Help making a shutle

[lukeoftheaura]

I've made a shuttle in the SPH, but can't move it to the VAB in a sub assembly.

It has a cockpit on it, if that helps.

how would strap this onto some boosters?

Edited October 20, 2014 by kerbingamer376

[Alshain]

It needs to have an open attachment node on the root part of the assembly to be made a sub assembly. Assuming the cockpit is the root of the whole craft, take everything behind it off and make that the subassembly, then re-add the cockpit in the VAB.

[lukeoftheaura]

how would I do that?

[Alshain]

Grab the part behind the cockpit and drop it in the subassembly menu. Then go in and copy the subassembly file to the VAB folder in the save game.

[LethalDose]

Or you could just copy the ship file from the SPH to the VAB directory.

This is done outside the game, in your file directories.

[capi3101]

As far as strapping boosters on the thing is concerned, here's a

on the topic of shuttle construction. It's a bit dry but it does cover the basics of shuttle construction. I would suggest getting RCS Build Aid if you don't already have it; it does make the prospect of constructing a successful shuttle design a good deal easier. Basically you just add the boosters and external tanks with standard radial decouplers while you're still in the SPH and tilt it upright, running fuel ducts from the external tank to the orbiter to run the main engines. If you want to launch the shuttle from the launchpad, use one of methods Alshain and LethalDose have mentioned; the guy in the tutorial just launches the thing upright from the Runway, which is a completely valid way of doing it.

[MisterFister]

This mod will help you with porting assemblies in-game between VAB and SPH (basically by allowing you to switch build-modes within one or the other -- "technically" you're not shipping anything, you're just using one or the other at all times with the flexibility of both editor-modes within the same instance.) Switch between VAB and SPH mode with the TAB button. Takes some getting used to, but I PROMISE you it'll do EXACTLY what you need, and much much more -- you'll wonder how you survived this long without the mod.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/38768-0-24-Editor-Extensions-v1-3-19-Jul-2014-(EdTools-Editor-Tools-replacement)

This mod, separately, will allow you to redefine the root part of any assembly of parts, thereby making it easier to assign subassemblies without having to remove cockpits and whatnots. Also a must-have mod, AFAIC.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43208-0-24-Jul18-SelectRoot-Set-a-new-root-part-0-24-new-UI