A-10, B-52 and updated F-15

[allmhuran]

Craft files:
A-10 Thunderbolt II
B-52 Stratofortress
F-15 Eagle





I have included the F-15 again since I have updated the weaponry and cleaned up its lines quite a lot.

Yes, all of the craft fly. Even the A-10 with its crazy relationship between thrust, mass and lift. Both the F-15 and the B-52 (especially the B-52) have the thrust below the CoM. This means that you can climb and turn harder with throttles on full, while nosing down is much easier with the throttle reduced.

All craft are 100% stock. This little gfy was also done stock since neither burn together nor persistent trails are currently operational in 0.90...

https://gfycat.com/JitteryPrestigiousBabirusa

All of the weapons now fly straight (yay).

The AMRAAMs on the F-15C are made of cubic octagonal struts and communotron 88-88s. The use of cubic octagonal struts joined in rows seems to cause a lot of lag though, so as an alternative there is also a smaller i-beam based sidewinder. The AGM-65's on the Warthog can be manually guided if you switch to them, but will fly straight enough if you launch them at full throttle and with SAS on.

Edited December 30, 2014 by allmhuran

[Marine07]

Isn't F-15 too big..? Or B-52 is smaller than it should be?

But good job anyway

[eorin]

Isn't F-15 too big..? Or B-52 is smaller than it should be?

But good job anyway

I agree, the F15 is really big, but it's really well designed so i think it's fine.

[allmhuran]

Isn't F-15 too big..? Or B-52 is smaller than it should be?

But good job anyway

The scale to which you can build is entirely limited by the parts the game makes available. So yeah, the F-15 is too big next to the B-52, but there's no way to make the B-52 larger (or the F-15 smaller).

[zekes]

wow dude, you amaze me. Nice job.

[pTrevTrevs]

Time to make an X-15 replica with the B-52!

[Engineer of Stuff]

Isn't F-15 too big..? Or B-52 is smaller than it should be?

But good job anyway

You could use the Tweakscale mod to get parts smaller.

http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220549-tweakscale

[allmhuran]

You could use the Tweakscale mod to get parts smaller.

http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220549-tweakscale

I could, but stock. Feel free to do that if you want to though! (And if you do mod em up, please add a GAU-8 to the Hog)

- - - Updated - - -

Video added

[pTrevTrevs]

Well, the X-15 program isn't going well...

X-15 underneath the wing of the B-52. I used one of the runways from KerbinSide for realism.

The bottom stabilizer was destroyed during the takeoff run.

Ascent to the bomber's maximum altitude, which in this configuration is about 8 km

X-15 release

Rocket ignition

Too bad the crew on the B-52 will have no hope of survival due to the physics range.

I emptied all the fuel from the plane for drop tests and forgot to put it back in, so the engine burned out after only a few seconds.

Dropping whatever is left of the lower stabilizer shortly before landing

Final approach

Drag chute deployed. I don't think real X-15s had drag chutes, but I added one to mine.

Somehow managed to crash at an ideal landing speed and relatively flat terrain.

You had one job, Jerwin. One job.

[allmhuran]

Hahaha pTrevTrevs, that is awesome!

[Majorjim!]

Well, the X-15 program isn't going well...

http://i.imgur.com/sWkqMFL.png

X-15 underneath the wing of the B-52. I used one of the runways from KerbinSide for realism.

http://i.imgur.com/lrHBf3X.png

The bottom stabilizer was destroyed during the takeoff run.

http://i.imgur.com/jjBDoVS.png

Ascent to the bomber's maximum altitude, which in this configuration is about 8 km

http://i.imgur.com/UxarRL2.png

X-15 release

http://i.imgur.com/J6w5oc4.png

Rocket ignition

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

Too bad the crew on the B-52 will have no hope of survival due to the physics range.

http://i.imgur.com/xf3kgcD.jpg

I emptied all the fuel from the plane for drop tests and forgot to put it back in, so the engine burned out after only a few seconds.

http://i.imgur.com/ImCnHX2.png

Dropping whatever is left of the lower stabilizer shortly before landing

http://i.imgur.com/eUkheTq.png

Final approach

http://i.imgur.com/xYH9BCQ.png

Drag chute deployed. I don't think real X-15s had drag chutes, but I added one to mine.

http://i.imgur.com/JBdrC0R.png

Somehow managed to crash at an ideal landing speed and relatively flat terrain.

http://i.imgur.com/4NYJnHB.png

You had one job, Jerwin. One job.

Indeed that is awesome! And you discovered the horrible new desert textures...

[Nik_601]

Indeed that is awesome! And you discovered the horrible new desert textures...

You reminded me about Moon textures.. They're not cool too

[Majorjim!]

You reminded me about Moon textures.. They're not cool too

Yeah what did Squad do to the planet textures? Grass looks odd now as does the desert and, as you say the Mun too..

[andrew123]

Yeah what did Squad do to the planet textures? Grass looks odd now as does the desert and, as you say the Mun too..

The new editor seems more prone to kraken attacks too.

I guess squad needs to clean up their code.

Edited December 30, 2014 by andrew123

[Majorjim!]

The new editor seems more prone to kraken attacks, too.

I guess squad needs to clean up their code.

Agreed. I have largely learned how to avoid the attacks now. As soon as you suspect its happening, reload the craft and all will be well.

Also, when building make two copies of the same craft.

[r4pt0r]

I thought the textures, (on the mun at least) were supposed to look like micrometeor impacts, leaving long streaks in the ground. I like them.

I later found out that one of the last few updates made textures load all stretched out, so its a bug.

[andrew123]

Agreed. I have largely learned how to avoid the attacks now. As soon as you suspect its happening, reload the craft and all will be well.

Also, when building make two copies of the same craft.

I've learned to save my naval vessels in sections, but the Kraken decides that it likes to kill my saves too.

KSP is just not that stable ATM.

[pTrevTrevs]

Hahaha pTrevTrevs, that is awesome!

Indeed that is awesome! And you discovered the horrible new desert textures...

Thanks! I'll see if I can refine the design. If I had turned the plane around and dropped the X-15 then, I could have tried to land back at the runway, which might have helped me to avoid that crash at the end.

[allmhuran]

The B-52 is carrying two full huge fuel tanks, which I believe is 10,000 units of fuel. That's waaaaaaaaaaay more than it actually needs even on eight engines. I actually can't imagine anyone designing any aircraft that really needs these. It means each engine has the equivalent of 7 or 8 standard cylindrical tanks worth of fuel in it, which is about double what you need to circumnavigate kerbin. Emptying out some of the fuel should give it the ability to climb much higher. Removing all the "bombs" will also drop the part count by quite a lot.

[tyler00337]

Well, the X-15 program isn't going well...

~snip~

I really hope to see this work out well... I guess I might as well start work on an X-15 too.

Though... I have yet to run the game with the B-52, so if there's enough space, I might just slam my X-15 into the bomb bay, instead of lugging it on the wing like it should be.

[Frank_G]

Some very nice and maneuverable craft. Well done Sir, i will give it a try.

[Voculus]

VERY impressive recreations, Allmhuran!

[Grand Lander]

Nicely designed aircraft that look almost identical to the real thing. Ive met my match for replica aircraft building.

[pTrevTrevs]

After several improvements, the X-15 has finally made a successful flight!

Extended landing gear give enough clearance for that bottom stabilizer. Jerwin was also put through the entire Flight School course again as punishment for crashing last time. I would put Jeb in the X-15, but he was on board a space station at the time.

Take off about halfway down the Area 110011 runway from KerbinSide

Ascent to the B-52's altitude ceiling. The plane is very hard to control because of the extra lift that the X-15 provides.

I tried pumping all the fuel to the back to keep the nose pointed up, and it worked to a limited extent.

Approaching drop altitude.

X-15 drop at about 6 km

Rocket ignition

Attempting to turn the craft back towards the KKVLA/Area 110011 complex

Burnout about two minutes after separation.

Highest altitude reached was about 26,800 meters. Not quite as high as the real X-15 could fly, but enough to satisfy me.

Descent was a little difficult. The plane flies like a brick through the upper atmosphere, but a few kilometers above the ground, I was able to pull it out of its dive and slow it to a safe speed.

On approach. I was hoping to land it back at Area 110011, but I undershot it by about 10 kilometers

Bottom stabilizer separation. It nearly hit the plane when the parachute deployed.

Final approach.

Drag chute deployed.

Touchdown!

The engine broke off on landing, but the rest of the plane landed safely.

Jerwin posing with his aircraft for some publicity photos.

[allmhuran]

Nicely done!