how do i build a plane????

[eliturbo]

i have never build a plane and i now started i but i dont get it. The wiki is from before 0.90 so i cant use that and i also cant find videos from 0.90. So how do i build it?

[Anquietas314]

i have never build a plane and i now started i but i dont get it. The wiki is from before 0.90 so i cant use that and i also cant find videos from 0.90. So how do i build it?

Planes have been in the game since long before 0.90. The only things that changed last update were that we got new, bigger parts and the editor got an overhaul that made it easier to use. The basic idea is that you need engines of some kind - preferably jets or turbojets, liquid fuel only (there are special tanks for this) and air intakes if you're using jets, or liquid fuel/oxidizer tanks if you're using rockets, wings and landing gear. I'm going to assume you'll be using jets for the rest of this:

You should typically add at least one intake for every engine you put on the plane, but for a basic first plane just one of each is plenty. Either the ones you attach via nodes (these provide more intake air, but are more awkward to attach), or the radial ones are fine.

For a very simple plane, you can attach 2 of the liquid fuel tanks (1 is enough, but 2 will give you more surface area to attach to, without having the plane be too heavy at one end because all the fuel's there) to the Mk1 Cockpit, and then attach your engine to the back of that. Next, attach a pair of wings; the Wing Connector Type B and Structural Wing Type B are both decent choices for wings early game - the wing connector provides double the lift (which means you can fly slower) but also makes it a little harder to balance a small plane. Neither look very pretty but that has no real impact on the performance in stock (yay stock aerodynamics).

You want to turn on the center of mass and center of lift indicators, and you want to line things up so the center of mass (the yellow/black sphere) is just slightly forward of the center of lift (the smaller, blue/black sphere with an arrow pointing upwards). This will ensure that the plane is stable in flight, and as fuel drains the center of mass shouldn't move in a way that makes the plane so unstable it's uncontrollable - you may have a slight issue with it wanting to pitch up or down though. Don't bother with this too much though until after you're done placing everything else on the plane. You can adjust the wing positions either just by picking them up and re-placing them, or you can use the new "offset" gizmo.

Next, you need to add control surfaces. Attach 2 of the "Elevon 1" parts to the back end of the wings, rotating them so they line up neatly. Right click them, and then click the buttons so that only "Roll" is Active. These will be your "ailerons" - the things that let you do barrel rolls . Next, you'll want actual elevons - the things that let you pitch up or down. I recommend using the AV-R8 Winglet for this. They don't provide much lift, but they rotate by quite a large amount, which gives you a nice agile plane. Stick them on the back of the plane in line with the main wings, and do the same thing as you did with the ailerons, except this time make sure only "Pitch" is active. Lastly, add a 3rd winglet in the middle, on top of the plane with symmetry off, roughly in line with the elevons - make sure it's perfectly vertical. This will be your rudder, set it so that only "Yaw" is active.

Lastly, you want intakes and landing gear. For the intakes, stick 2 of the XM-G50 Radial Air Intakes in symmetry mode between your elevons and rudder. The exact placement doesn't matter too much, but they need to be behind the center of mass because they have a lot of drag. If you place them too far forward your plane will want to fly backwards (more of an issue on larger planes - this small one probably won't matter).

For the gears, lots of people like to go with a 3-wheel design, but I've always found those to be quite prone to flipping out on the runway at high speeds, so I would recommend a 4-wheel design. For this small plane, you should place 2 wheels just behind the cockpit, and 2 just in front of the engine. I recommend starting off by placing the wheels very splayed out, and then rotating them back to almost vertical. This way the gears will be nice and spread out, which helps to keep the plane stable on the ground at speed.

When you're done, it should look something like this:

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[TopGull]

Aircraft design really hasn't changed since 0.25, so the wiki and older videos should still be good sources for figuring things out. If there's a specific problem you're having, it will be much easier for us to help you if you provide more information about your craft and the behavior you're trying to achieve. Pictures are helpful, too.

[turkwinif]

Here's a great thread on how to build a plane, comes with a ton of simple pictures and explains how to build them quite well.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures

[Anquietas314]

Here's a great thread on how to build a plane, comes with a ton of simple pictures and explains how to build them quite well.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures

The images in that thread have quite an ugly font o.O It makes my eyes hurt a little reading it.

[Pecan]

i have never build a plane and i now started i but i dont get it. The wiki is from before 0.90 so i cant use that and i also cant find videos from 0.90. So how do i build it?

1. Start or resume a game in KSP

2. Click the SPH to enter it and start building

3. Select a command-pod or probe core to control the plane

4. Add a fuel tank

5. Add an engine

6. Add one or more air-intakes if using a jet engine

7. Put wings on the side - that's how you know it's a plane

8. Put wheels underneath it

Congratulations, you've learnt how to build a plane in a space programme ^^.

[eliturbo]

so now i build my first plane and it worked. only i could not turn so well... how can i make the plane turn better?

[mrmcp1]

so now i build my first plane and it worked. only i could not turn so well... how can i make the plane turn better?

When you are turning are you pressing A and D? This will yaw the plane but it is difficult to turn this way, try rolling the plane (Q and E) and the pitching up it should help you turn better. (If you are already doing this then to turn better add more control surfaces or reaction wheels.

[Anquietas314]

add more control surfaces or reaction wheels.

In the atmosphere reaction wheels are not so great. Unless your spaceplane is really crazy, by the time it gets to space the reaction wheel in the cockpit should be more than sufficient.

[DocMoriarty]

so now i build my first plane and it worked. only i could not turn so well... how can i make the plane turn better?

Right click your planes front wheels in SPH and set 'disable brakes' and 'enable steering'.

[Anquietas314]

Right click your planes front wheels in SPH and set 'disable brakes' and 'enable steering'.

I would imagine eliturbo meant the plane couldn't turn very well in the air. You should be careful with enable steering though, as it's quite easy to make the plane flip over while turning.

[capi3101]

My general advice for spaceplane rookies. Crummy font or no, turkwinif has already given you the best place to start - keptin's guide. - and Pecan's given you an admittedly very rudimentary but essentially correct procedure.

As for steering issues, you'll need to have control surfaces added; they don't come with the stock wings at all. The Elevon parts are designed for this purpose; though they're generally meant to serve as a combination elevator and aileron, I find that Elevon 3 works best as an aileron (roll axis, on the wing tips) and Elevon 4 works best as an elevator (close to the tail, pitch axis). You'll also probably want a rudder for yaw control; a Standard Canard works well as a rudder, or even an AV-R8 winglet if the plane is very light.

[eliturbo]

thanks guys, that really helped