Scythe Mk5 - Light SSTO Dropship

[Cupcake...]

CRAFT FILE: http://goo.gl/26Qoaz

0.25 here we come!



Rebuilt from the ground up the new MK5 Scythe is getting ever closer to the holy trinity of looks, handling and performance.



Pairing a turbo jet engine with the wonderful 48-7s engines the Scythe can comfortably handle return trips to the Mun and Minmus. At its maximum range it can fly to Duna, land and get back into orbit on a single tank! Not too shabby...



Improvements over the MK4 model include a reduced part count, larger liquid fuel reserve and better handling.



CONTROLS:
0 - Toggle Air Sync (ACTIVATE ON STARTUP)
1 - Toggle Turbo Jet.
2 - Toggle Rocket Engines.
3 - Toggle Nav Lights
9 - Toggle Ladder

ABORT - Undock/De-couple All Ports
STAGE - Eject Drop Tanks

Air What?
Air Sync works by closing all the intakes before takeoff, the same intakes are also set to toggle along with the jet engine. In short this means jet engine on - intakes open, jet engine off - intakes closed, all without having to lift a finger.

OWNERS MANUAL:
The Scythe comes with 271 units of jet fuel so if your liquid fuel gauge drops below 536 you've started eating into your rocket fuel supply, the name of the game is to get into orbit before this happens.

Turn on the ASAS, press 0 to activate Air Sync, set full throttle and hit 1 to light the jet. Switch control over to the top docking port and head straight up to 15,000m. Pitch over to 45` on a 90` heading and start building up speed. Once you hit 25,000m start pitching over towards the horizon and slow your rate of ascent. From 30,000 you want to build up your speed so that by the time you hit 35,000m you're pushing past orbital velocity. Once you get there pitch back up to 45` and keep an eye on your Apoapsis. Once it reaches around 50,000m pitch flat to the horizon and keep the jet going as long as you can by reducing throttle. Once the jet runs out of puff completely press 1 to shut it off. You can now coast to your Apoapsis and press 2 to fire up the rocket engines to circularise.

As long as you use the top docking port the Scythe will behave like a regular rocket, pressing C twice will quickly switch you over to the cockpit orientation which should be used for landings. The drop tanks will have enough fuel to get you roughly half-way to the Mun. While you probably could complete a Munar mission without ditching the tanks the fuel margins would be pretty tight, however running a pure SSTO mission to Minmus is more then do-able.

Arriving back on Kerbin you should aim to have a minimum of 50 units of fuel left for landing. Use the jet as much as you can (it will only need a tiny bit of gas) and press 2 to activate the rocket engines when you're close to touchdown, this will help get rid of the throttle lag from the jet.

That's it, hope you enjoy the craft. RCS edition coming soon...

Cupcake... Edited November 20, 2014 by Cupcake...

[lukeoftheaura]

Am I fine showing this in a "Best of the community" Utube video?

[Guest]

Extremely functional but extremely ugly as usual xD

[Cupcake...]

Am I fine showing this in a "Best of the community" Utube video?

Of course! Do you mind sending a link when you're done, I'd love to see it.

Extremely functional but extremely ugly as usual xD

Sorry, I'll try to do better next time.

Cupcake...

[soulreaver1981]

the cake is back

[inigma]

the cake is back

Finally!

[Cupcake...]

the cake is back

Finally!

Thanks guys! It's been too long!

In other news the new RCS edition Scythe is good to go, you can find a copy in the download folder. This new model adds RCS functionality in exhange for a small reduction in rocket fuel. Enjoy!

Cupcake...

[panzer1b]

Not bad at all, ive actually made a SIMILAR design before, at least the hull. The way you clipped the pilot steal is almost exactly teh way i clipped it once (although for mine the rear part was the mk2 to dual engine adapter inctead of the mk1-mk2 adapter.

Congrats on making something that actually looks cool, and isnt another boring cylinder with cone ontop. While they are perfectly viable and good fuel eco, i never had a thing for conventional rockets, the only thing i even go anywhere near conventional rockets are heavy lifters to get mun bases into orbit.

[CavemanNinja]

What are you talking about revan, this thing is a work of art!

I try to make a VTOL half as good as this and I come up with this weird duo cockpit tilted-into-each-other pile of madness that has six legs and a ridiculous ladder to get up onto it...

Props to the Cake

[speedboiae86]

How did you manage to get the Kerbal to turn his head in the video? It looked creepy as hell...

[Cupcake...]

Not bad at all, ive actually made a SIMILAR design before, at least the hull. The way you clipped the pilot steal is almost exactly teh way i clipped it once (although for mine the rear part was the mk2 to dual engine adapter inctead of the mk1-mk2 adapter.

Congrats on making something that actually looks cool, and isnt another boring cylinder with cone ontop. While they are perfectly viable and good fuel eco, i never had a thing for conventional rockets, the only thing i even go anywhere near conventional rockets are heavy lifters to get mun bases into orbit.

Thanks man, glad you like it.

What are you talking about revan, this thing is a work of art!

I try to make a VTOL half as good as this and I come up with this weird duo cockpit tilted-into-each-other pile of madness that has six legs and a ridiculous ladder to get up onto it...

Props to the Cake

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

How did you manage to get the Kerbal to turn his head in the video? It looked creepy as hell...

If you hold down Shift + W/S/A/D you can make the Kerbal turn his head.

[speedboiae86]

If you hold down Shift + W/S/A/D you can make the Kerbal turn his head.

I did not know that... crazy... I guess I'll have to try that on my next mission out to the Mun or Minmus or something.

[Guest]

What are you talking about revan, this thing is a work of art!

I try to make a VTOL half as good as this and I come up with this weird duo cockpit tilted-into-each-other pile of madness that has six legs and a ridiculous ladder to get up onto it...

Props to the Cake

Haha I'm sorry but that's not my opinion. It's the same design all the time look wise. Not saying it's bad!!! Check mine if you want to see new shapes! I still have 0 comments on my new VTOL..

/¦\ intrusive add /¦\

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW5Sx38KNsg

Edited November 26, 2014 by RevanCorana

[manni01]

Really like your scythe series, but you could get a little more dV by removing the heavy nose (I know its one of the branded scythe symbols, but you were mentioning squeezing the last bit of dV out of it, but you didn't squeeze hard enough)

[Cupcake...]

Haha I'm sorry but that's not my opinion. It's the same design all the time look wise. Not saying it's bad!!! Check mine if you want to see new shapes! I still have 0 comments on my new VTOL..

/¦\ intrusive add /¦\

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW5Sx38KNsg

Haha, well that's kind of the point really, if I changed the shape it wouldn't be a Scythe anymore! This is kind of my signiture craft so I don't really wanna mess with the looks. I hope you'll forgive the example but it's kind of like the Porshe 911, the basic shape stays the same but improvements under the bonnet boost the performance with every version. If you compare the MK-1 Scythe to the latest version you'll see it's a very different beast!

MK-1

MK-2

MK-4

MK-5

Anyway, I'll check out your video later (and leave some comments).

Really like your scythe series, but you could get a little more dV by removing the heavy nose (I know its one of the branded scythe symbols, but you were mentioning squeezing the last bit of dV out of it, but you didn't squeeze hard enough)

True, it's a pretty heavy part at .3t! I think there has to a small concession to aesthetics otherwise designs can end up looking rather ugly!

Saying that I'm working on a new version of the Pixie which is a much more stripped back design and will be outclass the Scythe in terms of performance (though perhaps not looks).

Cupcake...

Edited November 26, 2014 by Cupcake...

[speedboiae86]

I really do miss the aesthetics that those black undersides used to provide though. It made your Scythe look more, stealthy... like it could slip under enemy radar and surprise them with a volley of missiles or torpedoes in orbit.

[Guest]

I'm not sure if I'm trolling or if I'm being trolled

Haha, well that's kind of the point really, if I changed the shape it wouldn't be a Scythe anymore! This is kind of my signiture craft so I don't really wanna mess with the looks. I hope you'll forgive the example but it's kind of like the Porshe 911, the basic shape stays the same but improvements under the bonnet boost the performance with every version. If you compare the MK-1 Scythe to the latest version you'll see it's a very different beast!

...

Anyway, I'll check out your video later (and leave some comments).

I totally understand that, but it's not as creative as let's say build a new Porshe model with wings ^^ because let's be honest, these aren't "actual" VToLs, there's no aerodynamic whatsoever, it's like a gameplay feature that's missing from my point of view.. especially since wings are lighter than nose cone?

[Cupcake...]

I really do miss the aesthetics that those black undersides used to provide though. It made your Scythe look more, stealthy... like it could slip under enemy radar and surprise them with a volley of missiles or torpedoes in orbit.

I know what you mean, it's a shame they took them out but what can you do?

I'm not sure if I'm trolling or if I'm being trolled

I totally understand that, but it's not as creative as let's say build a new Porshe model with wings ^^ because let's be honest, these aren't "actual" VToLs, there's no aerodynamic whatsoever, it's like a gameplay feature that's missing from my point of view.. especially since wings are lighter than nose cone?

Who ever said VTOLs had to have wings?

The Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig (TMR) was a pioneering vertical take-off and landing aircraft developed by Rolls-Royce in the 1950s. The TMR used two Nene turbojet engines mounted back-to-back horizontally within a steel framework, raised upon four legs with castors for wheels. The TMR had no lifting surfaces (wings, blades, etc.) and was understandably nicknamed the Flying Bedstead.

Or a bit closer to home, the rocket powered VTOL...

Sorry, but I really don't get how adding wings/lifting surfaces will improve the design. It certainly won't improve the handling and I doubt it'll help the performance either, if anything it'll make it worse!

Cupcake...

Edited November 27, 2014 by Cupcake...

[Guest]

Do you mean irl or in non realistic sim like stock KSP? In KSP it works because there's reaction wheels, and no lift at all on regular parts (very unrealistic), not irl even metal tubes produce airflow when hiting the air; What's this pic? Is it the 50s proto? It probably can't go much more than 20m/s without starting to spin chaotically lol

Example

Edited November 27, 2014 by RevanCorana

[Cupcake...]

Do you mean irl or in non realistic sim like stock KSP? In KSP it works because there's reaction wheels, and no lift at all on regular parts (very unrealistic), not irl even metal tubes produce airflow when hiting the air; What's this pic? Is it the 50s proto? It probably can't go much more than 20m/s without starting to spin chaotically lol

http://i.imgur.com/7FEXRM9.png

http://i.imgur.com/cED4hDP.jpg

Example

Oh well, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. RL aside we've clearly got very different approches to our designs which is absolutely fine.

Cupcake...

[Box of Stardust]

I dunno... I like the Stratos-esq aesthetic of it. I've alway's been more partial to the look of your Stratos than the Scythe.

[Cupcake...]

I dunno... I like the Stratos-esq aesthetic of it. I've alway's been more partial to the look of your Stratos than the Scythe.

I'm amazed you remember the Stratos, feels like so long ago!

Cupcake...

[VR_Dev]

Glad to see you adapting to .25. I'm still staring longingly at my old fighter craft.

Also I know you saw it already, but I got my own dropship coming

[Cupcake...]

Glad to see you adapting to .25. I'm still staring longingly at my old fighter craft.

Also I know you saw it already, but I got my own dropship coming

Same here! The new parts are great I just really miss the black tiles. Anyway, looking forward to seeing more your dropship and crazy mechs!

Cupcake...

[VR_Dev]

Same here! The new parts are great I just really miss the black tiles. Anyway, looking forward to seeing more your dropship and crazy mechs!

Cupcake...

My mech is my dropship. It's awesome using he robotics to control the horizontal & vertical velocity. If I added some rotation on the neck I could control the whole craft with just the neck robotics.

It's also rocking your VTOL engine design

Edited November 30, 2014 by clown_baby