Foxhound multi purpose rover + VTOL dropship

[sauliukas]

After designing lots of rovers I think I made a rover which can be used in 90% of my operations.

Foxhound has 3 front seats and space in back for modifications, it can be used for extra seats, ion drive, some small cargo and etc.

It has 2 SAS so it is possible to roll back onto wheels if you flip it. Sometimes it is tricky on Kerbin, but rolling + steering usually is more than enough. Solar panels on roof is rather safe option, just lose some if I flip the rover but not every time.

As it is my main rover I decided to make a VTOL dropship - Grasshopper for transporting the rover over great distance.

The main problem with transporting the Foxhound was getting it to sit firmly in cargo bay. Brakes are enough for short distance, but you must be extra careful not to lose it then doing turns or pitching. Tried using landing gear it works at some degree but it is not a safe option. Sometimes the rover tries to get out the cargo bay and it might end in losing few engines or it can just tear dropship apart. Docking wasn't working good enough, plus using docking ports you use customization options for the rover. So the last thing left was Grabbing Unit and it worked.

To properly connect via Grabbing Unit rover must go at speed into cargo hold. The tactic I use is: Park a rover at about 50m away from dropship, aim the rover, get some speed then switch to dropship and deploy the Grabbing Unit. It doesn't work every time, but sometimes it works flawlessly.

Even if it doesn't connect properly, try to close the Grabbing Unit and then deploy it. It gets firm grip and combined with rover brakes it is rather safe to transport the rover, ofc the best and safest way is to properly connect it.

Forgot to add. You must lover rear landing gear to load the rover.

One more hint if you drive the rover from high cliff and the drop is high it is better to flip the rover, so it lands on the roof. Much safer option than landing on the wheels. It works a treat on low gravity moons.

I know Foxhound and Grasshopper have some issues, but the ones I found so far are fixed. Of course there will be more, but as it is my main rover I will upgrade it from time to time to fix the issues. I am not sure if I will release those versions unless there will be some fundamental changes.

Here are the pics:

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And the crafts:

Foxhound + Grasshopper

Edited April 29, 2014 by sauliukas