SSTO/Spaceplane/Airplane Design Contest II: Akademy Awards

[Wanderfound]

BTW, everybody: don't let the existing entrants scare you away from posting your own stuff. Even the worst design here still beats one that was never entered, and you never know if the voter's perceptions are going to match your own. And putting it up for test-flying and critique is likely to give you some clues on how to make it better. I certainly intend on polishing my stuff up still further before the contest is done.

"It's an honour just to be nominated" etc. etc.

[Pecan]

...In spaceplane terms, SRBs are heavy...

In anyone's terms.

In vertical rocket designs they can be very cost-effective though, even if you just throw the empties away. At least ... within certain conditions. I've got a couple of Skipper-based SSTOs in the 5 - 10t range that benefit from SRBs and below that they should be useful. Above that it would seem that they become less and less useful because lots of them cost too much to throw away but mass too much to be worth recovering.

Oops, sorry - derail. It's 2am, I'm side-tracking .

[Wanderfound]

What should we do with the "all stock" categories once .25 drops? Allow stockified SP+, or continue to exclude SP+ and relabel them as "retro"?

[Wanderfound]

More fun with SRBs:

[Sirine]

My entry added on 1st page.

Damn, hate that guy posting huge PNG images. I don't want to visit the 1st page anymore.

Thats about 5MB for EACH of the slice of images.

For 5MB I can make a 5mins video clip. Check on my post.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Sirine

[Wanderfound]

Be nice, folks [1].

I think we've established that although big images don't bother everybody, they do bother some. We want to keep this so that everybody can participate, regardless of their bandwidth. I remember when I had to browse the net with images turned off all the time, and it sucked. The folks on image-heavy sites never heard me complain about it, because I just wouldn't go there.

Perhaps post compressed images here, along with a link to a different site where you can post as much super hi-res stuff as you like without the slightest chance of bothering anybody? Imgur, Photobucket, etc; there's no shortage of freely available image hosting options available.

Quite apart from the Wheaton's Law reason to do this, it's also in your own interests: if you bug people, they ain't gonna vote for your designs. First law of politics: don't needlessly antagonise the voters, even if you think they're full of it.

[1] Pre-emptive; everyone has been fine so far. Just getting in with the flamewar vaccination in advance.

[Sirine]

Be nice, folks [1].

...skipped...

Sorry for troubling in your thread. You have no ideal (in my previous challenge thread) for how much trouble this guy cause me...

I've hint-ed by @Red Iron Crown. Thanks dude.

This should save the day.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Sirine

[Wanderfound]

This reminds me of the old days on Usenet.

Can we get back to having fun designing spaceplanes now?

[Sirine]

Sure. How do think about my craft? Weird enought?

[Wanderfound]

Sure. How do think about my craft? Weird enought?

It's certainly an effective demonstration of the, um, possibilities of stock aero.

I'll have to give it a go and see if I can get it off the ground in FAR.

[Sirine]

@Wanderfound: I bet it can not even take off.

[Wanderfound]

@Wanderfound: I bet it can not even take off.

O ye of little faith:

Mind you, it could use a bit of aerodynamic polishing:

[Wanderfound]

Found another potentially useful mod for flyers:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90034-WIP-PLUGIN-Aeroplane-Mode-a-small-plugin-to-swap-roll-and-yaw-axes-on-the-fly

Along with my standards:

Kerbal Flight Data http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80842-Kerbal-Flight-Data-R8-%2805-08-2014%29

Kerbal Flight Indicators http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80277-Kerbal-Flight-Indicators-%2808-08-2014%29

[Voculus]

Alright, screw it. If I have to apologize for posting pictures in a thread where we're expected to post pictures, then I'll leave you all to it. Have fun. Thanks for the opportunity anyway, Wanderfound.

[Wanderfound]

Alright, screw it. If I have to apologize for posting pictures in a thread where we're expected to post pictures, then I'll leave you all to it. Have fun. Thanks for the opportunity anyway, Wanderfound.

Sorry to see you go. You're welcome back if you change your mind later.

[O-Doc]

Be nice, folks [1].Quite apart from the Wheaton's Law reason to do this, it's also in your own interests: if you bug people, they ain't gonna vote for your designs. First law of politics: don't needlessly antagonise the voters, even if you think they're full of it.

Never heard of Wheaton's Law before. My approach is just not to include negative value statements in my online interactions. I have no idea if it works or not because I might be raging in my head sometimes and the absence of any value statement can come across as condescending.

@Voculus: Isn't it easier to just resize your images rather than storm off in a huff? It's just good manners to give other users more control over their browsing rather than foist 100+MB onto them without their "consent". You can just as easily put a link to your high quality images for interested parties.

@Sirine: Isn't it easier just to run a block filter on a user's upload hosting account rather than block their forum account? Telling people you're blocking them is a big GTFO. It's better to keep that sort of info to yourself.

I'm a web dev so, I've got a particular thing with asset optimisation and understand that bandwidth speeds and capacities vary widely between users. There's also the whole socialisation with technology issue I have to deal with everyday. Both these sets of issues are not going to go away in the short term so, it's more or less incumbent on everyone to step back a bit and recognise everyone else's point of view. You know, be considerate and play nice.

[mythic_fci]

Back on topic:

I, like Wanderfound, will be improving and refining my submission. Here's the stats of the WIP KSV Globemaster Mk. II...

WET MASS: ~7.2t (-1.2t, compared to the KSV Globemaster's 8.4t)

PART COUNT: 51 (-13, compared to the KSV Globemaster's 64)

FUNDS REQUIRED: (Note: This is sort of useless...) 33796 (-11053 Funds compared to the KSV Globemaster's 44849 funds required)

RANGE: (Note: D/V amounts will be coming up soon.) Full-Cismunar Trip (Kerbin-Mun/Minmus Orbit-Kerbin W/O refueling) compared to the KSV Globemaster's Free-Return Munar trip (Kerbin-Mun (Free Return Trajectory)-Kerbin)

Optimization for the win!

Edited September 18, 2014 by FCISuperGuy

[Pecan]

Post #34 updated to make mine an entry. Versatility is the key there, since the plane itself is just a framework for the payload.

[Pecan]

@ Wonderfound - So how about adding my entry to the OP?

@ FCISuperGuy - Your download link for Globemaster is 'undefined' and therefore doesn't work.

[BagelRabbit]

I think I've got something promising for "Best Light Cargo Spaceplane." I'm just going to post this as a teaser... it's got surprisingly good control, with or without payload. (Currently testing with the 4.1-ton Kerbswagen Pillbug as the cargo... a little sluggish with Pillbug in tow, but still pretty good control, all-around.)

It does need a little tweaking (especially because of its low range; not capable of flying payloads far beyond the Island Runway) but progress is happening.

By the way, do you more-experienced builders have any thoughts on this craft?

[Wanderfound]

@ Wonderfound - So how about adding my entry to the OP?

Sorted.

Do keep my timezone in mind.

<-

[Pecan]

...By the way, do you more-experienced builders have any thoughts on this craft?

It's pretty and, obviously, not deploying the parachutes would help (^^ I know you know that) but there's a long way from the island to orbit. Which rocket(s) do you have on there?

(Wanderfound - ah, right, sorry about that. BTW - do we have a definition of 'light' vs 'heavy' cargo?).

Edited September 19, 2014 by Pecan

[Wanderfound]

(Wanderfound - ah, right, sorry about that. BTW - do we have a definition of 'light' vs 'heavy' cargo?).

That's up to the voters.

Personally, however, I'd consider payloads of 5t as "light", 20t as "medium", and "heavy" goes as high as you can manage.

[Wanderfound]

By the way, do you more-experienced builders have any thoughts on this craft?

I'm guessing that it's stock aero, so I'm not the one to ask. It is a good idea to keep the middle of the cargo bay as close to CoM as possible, though; that way any variations in payload won't upset the balance too much.

[BagelRabbit]

It's pretty and, obviously, not deploying the parachutes would help (^^ I know you know that) but there's a long way from the island to orbit. Which rocket(s) do you have on there?

First off, this picture was taken immediately after the Pillbug separated from its carrier. Don't worry, I didn't have the parachutes inflated the whole time. I'm bad at designing spaceplanes, but I'm not that bad.

Do the payload-carriers have to be SSTOs? I didn't pick that up, right away. If so, I'll probably need to design something else. At any rate, the only engines currently on the thing are two Turbojets.

I'm guessing that it's stock aero, so I'm not the one to ask. It is a good idea to keep the middle of the cargo bay as close to CoM as possible, though; that way any variations in payload won't upset the balance too much.

Yeah, I could have gotten the payload bay closer to the CoM, but the thing has its CoL pretty far back, which means it's stable... and it has SAS torque and control surfaces to help it be more agile in the most extreme circumstances. I've gotten it to fly with payloads of up to about seven tons, though it doesn't like that very much. I'm happy with where the bay is, right now... though I could probably move it around a little, if worst came to worst.