Radial decouplers not detaching

[davidparks21]

I'm building a rocket with a central liquid fuel stack, and attaching two solid fuel boosters on the side via radial decouplers. The radial decouplers appear attached properly in assembly, but when I blow them during launch the tanks don't detach, I see the decouplers slide down between the tanks.

This must mean I attached the solid fuel tanks directly to the liquid fuel fuselage. But I've fussed with it for hours in the assembly and I just can't get them right (I have seen them blow correctly before, but usually I'm doing it wrong). How can I ensure my radial decouplers are the attachpoint and not the main fuselage? Especially complex if you try to connect say 6 solid fuel boosters.

[Taki117]

A picture would really help here, but generally parts like that follow the mouse pointer. What you should do is place your radial decoupler about where the middle of your booster is going to be, then grab your booster and hover your mouse pointer of the decoupler. If done correctly you should see the booster jump just a tad and now have a much smaller rotational radius. (Angle snap helps with this part)

[Othuyeg]

Which of the decouplers are you using?

Is it the TT-38K Radial Decoupler?

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/TT-38K_Radial_Decoupler

You could try using a structural part, such as a girder, between the decoupler and the booster. Or try using another type of a decoupler.

[Red Iron Crown]

"Mouse must be on the decoupler when placing booster" +1

Otherwise it attaches directly to the core stage, bypassing the decoupler.

[Himynameisjake]

David,

Start with one radial decoupler and one booster. First make sure that the decoupler is properly attached, and then ensure that you attach the booster to the decoupler directly. It will bump out onto the decoupler when you wiggle the booster from side to side across the decoupler. Once you have your assembly complete, change your symettry to 6x, and then select the assembly by clicking the decoupler, and you should be able to create a perfect set of decoupled boosters every time I can take pictures if you like.

[StrandedonEarth]

You can rotate your view up (up arrow) to look down on the rocket, and see the difference when the booster is on the decoupler compared to just on the core

[Claw]

Here are a couple pictures that will hopefully help. Put your mouse directly on the face of the decoupler when putting on the next part. Then you can stack parts underneath the first radial part.

Adding a second decoupler won't work since KSP builds craft in sort of a tree structure. You can always branch out, but branches cannot reconnect to other parts except with struts.

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[davidparks21]

Thanks everyone, those things take a little getting used to, but I've got their quirks down now and know, properly, what it looks like when they're attached now.

[davidparks21]

By the way, how can I mark this as answered?

[MarvinKitFox]

By the way, how can I mark this as answered?

Open/edit your original post. click "Go Advanced" select "answred"

[Akadias]

This sounds a lot like a question I asked a day or two ago. Thanks for answering it here... not sure why nobody answered it there. Enough of me mopping. The answers above look good. An additional thing I found that might be important is this: don't change anything on the upper stage after placing the lower stage. I got the idea that perhaps the decoupler was decoupling the wrong direction. I'm not sure that's correct, but ever since I got that idea I haven't run into this problem any more.