Stock Supermaneuverability Aircraft for Newbies?

[Tidus Klein]

Both my plane...The 61B Lagisy

and the FRAK are incredibly maneuverable stock planes

here is a link to both, LINKSY

but with FAR installed and a bit of B9 magic with a sprinkle of explosions later I was able to make a plane that pulls 38 gs in a spike and 28 in a solid turn... ya who wants kerbal smoothy.

[O-Doc]

You can fake supermaneuverability in sock by doing a number of things. Firstly, you can add reaction wheels to get an AoA greater than the aerodynamics of the plane. You can also fake increased thrust vectoring by adding small winglets to the inside of the engine. You will need to balance this out with winglets hidden in the nose. You can also fake 3D flying with astute throttle and air-intake control. The caveat is, you will have to test your setup for each maneuver you want to perform and I'm pretty sure you won't be able to design a flyer that will perform all the 3D moves. Finally, you will want to have more control surface lift than fixed wing lift and at all times the CoL should be over your CoM. That involves a significant amount of testing, which is not something you can do in the SPH.

While not a 3D flyer, my Matador(AKA The Kerbull Racer) is without a doubt the most maneuverable stock craft you'll fly that, maintains perfect aerodynamic stability in all regimes. You should pull it apart for ideas.

Download Matador v1.0

[Sophistry]

yes highly maneuverable "stunt" planes are very possible with stock parts. I've been building a plane simply to have fun flying around the buildings at KSC, it's fast ~210ms at sea level and very responsive. It does use a couple reaction wheels in the rear but it also has a couple of small hidden flaps near the front and more wings that I'd usually use on craft this small. Reaction wheels do help, but too many and the craft will turn unnaturally as the reaction wheels overpower the forces from the control surfaces. The wheels fold up right inside it for a more streamlined appearance and the front fuel tank starts off half full which helps it pull up more sharply.

It's called DeadBolt because at the speeds it goes, zig-zagging between the buildings has a high mortality rate, even with an eject system. I very nearly managed to fly it under the small bridge in the RnD complex yesterday, but I clipped a wing on the way out.

Here's the craft file and here's some pics;

(the pics show its painted form, the above DL isn't painted).

http://i.imgur.com/8OjXKGel.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/keY0jU9l.jpg

(if you want the painted version I'll post that too)

Mother of God that thing looks awesome!

[alter5]

The craft is sexy mate now the question is how did you put the Nacelle engine IN the fuel tank?^^

[Xaiier]

A small plane with reaction wheels can easily defy all the laws of aerodynamics and spin and turn in any way you want, which is probably the closest to supermaneuverability as is possible in stock KSP.

[O-Doc]

The craft is sexy mate now the question is how did you put the Nacelle engine IN the fuel tank?^^

Cubic struts are for part clipping when you don't use the debug menu. You need to work from inside the craft. The nacelle is attached to a cubic strut which is attached to the back of the cockpit. It's like giving yourself extra attachment points.

[thereaverofdarkness]

It's actually really easy to do it in stock KSP. First, build your fuselage. Make it a small one. Like, cockpit, SAS, and two 1.25m fuel fuselage parts. Give the plane just one turbojet engine. Now put delta wings on it, and slide them as far back as possible. Put your landing gear and anything else you want on it now, we need to get a proper center of mass reading. Don't add more than a ton and don't use anything big. Make sure it's centered.

Turn on the center of mass and center of lift markers when you're ready. Put some AV-R8 winglets ahead of the delta wing for control. There's a darn good chance at this point that your center of lift will be ahead of your center of thrust. You need to fix that first by adding control surfaces to the back of your delta wings. Also make sure you get a tail fin on it. Make final adjustments by sliding the delta wings forward or backward, such that the center of lift is just a smidge behind the center of mass. Make sure it's enough to account for fuel you spend in flight. Once you expend enough fuel, it'll lose its stability and fly out of control.

If you can't get the delta wings back far enough, try sliding the AV-R8 winglets back a bit. Also try attaching control surfaces (horizontal) to the back of your tail fin. Looks weird but flies great and moves your center of lift back. If all else fails, add more mass to the front. Maybe try that fancy atmosphere package for a nosecone, it's kind of dense.

Once that's done, go fly 'er. She can do crazy spins and never lose control. You can do crazy loop-de-loops and all sorts of stuff. Just don't do it too close to the ground, because when you do sharp spins, it takes a moment for the heading and velocity to pair up again. Until then, the plane won't fly the direction it's pointing and it won't stay pointing the way you're turning it. It's a little wonky. Just fly up to about 10km and have a good time till you get used to it.

And watch your fuel. As you burn fuel, your center of mass will probably be moving back toward your center of lift. As soon as it gets an inch or two past, your plane will flip out like a monkey covered in spiders, and there won't be a damn thing you can do to recover her.

Edited April 23, 2014 by thereaverofdarkness

[Kennosuke.ken]

My solution is advanced inline stabilizer.

I was building a plane the is similiar to Su-27. I placed an stabilizer behind the cockpit and also added additional winglet on the side of cockpit. Stabilizer does help

[BadOaks]

I think you might have brought this thread back from the dead by mistake. The last post before yours was in 2014.

[Vanamonde]

This thread is so old that the aircraft parts in it are no longer in the game and the info is no longer relevant, so it will be closed now to avoid confusion. 

But welcome to our forum @Kennosuke.ken, and we appreciate your efforts to be helpful.