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

[RocketPilot573]

Because I wanted grid fins...

 

https://gfycat.com/SophisticatedVerifiableHeron

 

Unfortunately they don't make any lift... But that's ok I was going mostly for looks.

 

Does anyone know how to make control surfaces operate inside a fairing? I would love it if the the grid fin actuators could be hidden inside an interstage.

 

-Rocket

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by RocketPilot573

[Triop]

[pTrevTrevs]

On 12/11/2017 at 6:53 PM, pTrevTrevs said:

I'll make one more quick post here regarding my efforts to get back in, and then any future posts about this station I'll make in Mission Reports, since it seems more appropriate there than here.

1

And here it is, for any who are interested.

 

[Servo]

I've been taking on @Death Engineering's old Marsprojekt. Not sure where I'll post it, since the OP is so old.

This is one payload of four, featuring one of three nuclear tugs, plus four probes (two for Duna, two for Eve). The Duna probes are landers capable of returning 'surface samples' to orbit, where they are recovered by the main craft. Eve receives a lander and an orbiter as the crew swings by on the return voyage. 

The Mars Excursion Module is the crew's home during the surface stay. It accommodates three of the six crew for a short surface stay.

The rest of the crew remains in orbit aboard the Primary Mission Module, which also serves as the habitat during transit. Using NERVA as propulsion, the transits would be relatively rapid, targeting ~140 days in transit to limit exposure to radiation and microgravity.

All of the modules are launched by a Saturn V first and second stage, which I shamelessly based off of @Munbro Kerman's beautiful replica. No pics at this time though.

 

[Gman_builder]

On 12/22/2017 at 11:06 AM, RocketPilot573 said:

Because I wanted grid fins...

 

That mechanism is crazy useful for helicopters. Is it reliable?

[Gman_builder]

Spoiler

 

A year of R&D and work on the 777 still continues

Reduced part count by 300, got it down to 1280 and squared the wing much better, more realistic.

Aesthetic has improved nominally overall

Edited December 29, 2017 by Gman_builder

[Kuznetsov Space program]

Space bull  -  fully reusable 20-seat interplanetary liner. It's capable to tow 2 VTOL 3-seat landers to  Duna (they can be docked on orbit) or other cargo to other planet. But this craft is extremely hard to land with full tanks ( landing speed can reach 180 m/s).  Launch:   Landing boosters Landing with full tanks 

[Gman_builder]

14 hours ago, Kuznetsov Space program said:

Space bull  -  fully reusable 20-seat interplanetary liner. It's capable to tow 2 VTOL 3-seat landers to  Duna (they can be docked on orbit) or other cargo to other planet. But this craft is extremely hard to land with full tanks ( landing speed can reach 180 m/s).  Launch:   Landing boosters Landing with full tanks 

Why don't you take screenshots? Should be F1 or F12 by default

[Kuznetsov Space program]

1 hour ago, Gman_builder said:

Why don't you take screenshots? Should be F1 or F12 by default

I had some problems with image import, so I easily made fotos of my screen and loaded it here. Maybe I'll try to make normal screenshots of Duna mission and upload Space bull and SS-1 lander. 

[RocketPilot573]

21 hours ago, Gman_builder said:

That mechanism is crazy useful for helicopters. Is it reliable?

 

I'm sure something similar could be used as a swash plate. However, helicopter rotors are under some serious load. They have to support the entire weight of the helicopter (lift) and stay together when rotating super fast... And then the blades have to tilt and steer in various directions... This grid fin mechanism is no where near strong enough neither can it spin. I tried to make something like that once but never got any far. Maybe with the right amount of struts...  (I too would love to see a proper stock helicopter with a swash plate, I'm sure there is a way!)

 

-Rocket

[Gman_builder]

10 hours ago, RocketPilot573 said:

 

I'm sure something similar could be used as a swash plate. However, helicopter rotors are under some serious load. They have to support the entire weight of the helicopter (lift) and stay together when rotating super fast... And then the blades have to tilt and steer in various directions... This grid fin mechanism is no where near strong enough neither can it spin. I tried to make something like that once but never got any far. Maybe with the right amount of struts...  (I too would love to see a proper stock helicopter with a swash plate, I'm sure there is a way!)

 

-Rocket

I was exploring the idea of swashplates in game a while back but i could never get a working model.The engineering required is immense.

[Mignear]

It spins out when attempting to roll though. Still working on it.

[Yukon0009]

A very nimble, fast little plane that can fold its wings to fit in an MK3 cargo bay, and carry small cargo on its bottom. Could be useful for a Laythe plane.

 

[Rune]

3 hours ago, Yukon0009 said:

A very nimble, fast little plane that can fold its wings to fit in an MK3 cargo bay, and carry small cargo on its bottom. Could be useful for a Laythe plane.

I've fiddled with a similar concept, and would love a stock triangular control surface.

 

Rune. Great minds think alike.

[He_162]

My windows install had been corrupted during an update, and I had to reinstall windows on my SSD to fix it. This required that I wipe the SSD, and I had not remembered that my KSP install, photos, craft, etc were all stored there.

 

Subsequently all of my ongoing current projects such as the following are gone and must be started again, some from scratch.
-DeLorean (almost complete version saved on my KerbalX.)
-2020 Tesla Roadster (completely gone)
-Super carrier (completely gone)
-Rk15 fighter jet (completely gone)

There were a few more projects I had started concepts for but had not even really started, so I won't list those, but I did lose quite a bit of KSP memories, and I have yet to reinstall the game. Kind of gave me creators block and a lack of wanting to keep developing craft in KSP.
My last WIP pic for the DeLorean, Carrier, and 2020 Roadster before crash:

Edited December 30, 2017 by He_162

[Gman_builder]

Would FAR eliminate some of the drag produced my my custom cockpit? It's limiting the aircraft's performance.

[Servo]

52 minutes ago, Gman_builder said:

Would FAR eliminate some of the drag produced my my custom cockpit? It's limiting the aircraft's performance.

Yes, Ferram calculates drag based on cross-sectional area rather than individual parts. I've had the same issue with my own custom cockpits. 

Your three choices within full-stock are to redo the cockpit, add more engines, or suck it up and deal with underperforming planes.

[Gman_builder]

4 minutes ago, Servo said:

Yes, Ferram calculates drag based on cross-sectional area rather than individual parts. I've had the same issue with my own custom cockpits. 

Your three choices within full-stock are to redo the cockpit, add more engines, or suck it up and deal with underperforming planes.

That's what i was assuming. It was just an inquiry.

[Majorjim!]

14 hours ago, He_162 said:

My windows install had been corrupted during an update, and I had to reinstall windows on my SSD to fix it. This required that I wipe the SSD, and I had not remembered that my KSP install, photos, craft, etc were all stored there.

Man... I feel your feels.. This is the reason I both never update windows and always save craft to three HDD. Just in case.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Majorjim!

[Castille7]

16 hours ago, He_162 said:

My windows install had been corrupted during an update, and I had to reinstall windows on my SSD to fix it. This required that I wipe the SSD, and I had not remembered that my KSP install, photos, craft, etc were all stored there.

So dreadful man, and so sorry to hear this. I've lost much of my work awhile back when restarting KSP not realizing in my frustration that I should have saved my files. I thought they were saved in folders that were going to be rejoined to the new upload of KSP and I sadly found out this was not the case  Gonna do what @Majorjim! suggested here and start keeping some backups on flashdrives or somewhere. In fact I need to do this asap, this has been a good reminder for me. Also I was able to rebuild some of my craft better than they would have been and much faster the second time around. Stuff like this is almost worth a sympathy card.

[OffsetIsMyName]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:19 AM, Gman_builder said:

I was exploring the idea of swashplates in game a while back but i could never get a working model.The engineering required is immense.

I have had some success with a cyclic pitch with a swashplate. It can lift itself plus some tons, but tends to tear itself apart quite easily. I suspect that is partly due to me using RCS as a tail rotor and the pulses make SAS behave bad. Manual control is more reliable.

Any link / rotor part that has it's root part at any place other than the center of rotation will tear up soon I have found, but at the moment I have around 20rad/s with the cyclic. Trying to figure out a pitch control for tail rotor that would allow similar rotation speeds.

[Servo]

Work continues on the Von Braun Duna mission. It's a little tight in the Duna Excursion module, but everything fits (with a little clipping of tanks for the descent stage). Jeb is testing out the workstation where science can be done from the surface. The other panel features a small 2-Kerbal rover.

Development was done on the Saturn V replica for the mission, and this was the final design I settled on. I was having a lot of problems with the interstage between the first and second stage exploding, but I solved it with the liberal application of struts (automatic and not). The mass demonstrator (82 tons) was lifted into a 350km x 350km orbit without too much trouble.

This is the Primary Propulsion Module for the mission. Three of these will launch the entire stack to Duna, but before leaving Kerbin's SOI, two will detach and return to Kerbin Orbit for reuse. The third will then capture at Duna and return to Kerbin, where it will also be reused. Ultimately, only the Kerbin Entry Vehicle and the Duna Excursion will be expendable (in addition to the lifters, obviously), meaning that a single launch will be needed to fly all future missions (the initial setup was four Saturn V launches).

[kapteenipirk]

A little over an hour (little over half an hour now) of 2017 left here in Finland, so i think it's time for an end of the year update.

 

Let's start of with the UCS HE-111.

I really REALLY wanted to upload it on christmas eve, but there was a lot more work involved than i originally taught, so i wasn't able to get it done in time, and after christmas there was a lot of visits back and forth around Finland.

But, i have gotten a lot of it done.

Spoiler

Just need to finish up the wings, engines, other control surfaces and landing gears.

And then there's also the job of setting up and tweaking all the IR stuff.

This time i will be animating the yoke, rudder pedals, landing-gear lever, flap lever and throttle levers so that they move with their respective components.

The aircraft also has a paint job witch has taken extra time to do.

And yes, i've used tweakscale on the thing.

 

As for the two carriers i promised to upload this month...well, i've been going a bit back and forth, but have now decided not to make separate posts about them, as i don't feel like there's really anything to say about them that i wouldn't have said on my previous KNS related posts, it's all pretty usual stuff.

And i have also decided that i should upload some other ships whit these.

So, instead of just getting a couple of carriers, you'll be getting a huge navy expansion pack, that will include 6-7 new ships, and 7 new navy aircraft of different types.

 

That actually reminds me, that i have been planning for quite some time to make a new KNS related post, that would be a place where people could download a bunch ready made and tested ship hulls, naval guns, aircraft catapults and what not, as i have a lot of navy based sub-assemblies and ship hull crafts.

What do you guys think.

 

[He_162]

15 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Man... I feel your feels.. This is the reason I both never update windows and always save craft to three HDD. Just in case.

 

14 hours ago, Castille7 said:

So dreadful man, and so sorry to hear this. I've lost much of my work awhile back when restarting KSP not realizing in my frustration that I should have saved my files. I thought they were saved in folders that were going to be rejoined to the new upload of KSP and I sadly found out this was not the case  Gonna do what @Majorjim! suggested here and start keeping some backups on flashdrives or somewhere. In fact I need to do this asap, this has been a good reminder for me. Also I was able to rebuild some of my craft better than they would have been and much faster the second time around. Stuff like this is almost worth a sympathy card.

Just set up my dropbox (online storage) to save my craft folder every 5 minutes when changes are noticed.

I appreciate the sympathy, nothing but good will come from this though when I rebuild. I'll be working on these projects for a much longer period of time now, and I suspect they will be my best work when I'm finished. Expect a lot at once sometime in a few months time. I'm also working on making music, recording videos, video editing, etc. I'll be doing all of it for my own videos, and it will take up a lot of time. It will be awesome, I assure you.

[Rune]

16 hours ago, Servo said:

Work continues on the Von Braun Duna mission. It's a little tight in the Duna Excursion module, but everything fits (with a little clipping of tanks for the descent stage). Jeb is testing out the workstation where science can be done from the surface. The other panel features a small 2-Kerbal rover.

SNIP

Cool! One suggestion, tough. That Duna Excursion module is asking for some advanced fairing use, IMO. Did you know you can build open-ended fairings, cheating a bit the UI with clever use of undo/redo (Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Y)? You could put one upside down from the command pod, then build one from the bottom the legit way. And I even think the second one would actually shield the insides form aerodynamic forces. You part count (=game clock) would probably improve greatly.

Also, Von Braun's last mission plan to Mars rocks a lot, probably one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to seeing your final rendition of it!

 

Rune. Plus, next update we get to re-skin fairings! So hyped for that.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Rune