Stock fairings possible?

[guitarxe]

I've tried out Procedural Fairings and have found that the fairings base part seems to be causing a huge amount of wobble for me. Maybe it's because I'm doing something wrong, maybe because I have the wrong fairings size or something.

In any case I was wondering if somebody has found a way of creating fairings using stock parts? Simply for aesthetic purposes, because I hate seeing the ugly payload sitting on a clean smooth looking rocket on the launchpad.

Edited September 23, 2014 by guitarxe
changing to answered

[Starwhip]

I had a screenshot somewhere, can't find it now. Mmh.

I did stock fairings once, used Sepatrons, Structural Panels and Decouplers. Again, can't find the screenshot(s).

[capi3101]

Stock fairings are possible, generally using the types of parts Starwhip listed - Sepratrons, Structural Panels and Decouplers. Most folks don't use them because in the stock game, they actually wind up having the opposite effect as what a fairing is designed to do (namely improve the aerodynamics of the rocket and protect the payload until its ready to deploy). This is because KSP's stock drag model is based on the mass of the rocket instead of its cross-section (which it would be in RL). Fairings add a hell of a lot of mass to a rocket in the stock game. This increases drag, and of course it increases the size of the booster necessary to get it into orbit. The aesthetic angle isn't enough to justify their addition, at least in my humble opinion.

[guitarxe]

Ah, so all those structural fairings add a lot of weight, then?

Hm, this isn't in the right forum to ask, but would anyone recommend an alternative to procedural fairings then? Or maybe know why it produces wobbling? I had my payload sitting on top of a stack separator, sitting on top of the fairing base and that wobble... it would cause my ship to pitch out of control during ascent, during one of the separation stages. I'll get some screenshots or a video when I come home to demonstrate.

[Alshain]

We need to see a picture but the general causes of wobble are

1. Docking Ports (weak joints)

2. Your payload is too tall or has too many weak joints.

3. Your not strutting a payload or other weak joint.

As you can see it's mostly weak joints. Fairings will not correct that problem. You should note aerodynamics are not on that list. In stock, aerodynamics do not cause wobble, because well... they aren't aerodynamics really.

[Godot]

Ah, so all those structural fairings add a lot of weight, then?

Hm, this isn't in the right forum to ask, but would anyone recommend an alternative to procedural fairings then? Or maybe know why it produces wobbling? I had my payload sitting on top of a stack separator, sitting on top of the fairing base and that wobble... it would cause my ship to pitch out of control during ascent, during one of the separation stages. I'll get some screenshots or a video when I come home to demonstrate.

If he Procedural Fairings wobble, it is very likely because one of the parts within the fairings is connected to the other parts by a rather weak connection (for example by a docking ports).

The best solution would be to secure it with more struts before closing the fairings.

Aside from this, you could also secure the part to the fairings themselves, as the fairings serve as anchor locations for struts (both, from inside the fairings as well as from outside)

[Claw]

Yes, stock fairings are very buildable and in a variety of styles. Some examples:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43086-Open-Source-Construction-Techniques-for-Craft-Aesthetics?p=718412&viewfull=1#post718412

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43086-Open-Source-Construction-Techniques-for-Craft-Aesthetics?p=973749&viewfull=1#post973749

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43086-Open-Source-Construction-Techniques-for-Craft-Aesthetics?p=970847&viewfull=1#post970847

If you like them for aesthetics, then do it. Just because it isn't "ideal" doesn't mean you must go without. You can also build them out of things like antenna, I-beams, and radial parachutes. These all come from this thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43086-Open-Source-Construction-Techniques-for-Craft-Aesthetics

Cheers,

~Claw

[Giggleplex777]

Rune makes pretty awesome stock fairings: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80438-Genral-Liftersâ„¢-boosters-to-cover-every-need%21-%285-10-20-30-50-75-100mT-to-LKO%29

And so does Ravenchant: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77162-Perun-Launch-Vehicles-v1-7-now-with-Ariane-Proton-workalikes

Stock fairings are heavy and have a high part count, so watch out for that.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Giggleplex777

[Harry Rhodan]

Hm, this isn't in the right forum to ask, but would anyone recommend an alternative to procedural fairings then?

KW Rocketry also has some nice fairings.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Harry Rhodan

[Taki117]

KW Rocketry also has some nice fairing.

AIES also has some nice fairings.

[guitarxe]

These are great fairings suggestions, thanks

(for my issue with wobbling I made this thread instead: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94493-Spacecraft-wobbles-at-a-stack-decoupler?p=1431403)

[Woopert]

I recommend KW Rocketry fairings, they're simple to use and look sleek and stylish. I have KW installed and I deleted everything but the fairings (for my main install).

But yes; Rune, Ravenchant, Giggleplex777, Majorjim, GusTurbo, Mulbin --- they all make some *excellent* stock fairings. I hope they implement stock fairings soon because as cool as it is to make them out of panels, it really isn't all that practical and it's a bit tedious from my experience. (also, new aerodynamic system please!)

Edited September 23, 2014 by Woopert

[tjsnh]

Struts.

Use struts to brace whatever is inside your fairing to the base - or if it's a midsection fairing, connect the top and bottom. This solved the problem for me.

(with PF)

[Majorjim!]

Hi there.

I have made numerous contributions to stock fairings that many people have used including some of the users Woopert named.

Here are some examples:

Small fairings

Ibeam fairings tutorial

I looked at Mulbins ibeam fairings on his Munbug

Rocket and recreated the ibeam farings. As far as I'm aware nobody else

Has done this as it's very fiddly.

All other techniques used for my rockets are of my own devising. But remember that

Many people will discover the same techniques on their own.

Also have a look at the fairings on my constellation rockets, link in my sig.

You can see how to attach a nose cone to one side of the fairing.

Also here is a copy of a previous post of mine detailing the pros and cons of different faring parts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ibeams, bad: very heavy and part intensive, tricky to make. Good: Look great if done well.

Panels, bad: ugly and too damn square. Good: lightweight and easy to assemble.

cubic struts and backwards stuff, bad: very part intensive. Good: lightweight and look good if done well.

Ladders? Ive never tried this.

cubic struts and backwards stuff

Edited September 23, 2014 by Majorjim

[Woopert]

Oh, sorry for not mentioning you Majorjim! My mind totally blanked, I don't know how I forgot to mention you.

[Majorjim!]

Oh, sorry for not mentioning you Majorjim! My mind totally blanked, I don't know how I forgot to mention you.

LOL I was really grumpy when I wrote that post. Rough day at work.

But its helpful as well as whiney!

Thanks man.

[Majorjim!]

Struts.

Use struts to brace whatever is inside your fairing to the base - or if it's a midsection fairing, connect the top and bottom. This solved the problem for me.

(with PF)

Yup also this.

Add a cubic strut to the inside of the fairing and then use a regular strut to secure it to the base. Also large fairings benefit from being strutted to themselves with

a cubic strut inside at the top and bottom with a regular strut between them.

Here's an example of a large fairing from my constellation tests:

Edited September 23, 2014 by Majorjim

[GusTurbo]

Some old stock fairings for my Saturn V replica.

Edited September 23, 2014 by GusTurbo

[tater]

Struts.

Use struts to brace whatever is inside your fairing to the base - or if it's a midsection fairing, connect the top and bottom. This solved the problem for me.

(with PF)

I have to say that the who struts thing is one of the least intuitive things about stock KSP. I assumed (wrongly, obviously) that such reenforcing elements would stagy attached, so until I learned better I would never attach them across anything designed to separate. If you nail a 2x4 to a door, then the floor, the thing is not going to simply fall away when you turn the doorknob, basically.

[Majorjim!]

Some old stock fairings for my Saturn V replica.

Best fairings I have seen using the M-Beam 650 I-Beam Gus. Such a smooth clean release.

[Hattivat]

To solve your problem with procedural fairings: first, strut your payload to the fairing base, decoupler joints are too weak for large payloads; second, you can make the whole thing much more rigid by utilizing the following technique (if your payload can be adapted for this): put a stack separator on top of your payload, then put another fairing base on top of that, but this time inverted 180 degrees. This way when you put the fairing walls on the lower fairing base, they will only reach to the upper fairing base and the fairings are now acting as a structural support. Then adjust the diameter of the top fairing base and put a stock nosecone on top of it. Voila!