Pixie Mk2 - Light SSTO Dropship - Now Laythe Capable!

[Cupcake...]

CRAFT FILE:
http://goo.gl/Tq0UuC

It's my great pleasure to present the Pixie Mk2 a light SSTO dropship that boasts serious performance in a compact chasis.



With a bit of careful piloting it's even possible to get to Laythe and back, which for a craft powered by a single turbo jet and standard rocket engines is no mean feat!



It can also fly return missions to the Mun, Minmus and possibly even Duna (I'll have to get back to you on that one).



Like the Scythe the Pixie is 100% sub-assembly compatible and comes in both standard and RCS varients.



CONTROLS
0 - Toggle Air Sync (Activate On Startup)
1 - Toggle Turbo Jet
2 - Toggle Rocket Engines
3 - Toggle Nav Lights
5 - Toggle Front Intakes (For High Speed At Low Altitudes)
9 - Toggle Ladder

Abort - Detach Droptanks/Undock Top Docking Port


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.


OPERATORS MANUAL:
The Pixie is a quirky little ship and that does for the handling too! I recommend getting comfortable with the Scythe Mk5 before moving on to the Pixie. The craft operates best at higher altitudes and you may find the front intakes "digging in" and dragging the nose down if you're trying to build up too much speed at low altitudes. If this does happen press 5 to disable the front intakes and raise your altitude level before building up more speed.

The Pixie comes with 310 units of jet fuel so if your liquid fuel gauge drops below 560 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 30,000m pitch flat to the horizon and level off at 40,000m. Hold this altitude until you're pushing past orbital velocity. Keep the nose down to build up your Periapsis and keep the jet running as long as you can by slowly reducing throttle. Once the jet flames out completely press 1 to shut it off and coast to your Apoapsis. You can now press 2 to fire up the rocket engines and continue your mission by circularizing or doing an interplanetary burn.

As long as you use the top docking port the Pixie 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 should just about get you to the Mun, keep an eye on their fuel levels and press the abort key to ditch them once empty.

Arriving back on Kerbin you should aim to have a minimum of 20 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.

Good luck, if you have any questions don't be shy...

Cupcake... Edited December 7, 2014 by Cupcake...

[Majorjim!]

I'm amazed you got all that way with such little fuel. And the SSTLAB, yup just invented that acronym, is a really neat little package.

You really make it look so easy man!

[zekes]

that thing be tiny.

[Cupcake...]

that thing be tiny.

I find the more I play KSP the smaller the ships get!

I'm amazed you got all that way with such little fuel. And the SSTLAB, yup just invented that acronym, is a really neat little package.

You really make it look so easy man!

Thanks mate! I'm glad it looked easy but truth be told it was the hardest mission I've flown in a long, long time! 10/10 for the acronym BTW.

Cupcake...

Edited December 7, 2014 by Cupcake...

[Majorjim!]

Thanks mate! I'm glad it looked easy but truth be told it was the hardest mission I've flown in a long, long time! 10/10 for the acronym BTW.

Cupcake...

No probs, I'm subscribed to you on youtube, saw the vid there. Awesome as always!

[VR_Dev]

I find the more I play KSP the smaller the ships get!

Yeah same here. Be happy you don't use flaps.

[zekes]

I find the more I play KSP the smaller the ships get!

Literally, the exact opposite is true for me XD

[Jeb Cubed]

I saw the video and was just waiting for a forum post. Great job as usual, and compact. And here I am making 3% of my craft actually function correctly.

[Cupcake...]

Yeah same here. Be happy you don't use flaps.

I'm eternally grateful believe me! You've got a lot less factors to worry about with dropship design.

Literally, the exact opposite is true for me XD

My computer gets grumpy if I try and run anything with over 300 parts.

I saw the video and was just waiting for a forum post. Great job as usual, and compact. And here I am making 3% of my craft actually function correctly.

I think for every successful ship I build there are at least two others that fail completely. Even the ones that fail usually have some features that can be carried across to the ones that work!