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

[Shadow dream]

4 hours ago, Project Cygnus said:

Here's something I was messing with for stations, Needs a bit of work but I'm happy with it:

Nice, I was scratching my head on why the Devs hardcoded that thing, knowing how people would be all over this - especialy with all those sweet action groups we got! I guess the old saying still goes: If you want it done right, you do it yourself!

[PhylumCnidaria]

1 hour ago, Shadow dream said:

Nice, I was scratching my head on why the Devs hardcoded that thing, knowing how people would be all over this - especialy with all those sweet action groups we got! I guess the old saying still goes: If you want it done right, you do it yourself!

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, can you explain?

[Chaotic Protocol]

1 hour ago, PhylumCnidaria said:

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, can you explain?

Robotics with the new arm to simulate camera observations with the sciency bits.

There's a DL link to my setup if anybody wants to see how it's done.

[qzgy]

Stuck in ye olde stock prop and bearing territory, I decided to try to make a folding pair of rotors for a future heli maybe.

Exhibit A: Folded rotors

Exhibit B: Same caft, but operating. Voila.

I dont know if this is a true first, but it is for me. So now mostly totally stock rotos can be packed up and shipped off.

Downsides currently include: Weight, bulk, and a bit of alignment issues, and the requirement of the kaboom mod so far (there are two tiny ramp thingies than need to be exploded) The weight of the rotor doesn't lend itself to bearings supporting it, which means the two docking ports dont quite line up nicely, kinda mushing together. ALso because of the weight of the total rotor, the max rpm has been about 12 rad/s which is pretty shoddy. On the upside, I approach 2:1 return on power (two panthers, in dry mode produce ~150 kN of thrust on the shaft giving about 280 kN of lift static or something like that). Which isn't bad but again needs work.

Also because docking pots are weak connections, they get flung out quite a bit. And the center of mass isn't quite perfectly in the middle of the bearing.

Interestingly, by solving the speed problem with autostrut, the lift is actually worsened, but speed slightly improved to like 15 rad/s.

Needs more work. And might also make a fully chopper out of it and ship it to laythe.

 

Edit: Bit too optimistic about power, its more like a 100 kn increase to the original panther thrust values.

Edited July 16, 2019 by qzgy

[Mignear]

Now that I kind of figured out how to make functional props with my 6 ton Stuka, time for a heavier design.

[Chaotic Protocol]

So I ended up revisiting the Vindicator Class Light Warships I've had in storage, Going off of the Mk-VII as a baseline:

After re-armoring the whole thing, re-spining it, and adding some of the robotic goodies I'd like to introduce the WIP Vindicator Mk-IX:

Also has a neat Anti Fighter Missile assortment:

This thing is a heavy WIP of mine, and probably will be for a hot minute.

(Also I just realized this: This is an accurate representation of Bungie's UNSC ships to 343's UNSC ships.)

[Mignear]

More or less completed this, could make the effort to mess with the propeller blade angles for better speed but eh, its in satisfactory range for now. Will work on a turboshaft version for this.
 

[Mignear]

The turboshaft version, with its full load of fuel, ended up being twice the weight of the electric variant. This introduced the problem of the plane exploding instantly when it touches the runway a little hard on the landing approach.
I also went with 4 turboshafts as opposed to the 8 electric rotors on the electric variant, but compensated by giving them 8 propeller blades per rotor instead of 4.

Maybe a hybrid might work better.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Mignear

[Phantomic]

so here's one reason i should not be allowed to use the DLC

Edited July 21, 2019 by Phantomic

[david50517]

Car 2-5

 

 

Download Link: https://kerbalx.com/BlackRockStar/Car-2-5

[david50517]

Hydrofoil

Download Link: https://kerbalx.com/BlackRockStar/Hydrofoil

[sturmhauke]

My mission in progress for the shuttle asteroid capture mission (STS-9):

 

[Yaeah]

Tu-95 with the new BG 1.7.3 prop parts

for some reason its speed increased from 160m/s to 220 m/s so that's pretty cool

 

[Reinhart Mk.1]

On 7/17/2019 at 9:02 AM, Mignear said:

Now that I kind of figured out how to make functional props with my 6 ton Stuka, time for a heavier design.

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL

[Mignear]

A hybrid design seems pretty promising for heavier designs that might want to use turboshafts, so long as you don't intend to balance the rotational torque using another different rotor.

Its a shame the turboshaft doesn't generate power.

 

[KestrelAerospace]

The stock Mk3 cargo bays always seemed a bit... skinny, to me. At least for the purposes of carrying wide cargo like big rovers or large crates. So, enabled by the new BG hinge parts, I've set to work creating a larger, more versatile cargo aircraft that can carry 

physically wider loads than its Mk3 counterparts. Seems to fly fairly well, and the new electric hinges really help keep the part count and complexity down from a "true" stock hinge.

[Frozen_Heart]

Little trick I copied from pds314. I don't understand it, but once it's got moving this plane can fly without power.

 

Still investigating and trying to learn how it works.

 

 

[sturmhauke]

I think that counts as a form of atmospheric kraken drive.

[Frozen_Heart]

7 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

I think that counts as a form of atmospheric kraken drive.

Don't think the Kraken is involved here. Just good old fashioned uneven lift/drag values.

 

I'm tempted to make a ship using both though. One to get the thing moving and into their air, and the other for reaching orbit and work in space.

[Servo]

8 hours ago, Frozen_Heart said:

Little trick I copied from pds314. I don't understand it, but once it's got moving this plane can fly without power.

Still investigating and trying to learn how it works.

We know that they upped the propeller thrust values in 1.7.3, and just looking at the lift vectors from the things it's pretty silly. My guess is that you accidentally reinvented the jet engine - The fins act as a compressor, expending airspeed for rotational power, which the propellers blow out of proportion because they exert more power in the form of lift than they receive in the form of rotational energy (thanks to the new update and the increased propeller thrust.)
 

 

In other news, I've fallen off the map recently, but I've been working on some new projects. Well, one project.

This Lad was supposed to be a one-day build to celebrate the Apollo 50th, but I bit off a bit more than I could chew, so I'm still working things out. It's in final hashing-out right now though. I just need to finish strutting everything into place and getting the deploy values set for the flaps, spoilers, and ailerons. I also realize now that I'm missing the two wingtip antennae as well.

If you're wondering what the giant schnoz is for, this is the EC-18B ARIA - Apollo Range Instrumentation Aircraft. These were modified Boeing 707s which fit an entire satellite groundstation's worth of hardware (including the radio dish in the nose) to allow constant contact with the Apollo crews regardless of where on Earth they were over. A total of eight EC-18Bs were converted, and they remained in use over missile test ranges to collect telemetry and other data well into the 70's. 

This is my first foray into part value modifying (double thrust panthers to get it into the air with eight instead of sixteen, and increased deploy on the control surfaces to get the flaps to look nice), since for this plane I wanted to limit the artificially induced headaches and still get a good product.

 

 

[Kryten 2X4B 523P]

Been playing with props and light aircraft - learning a lot.

 

First attempt at a single engine, design - low powered but flies quite nicely. Lots of trial and error to get it working, and Im sure I can get some more speed out of it. Currently cruises at 60ms on the lowest engine size / power setting - which also sips fuel.

 

Also had a go at a twin engine design. Initial test flight to Island Airfield pictured. Current iteration has boosted power (5% engine size / power), three blade props with variable pitch and a top speed of 166ms - which cruises quite happily at 7000 metres altitude and runs out of fuel (just 80 units) just short of the landmass directly east of KSC. As in I could glide/ deadstick landing there about 30 seconds after running out of gas. Left it flying itself for most of the journey.

 

I think the only thing that niggles me about these is that on smaller aircraft the engines look massively oversized. A couple of variant options on size would be nice just for aesthetics, but I get why they combined it all into one unit.

 

And been having  play with electric props as well.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Kryten 2X4B 523P

[Yaeah]

WIP Mi-24 Hind attack heli

top speed is around 50 m/s

Currently 157 parts

Edited July 27, 2019 by Yaeah

[Kryten 2X4B 523P]

Solar powered electric prop. V lightweight at just under 1.6T, top speed of 57.5ms with a static pitch prop.

 

[Chaotic Protocol]

I broke again, I started working on a new military Aircraft. I'm also going to leave a tutorial on how I fix wingflex with my newest swingwings as well as how the Action Groups are set up.

 

[Phantomic]

https://imgur.com/ShDseBY

I finally got the gosh darn servos to cooperate, so it's ready to upload as soon as i take more pics