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

[Azimech]

Apparently the modifications I did on the engine while building the boat have payed off. So the speed limit is there but ... After running for 1:45 hours and proving it's pretty reliable, I decided to try it with the afterburner on. Terrible for fuel consumption but gives a nice effect. So the max thrust of a Panther is 78kN dry, 124kN wet, at speeds close to nothing (I mean, 55km/h compared to when they really start to shine).

I slowly increased throttle and after a while I was amazed that it would run at 100%! Well, until the valves of the right cylinder bank exploded due to overheating and I shut down the jets on that bank. It continues to run on the other two cylinders though.

Looking at the fact the Panthers use 3.5 times the fuel while running on afterburner, I can double the number of Panthers and keep 'm running on dry mode for a nice boost in torque. I'll try the 8 of them at 75% first, almost matching the 100% of 4 Panthers running wet. If the valves still tend to overheat, I'll give them their own cooling system.

I'm still wondering why the valves of the left bank are unaffected though.

 

[He_162]

2 hours ago, Azimech said:

Apparently the modifications I did on the engine while building the boat have payed off. So the speed limit is there but ... After running for 1:45 hours and proving it's pretty reliable, I decided to try it with the afterburner on. Terrible for fuel consumption but gives a nice effect. So the max thrust of a Panther is 78kN dry, 124kN wet, at speeds close to nothing (I mean, 55km/h compared to when they really start to shine).

I slowly increased throttle and after a while I was amazed that it would run at 100%! Well, until the valves of the right cylinder bank exploded due to overheating and I shut down the jets on that bank. It continues to run on the other two cylinders though.

Looking at the fact the Panthers use 3.5 times the fuel while running on afterburner, I can double the number of Panthers and keep 'm running on dry mode for a nice boost in torque. I'll try the 8 of them at 75% first, almost matching the 100% of 4 Panthers running wet. If the valves still tend to overheat, I'll give them their own cooling system.

I'm still wondering why the valves of the left bank are unaffected though.

That is absolutely amazing sir. Well done.

[Castille7]

Here I go again sidetracked from projects I would like to get completed  finished one and here comes some fun stuff again I can't pass up, first it's @Azimech and a Challenge he mentioned about Turbo Fighter Aircraft so I am busting my brains working on some Turbos. Now @XLjedi shows up with this way cool Hydrofoil HCS-16 Hurricane, if you haven't tried it you should, it's really cool stuff. If you don't have the vessel mover mod you could add couplings on the bottom of the struts and throw some landing gear on them, use the Gollath Engines or others and she will roll right off the runway heading toward the coastline. As soon as I noticed the setup on this Monster Craft I thought about some craft I already have built that would work nicely to accommodate this beast. Below is a picture of what I am doing and felt compelled to share it. If all goes well I will share more pictures during my little outing. I plan to put the Heliport to use and bring some Jet Ski's along too, right now I have a Jeep that was built for a craft I built Airlift One and also a small Submarine named Watson.

 

XLjedi's Hydrofoil
HCS-16 Hurricane

 

Edited September 11, 2017 by Castille7

[Jefzor]

I haven't been very productive lately, except for some stupid stunts around the Space Center such as this one: 

 

I have a bunch of replica's that are pretty much ready to release, but I'm too lazy to write up a post. I also can't stop trying to tweak them performance-wise so they feel somewhat realistic. 

(The planes awaiting release are: A-10 Warthog, SU-27 Flanker, F-15 Eagle, Mirage 2000, SU-25, MIG-21, F-5, Saab Viggen, F-16 and AV8 Harrier)

[Azimech]

Ya know ... sometimes when you get my age you start thinking about the important stuff in life every once in a while. So I was thinking to myself ... why not build the mighty V8?

 

[Azimech]

Okay, this works. Just not very impressive. But who knows, it was the first try.

[Castille7]

9 hours ago, Azimech said:

Okay, this works. Just not very impressive. But who knows, it was the first try.

Love it! That's enough motivation to put a boat around it 

@Azimech What's to part total right now?

Edited September 14, 2017 by Castille7

[Castille7]

XLjedi's Hydrofoil
HCS-16 Hurricane
Last Update 09.14.2017
 

I didn't get to do all what I planned to do. I made my way out to Sea and headed to a place I once found. When arriving I knew the rudders would hit bottom before the ramp in front because of shallow water so I eased in slowly......ok not slow enough everything went Kaboom!!  so I made my way out to Sea and headed to a place I once found  docked the HCS-16 Hurricane nicely on the shore side. My first craft of choice was the VTOL so I chose it  (pun always intended) applied the brakes not to roll off the deck, decoupled and Bam! zero fuel  Ok good thing I use F5 very often. Once again I prepared for takeoff transferring fuel this time and all went well. Next the Mini Submarine Watson. @XLjedi hope you don't mind me modifying the lower deck for Watson to squeeze through? Decoupling went nicely launching out the rear of the Hurricane went nice, Watson had fuel but zero Ore in the tanks  the Ore is used for ballast and this kept me from being able to dive .  Next up the Jet-Ski checked the fuel before decoupling? No! lucky me we had fuel in the Jet-Ski  all went well. Next and final craft the Jeep. I knew before hand that I would need a way to get offloaded and decided to add a Juno Engine on the rear so a Juno Engine and Fuel were added (did you catch that?). Jeb gets in the Jeep and drives of the rear of the vessel, cranks up the Juno and Juno I forgot the air intake!!!  (you know/Juno.....same thing) . Ok I hope you enjoyed my honesty and humor here. Below are some pictures of the trip.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Castille7

[XLjedi]

@Castille7 that's really cool!  ...thanks for sharing it. 

I like that you loaded it up with your own stuff.  Looks like 5 craft maybe?  How many tons was the payload?

Wondering if you might've had some weight issues had those ore tanks been loaded.

[Castille7]

5 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

@Castille7 that's really cool!  ...thanks for sharing it. 

I like that you loaded it up with your own stuff.  Looks like 5 craft maybe?  How many tons was the payload?

Wondering if you might've had some weight issues had those ore tanks been loaded.

Thank you! Also I am off to work at the moment, I'll give some feed back when I get back home

[Azimech]

4 hours ago, Castille7 said:

Love it! That enough motivation to put a boat around it 

@Azimech What's to part total right now?

Some data.

Engine type: two-stroke.

Cylinder bank angle: 90°.

Piston drivers: 8x Panther in dry mode.

Stroke: 90cm.

Bore: We don't have compression so it doesn't matter.

Crankshaft: Standard crossplane.

Camshafts: 2.

Conrods: fork/blade type, this way the cylinder banks are evenly placed.

Main crankshaft bearings: 5x6 RCS balls.

Crank bearings: 8x20 RCS balls.

Max engine speed: 12.5 rad/s (120 rpm).

Economy cruise: throttle at 50%.

Top speed: ~18 m/s.

Propeller: 9 blades, fully adjustable.

Part count: 568.

Output: 775kW @ 95 rpm.

The Goliath is just the air intake, it receives no fuel.

[Castille7]

10 hours ago, Azimech said:

Some data.

Part count: 568.

Nice!

[Castille7]

13 hours ago, XLjedi said:

@Castille7 that's really cool!  ...thanks for sharing it. 

I like that you loaded it up with your own stuff.  Looks like 5 craft maybe?  How many tons was the payload?

Wondering if you might've had some weight issues had those ore tanks been loaded.

Yes 5 craft, I took the Hurricane Craft Total Mass and subtracted my Total Mass with the 5 craft loaded and this was about 61 tons. I then added Ore to Watson's Tanks and that was only an additional 6 Tons which I figured that wouldn't make the Hurricane flinch and it didn't. I shut off all fuel access coming from my craft. The Hurricane has been running for a while now burning off a little fuel running at 102.9 m/s.

I didn't want to mention any performance details during my trip because my craft may have changed the handling, also I have many action groups that are set on these craft and couldn't use your craft action groups, this was proven to be a nice little explosion when I did.

Couldn't resist a couple more pictures here
 

Spoiler

 

She's still running somewhere ENE

 

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by Castille7

[XLjedi]

@Castille7 performance-wise I only quote that it's 400 tons capable of 200 knots. 

As it gets lighter, it will go faster...  but I prefer to keep the target speed for all weights at around 100m/s or 200 knots.  At about 125m/s or 243 knots I can tell you it will blow out a forward blade and redistribute itself across an impressively large debris field.  Having extra weight onboard for some ballast helps to maintain the 100m/s target speed.  If you burn off all fuel and have no additional craft aboard, it will go airborne in the mid-90's without the blade adjustments I mention in the blueprint.  Also, I wouldn't even use the afterburner at 1/2 fuel load... it can get up to 100m/s without it.

Fastest recorded speed during an extended mission and about 1/2 fuel load was: 124.9m/s = 242.8 knots = 279.4 mph = 449.6 kmh

Some pictures of it ripping apart at 125m/s as I attempted a 1x ocean crossing to the southern ice shelf :

Also, I have started to assign Key "0" as a "Kill Engines" switch for all craft that can be carried by the Hurricane.  This allows me to use the Hurricane's assigned keys followed by a zero key press to make sure all docked craft engines are dead.

Edited September 15, 2017 by XLjedi

[Azimech]

Almost ready, the first stock hybrid propulsion ship, gas turbine/electric, with a real boat propeller. No gearbox, the engine is reversible.

Current top speed is around 11 m/s. Part count ... let's hope it stays under 500.

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by Azimech

[DarkOwl57]

22 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Almost ready, the first stock hybrid propulsion ship, gas turbine/electric, with a real boat propeller. No gearbox, the engine is reversible.

Current top speed is around 11 m/s. Part count ... let's hope it stays under 500.

[snip]

oooohhh! Is is possible to change how many engines run at one time? (Similar to cruise liners, where they can fire a certain number of boilers for more or less speed)

[Azimech]

13 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

oooohhh! Is is possible to change how many engines run at one time? (Similar to cruise liners, where they can fire a certain number of boilers for more or less speed)

Yes but it doesn't make much sense, using throttle is enough.
With my ship mod, that's a different story.

[SaturnianBlue]

Working on an interplanetary passenger liner fusion rocket. Interesting details include the trimming of the fuel tanks and radiators to fit in the shadow shield, and two boxes, meant to represent the passenger modules.

[Gman_builder]

Look at it go!!!!

Zoom Zoom!!

Edited September 17, 2017 by Gman_builder

[KandoKris]

Finally got some time on my laythe carrier

Initial sea trials have proved fruitful new top speed of 28 & can hit 38 with landing rockets practically lifting it airborne, a flat level deck at the joints and she sparkles from a distance when attempting to land at night. Range I'm estimating at roughly 80-100km after landing 180-220 km once refueled. I still think it's to short but that might just be a lack of landing skill on may part.

Alas the main difficulty moving forward at the moment is making the planes small enough for storage and still cool and be useful. I could really use some suggestions / inspirations for Mk3 cargo storable planes submarines & boats.

Gratuitous photo bomb from  whats now a fleet of 3 testers left over hanging around KSC and the island.   

Cargo for laythe so far is 2 rovers 2 boats 4 jets and 2 subs able to mine, all need improving and squeezing into the 2 ramps and 2 side bays with the 2 remaining bays being science and accommodation.  Then I'll need to start over on the launchers as I bet I'll add plenty of weight not to mention balancing it for decent now its ment to land all together. 

[Jefzor]

Here's my take on the 6th generation fighter theme: a hypersonic drone (that's supposedly stealthy). 

 

On 1-9-2017 at 3:38 AM, ScriptKitt3h said:

True, true- though I utilized canards for their added manueverability and balancing of CoL/CoM, something that I suspect might happen in potentially one contender for Navy's F/A-XX or the Air Force's PCA program(s), since just like with the ATF program that produced the F-22 there will likely be some demand for agility from the fighter in addition to stealth.

Those 3 designs are just prototypes, nonetheless, and I'll likely make some further modifications and maybe 1-2 more airframes prior to releasing them, as I *think* I may have some WiPs that might fit what you mentioned a bit better. The biggest challenge though, in all honesty, is working within the limitations of stock aero's drag modeling.

 

On 1-9-2017 at 3:43 AM, He_162 said:

I agree, but I believe maneuverability could easily be provided with thrust vectoring, and exhaust ports providing thrust vertically down and up from above and below the exhaust of the engine at the expense of thermal invisibility, but if you need to maneuver like that, you've been spotted.

There are millions of options for stealth aircraft that will keep their stealth, and some that are only to be used at the expense of it, but canards lose your all aspect stealth immediately, so in my opinion, I doubt they will be added.

That is to say, there could be a canard shape that is stealthy, but a movable wing is easy to spot on radar since you can't keep the same planform angles as the moving wing, and the tail of the F-22 is one example of that, it's stealth in level flight, and hardly detectable while maneuvering.

 

On 1-9-2017 at 4:35 AM, selfish_meme said:

From what I read they are considering a larger aircraft than the f-22/f-35, with emphasis on electronics and range, it would be equipped with longer range weapons. The idea being to hit the enemy well before they even realize they have been fired on, and do it from anywhere in the world. They don't expect to dogfight over US skies.

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by Jefzor

[He_162]

3 hours ago, Jefzor said:

Here's my take on the 6th generation fighter theme: a hypersonic drone (that's supposedly stealthy). 

 

 

 

 

The US designates a 6th generation fighter as a "all aspect stealth" design, which means no rudders, and no canards, no elevators, and a wing body design with planform alignment as the main form of stealth for the wings, and a buried engine, cooled exhaust, supermaneuverability, payload capability, supercruise of up to mach 1.4 or higher (if it is to be superior to most modern aircraft being developed) and high range.

You lack the following:

-All aspect stealth (although it seems to be at least as stealth, or more so than an F-22, or Su-57.
-Payload capability (no room for medium range, or long range air to air missiles, or any kind of ground ordinance (inside the body for stealth)
-Range, there is no way you can travel across Kerbin with such a small amount of fuel, while carrying payload.

I'd say it's probably one of the better attempts I've seen, Heck, I haven't even made one. It'd be very hard to do in KSP.

[KandoKris]

Sub testing ;

Why doesn't the grappling claw attach itself to the surface?  . 

and is there a thread that lists parts by buoyancy ?

[Jeb federation]

59 minutes ago, KandoKris said:

Sub testing ;

Why doesn't the grappling claw attach itself to the surface?  . 

and is there a thread that lists parts by buoyancy ?

Yeah apparently the claw doesn't attach to the ground (as I have learned through personal experience) I guess its only for grappling asteroids and other ships. As far as buoyancy try attaching more prefilled ore tanks to make it sink. Cool sub by the way

[MiffedStarfish]

I'm pretty sure @Azimech made a thread on bouancy.