STOCK solution to aerodynamic wobble?

[allmhuran]

disabled aerodynamic failures

Well there's your problem.

After much experimentation I have managed to put together an example of a craft that behaves more like you would expect in higher fidelity simulators, but which still maintains the quite ridiculous turn rate possible in KSP. The relevant ingredients are massive wing surface area (there are two layers of wing surfaces), lots of vertical stabilizers (each stabilizer has a vertical mirror that clips down through the fuselage to balance torque), distributed mass for more roll inertia, and then the secret ingredient is nosecones... including some you can't see in this picture, attached with cubic struts and clipped into the fuselage for aesthetics.

Edited August 2, 2014 by allmhuran

[O-Doc]

That's normal KSP aerodynamics. You need to tap in the opposite direction to quickly negate your roll moment when flying SAS-free.

@allmhuran: That's because its wings that will drag your prograde in the turn after the initial heading change. I'll be interested in that craft file to compare performance against my Matador.

Edited August 2, 2014 by O-Doc

[allmhuran]

Craft file

The uploaded file is slightly different from the picture since I've been tweaking it a little. I added fuel to the intakes (drained in the original version) to see how it flew with the additional range capability, and four swept wings that can be used to easily tweak the position of the CoL forward and aft, but they're certainly not required.

Edit: I don't see a Matador in your sig thread, have you made it available?

Edited August 2, 2014 by allmhuran

[MarvinKitFox]

Yeah it happens with real aircraft and "real" flight sims as well, but nowhere near the extent it does in KSP.

Dude, you have that plane executing a 45 degree pitch-up (and 120 degree left roll, but that's not so important) in 0.3 seconds, while travelling at sealevel at a speed on 0.8 mach.

do that with a real world plane, and you will have finely-strewn metal confetti with something resembling strawberry jam on the remains of the cockpit.

(for the mathematically-challenged.... he put the plane in a 65g pitch-up maneuver)

Edited August 2, 2014 by MarvinKitFox

[allmhuran]

Right, that's exactly what I'm saying Marvin. In stock KSP physics the plane will turn as hard as a knife in water, but won't then stabilize like a knife in water when you stop turning. I seem to have gotten pretty close to a design that keeps the former while gaining the latter.