[WIP] Kerbojet Systems - A B9 Expansion - USABLE PRERELEASE 0.1

[eddiew]

Loving this cockpit Blowfish... I keep getting orbital station contracts around Mun/Minmus that require a science lab and a cupola. So I'm working on a new Arbalest class spaceplane which carries both in its cargo bay and had loads of seats

TWR is a bit tight on the runway at 0.68, but she just about lifts off. Gets to LKO with 2800-3000 delta-v left, so plenty to get those base missions done. Little bit wobbly; FAR refuses to give me a green on longitudinal stability, but it's getting there. Might need to bite the bullet and drag the wings back a tad behind the engines.

Since you're obviously a chap who likes a low-drag hypersonic design, could I make a couple of suggestions for new parts?

Short HL tail section, around 3-4m

Right now I've bludgeoned a KW Rocketry nosecone onto an HL-2.5m adapter and it's effective, but ugly.

Simple 2.5m fuselage/LFO tank

The nacelles on this bird carry the entirety of the fuel for better balance, but I'm having to use 2.5-S2 adapters, which FAR is highlighting as massive drag sources. I feel like a clean, no-angles tank would probably take half the drag away, but I can't find one in the B9 base pack.

Cheers!

[eddiew]

Following myself up... now happy with the Arbalest, using the Kerbojet cockpit

Needed a little more wing at the back, and a little less canard to bring her under control. Now slightly heavier, and yet gets to orbit with 10% more delta-v left...

FAR gripes a bit, but, well... it doesn't seem to matter... Best flying plane in my fleet, and more than sufficient for all those orbital station contracts with a science lab and a cupola. Cheers Blowfish!

[sumghai]

Does anyone know how to calculate the volume and/or center of mass of a mesh?

To determine the volume of a mesh in Blender, you will need to install EPFL's NeuroMorph extension, and use the provided measurement tools.

As for part CoM, I presume you're trying to relocate the origin of the entire HL 12m Tail model to that location? If so, select the entire mesh in Blender's 3D View window, and go to Transform > Origin > Origin to Center of Mass; then, set the part coordinates to 0, 0, 0. KSP will always use Blender's root 0, 0, 0 as the part's CoM*.

*Unless there's an optional CoMOffset argument in the CFG, but for all intents and purposes you won't need that.

[Van Disaster]

@eddiew - installing procedural tanks is probably a good step if you're designing aircraft a lot, having custom sized tanks & nosecones can be invaluable. You can easily add extra tank colours too.

[blowfish]

Since you're obviously a chap who likes a low-drag hypersonic design, could I make a couple of suggestions for new parts?

Short HL tail section, around 3-4m

Right now I've bludgeoned a KW Rocketry nosecone onto an HL-2.5m adapter and it's effective, but ugly.

I'll consider it, but it seems like a very specific use case. Is the 8m one in B9 too long for you?

Simple 2.5m fuselage/LFO tank

The nacelles on this bird carry the entirety of the fuel for better balance, but I'm having to use 2.5-S2 adapters, which FAR is highlighting as massive drag sources. I feel like a clean, no-angles tank would probably take half the drag away, but I can't find one in the B9 base pack.

Cheers!

I've been contemplating this for a while, so it'll probably happen eventually. The hard part of a cylinder with textures is the textures though, and that's the weakest part of my design process right now.

- - - Updated - - -

To determine the volume of a mesh in Blender, you will need to install EPFL's NeuroMorph extension, and use the provided measurement tools.

As for part CoM, I presume you're trying to relocate the origin of the entire HL 12m Tail model to that location? If so, select the entire mesh in Blender's 3D View window, and go to Transform > Origin > Origin to Center of Mass; then, set the part coordinates to 0, 0, 0. KSP will always use Blender's root 0, 0, 0 as the part's CoM*.

*Unless there's an optional CoMOffset argument in the CFG, but for all intents and purposes you won't need that.

Thanks - I'll try that. For now I've just been sorta approximating the CoM visually but this will definitely help.

[The Space Man]

Would you ever consider doing a S2 Wide body cargo ramp tail section?

[Gryphorim]

Would you also consider a mk2 hull linear aerospike? Also would it be realistic/plausible to make it SABRE compatible?

[blowfish]

Would you ever consider doing a S2 Wide body cargo ramp tail section?

I don't think the S2W shape lends itself very well to wide rolling payloads, since the bottom isn't flat (this would also mean that any ramp would need to have a very complicated shape. If you're trying to transport big rovers, I might recommend nertea's MkIV system.

- - - Updated - - -

Would you also consider a mk2 hull linear aerospike? Also would it be realistic/plausible to make it SABRE compatible?

SXT already has one if you're interested, and what do you mean by SABRE compatible?

[Gryphorim]

Thanks, i'll check SXT out. As for SABRE compatible, i meant having an air-breathing and a pure rocket mode. My reasoning being that from the look of Reaction Engines' cutaways of the SABRE prototype/mock-up, it uses traditional rocket nozzles and combustion chamber. Thus I figured it should be possible to make a SABRE aerospike.

[blowfish]

Thanks, i'll check SXT out. As for SABRE compatible, i meant having an air-breathing and a pure rocket mode. My reasoning being that from the look of Reaction Engines' cutaways of the SABRE prototype/mock-up, it uses traditional rocket nozzles and combustion chamber. Thus I figured it should be possible to make a SABRE aerospike.

It would probably be possible to use an aerospike nozzle on an engine like the SABRE, but would that provide any benefit over the planned expansion/deflection nozzle?

[eddiew]

I'll consider it, but it seems like a very specific use case. Is the 8m one in B9 too long for you?

...

I've been contemplating this for a while, so it'll probably happen eventually. The hard part of a cylinder with textures is the textures though, and that's the weakest part of my design process right now.

Alas, 8m is way too long... B9 doesn't really lend itself to rear-wing designs unless you have a sabre-m in the middle. The moment you break that paradigm, there's no graceful way to cap that rear node

And can you not just pinch the textures from the (Alternatively I wonder if it's easy to tweak the config and allow Tweakscale to resize it... might look into that myself for a quick fix!)

that's already in base B9?

In other news, I've fixed the Arbalest's instability problems and now have a good, reliable spaceplane that will fulfil any 11-kerbal orbital station missions within Kerbin's SOI. And potentially around Duna, actually - 3300dv in LKO ought to be enough for that. I'm crediting your super-sleek cockpit with allowing it to get away with a mere 0.68 TWR on the runway

Edited March 6, 2015 by eddiew

[Van Disaster]

Thanks, i'll check SXT out. As for SABRE compatible, i meant having an air-breathing and a pure rocket mode. My reasoning being that from the look of Reaction Engines' cutaways of the SABRE prototype/mock-up, it uses traditional rocket nozzles and combustion chamber. Thus I figured it should be possible to make a SABRE aerospike.

Aerospikes are apparently terrible at mach 1-3, which is not so hot for a combined cycle engine...

@Eddiew - practically all my spaceplanes grow their wings from near the tail, generally using B9 tails, but also generally I either stick engines on their own pylons right at the tail or stick them on the end of the wings, Skylon style. You can definitely make the existing bits work though.

What I've been eyeing is a dual 2.5 engine mount tail with intakes, but I can't seem to get it together to actually do one.

[eddiew]

I can't actually imagine what a tail with intakes would look like, but I'd be interested to see it when it's done Sounds like it would pave the way for high thrust, short-range lifters.

...and I've just noticed something rather galling about the shape of my plane above...

[Van Disaster]

I can't actually imagine what a tail with intakes would look like, but I'd be interested to see it when it's done Sounds like it would pave the way for high thrust, short-range lifters.

This is a sketch rather than a product of any sort ( or I'd not be posting in someone else's thread ) - so I'd imagine it'd probably look a little like this, only longer and with the tail doing something rather than just stopping.

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I dunno, I might try it, might not, I've got a big enough pile of unfinished stuff as it is

[Mekan1k]

I like it! Alot!

[Railgunner2160]

This is a sketch rather than a product of any sort ( or I'd not be posting in someone else's thread ) - so I'd imagine it'd probably look a little like this, only longer and with the tail doing something rather than just stopping.

http://imgur.com/a/tRfEf

I dunno, I might try it, might not, I've got a big enough pile of unfinished stuff as it is

Love it. hope you include it!!

[PCanas]

On the 2nd day of flight time, we ran out of peanuts!

http://i.imgur.com/bPxJ1Fx.jpg

12 days of delta-V... At high altitude.

12 days?!?! How?

Btw, this mod looks pretty cool, I'll keep an eye on it

[RomanCat]

Upadate for 1.0.2?

[blowfish]

Upadate for 1.0.2?

I don't think there's much of a point in updating this until B9 updates.

[RomanCat]

I have working many parts of mod. But there is no flame effects.

Just do not set the heating system and the new aerodynamics.

[Fizwalker]

Just an FYI--Vernor is what Squad is calling the thruster because it's not a vernier thruster; a vernier is a type of thruster, Vernor is like Rockomax (a KSP name).

Drooling after that JT8D.

Yeah me too!

[MainSailor]

This is a sketch rather than a product of any sort ( or I'd not be posting in someone else's thread ) - so I'd imagine it'd probably look a little like this, only longer and with the tail doing something rather than just stopping.

I really like this concept.

[EspenB89]

Is the parts usable in 1.0.2? Most likely the engine parts wont work but what about the cockpit and tail?

[blowfish]

Is the parts usable in 1.0.2? Most likely the engine parts wont work but what about the cockpit and tail?

There will be issues. I haven't bothered updating this yet because B9 hasn't updated (which I'm working on).

[EspenB89]

ok :-) np :-) cant wait for both b9 and this to be updated :-) Im using the dev version of b9 and i cant find any faults :-)