomorrow (JotD - F-111 Aardvark).

[Gman_builder]

Made a bunch of Aesthetic improvements to the 777. It's hard to work with because lag but she flies and looks good. Changed mostly the wing sweep angle at the tips and removed/clipped a bunch of struts and ugly stuff.

[DarkOwl57]

So this afternoon I had a major naval battle with the HMS Feather going up against the KMS Turtleshell. I think it was a tie, since both ships got utterly annihilated. The Turtleshell was the first to go, losing its engines, the main gun, all its fuel, and its EC in a missile volley. HOWEVER. I (being the war-mongering dumbS I am) decided to turn on infinite electricity to make the battle more fun! Well the physics, being KSP, decided to bug out, so somehow the Turtleshell managed to bounce up in the air and shred through the top deck of the Feather. She lost the 2 front guns, 4 of the 5 engines, the radar, and 95% of the fuel. Had to get a cargo heli out to tow the remains of my prized battleship back to port... *sigh*

Edited March 27, 2017 by DarkOwl57

[MiffedStarfish]

My latest ship for the Naval battle club is still in construction...

and im pretty excited about it. However the rear could use some work, and it MIGHT need more engines:

[Azimech]

11 hours ago, mabdi36 said:

Hello, I have a plane that needs some improvements. Sorry, no pictures. It weighs 44 tons. It has 23 engines, 20 are Junos and 3 are Whiplashes. It produces 790kn of thrust at Mach 0. Liftoff and landing are very easy. Can get to Mach 2.8 in less than 1 minute.

Is this a request for help? Without any pictures or a shared craft file none of us can do anything with the information

3 hours ago, DarkOwl57 said:

So this afternoon I had a major naval battle with the HMS Feather going up against the KMS Turtleshell. I think it was a tie, since both ships got utterly annihilated. The Turtleshell was the first to go, losing its engines, the main gun, all its fuel, and its EC in a missile volley. HOWEVER. I (being the war-mongering dumbS I am) decided to turn on infinite electricity to make the battle more fun! Well the physics, being KSP, decided to bug out, so somehow the Turtleshell managed to bounce up in the air and shred through the top deck of the Feather. She lost the 2 front guns, 4 of the 5 engines, the radar, and 95% of the fuel. Had to get a cargo heli out to tow the remains of my prized battleship back to port... *sigh*

Somehow I can't imagine having infinite EC has a negative impact on the physics. At least it's something I've never heard before and haven't experienced myself in the last 4.5 years.

7 hours ago, Triop said:

Upgrading the ore business... hooked up the first drill.

Ziet er goed uit (looking good)!

[DarkOwl57]

12 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Somehow I can't imagine having infinite EC has a negative impact on the physics. At least it's something I've never heard before and haven't experienced myself in the last 4.5 years.

Well I think the whole "Firing a missile at a ship carcass" might have affected things a tad.

[Regor]

9 minutes ago, Azimech said:

11 hours ago, mabdi36 said:

Hello, I have a plane that needs some improvements. Sorry, no pictures. It weighs 44 tons. It has 23 engines, 20 are Junos and 3 are Whiplashes. It produces 790kn of thrust at Mach 0. Liftoff and landing are very easy. Can get to Mach 2.8 in less than 1 minute.

 

Hello again, I have successfully uploaded some craft files and pictures. Here they are:

 

And here is the craft file:

https://kerbalx.com/Muhammed_Abdilrahmin_2005/K-16

As you can also see, i changed some things and it can reach Mach 4.0 for me in 1 minute and 52 seconds.

[TheEpicSquared]

After fixing some save issues, I've resumed work on my New Shepard / Dragon V2 combination:

Both the booster and the capsule can be propulsively landed, and I use FMRS to be able to control both.

Operation procedure is pretty standard, I go up until apoapsis reaches ~106 kilometers, then I shut down the Vector and detach the booster (the booster and capsule are attached using docking ports so they can actually be reused). Once the Dragon reenters the atmosphere, I extend the grid fins for a stable descent. I then ignite the SuperDraco engines on the capsule at roughly 2 kilometers above the ground. The capsule's mission ends with a (hopefully) soft touchdown in the grass just to the west of the KSC. (Obviously, I have emergency chutes in case something goes wrong.)

I then switch back to the time of separation using FMRS and switch to the booster. The landing procedure is pretty much the same. I extend the grid fins once the booster reenters the atmosphere and start my landing burn at ~3.5 kilometers above ground level. A soft touchdown (hopefully) is completed a few seconds later.

Some screenshots from my latest test flight (with tourists, because who needs safety? )

Spoiler

Tourists loaded:

On the launchpad:

And we have liftoff:

The Vector's plume becomes nearly invisible as the rocket ascends:

Apoapsis established:

Successful separation of capsule:

The view of the booster from the capsule:

Apoapsis reached:

Grid fins deployed:

Not a particularly stressful reentry:

A grid fin gets stuck (courtesy of DangIt Continued) but that won't affect the landing:

Landing burn starts lower than planned:

Landing legs deployed:

And touchdown!

 

I then use FMRS to switch back to the booster, and deploy the grid fins as it falls back into the atmosphere.

Reentry is more stressful for the booster:

The start of the landing burn puts huge G-forces on the booster, but it pulls through:

Landing legs deployed:

And touchdown!

 

I then switched back to the capsule, and got a little surprise:

I had unintentionally landed the capsule and booster next to each other! Oh well, at least the booster didn't land on top of the capsule.  

Mission success!

I think I've finalized the rocket design, and I'm now working on a crane that's strong enough to lift up the capsule and put it back on the booster (hence the docking ports instead of decouplers) and strong enough to lift the whole contraption and put it back on the launchpad. So far, however, things are going well!  

[Triop]

Hooked up drill #4, all drills are working fine.

Next test will be getting them up all 4 at once to see if the rig can hold the load.