External Interstage Struts

[Delrey]

I might be way behind on this but I started doing this for some rockets that have had instability. Works like a charm and I kind of like the hard points look on a craft in space. It gives and excuse for having fins. That part is either from B9 or KW... can't quite remember.

[Hary R]

That remind me of pre ARM time, and the ballerina rockets... Interstage strut were mandatory at that time.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Hary R

[zxczxczbfg]

Very inventive. Might have to steal this.

[cicatrix]

This is what I usually do:

Also I add strut endpoints (from KAS) to place struts there after re-docking.

[Axelord FTW]

Used to do this with HUGE ships.

Eventually did the same in space via KAS.

Now, I prefer smaller, multi-ship missions sop I don't do it anymore. KJR also helps.

[Janos1986]

I usually do this when I have more than one reaction wheel in significantly distant stages, since they tend to bend and shake (and ultimately tear apart) the rocket at an alarming rate.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Janos1986

[Xavven]

This is a very clever building technique! Thanks for sharing!

[Delrey]

Now, I prefer smaller, multi-ship missions sop I don't do it anymore. KJR also helps.

I've just realized this regarding ship size. My natural inclination was to send 1 massive ship.

What this is lifting was going to be piece 1 of 4 for an unnamed Duna mission. I decided to just send them separately bc the assembly was super laggy on the launch pad test.

I need KJR.

[Frank_G]

I used the mini girders for that technique, but yours look so much better. Thanks for sharing!

[edit] oh, and you could use the ones with decoupler to keep your ships clean of disconnected strut end points... This really has potential!

Edited January 30, 2015 by Frank_G

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

TT-70 Radial Decoupler

The one with the extra spacer. Gives you a nice stand-off to reach around things and are jettisonable. (no leftover parts)

Edited January 30, 2015 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[maltesh]

If you rotate the strut pieces so that they're flat-side-out before placement, you can often use them to strut together two stack-attached pieces of the same diameter, without any extra parts..

[Janos1986]

Veeeery nice advice there. I'll remember that.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

If you rotate the strut pieces so that they're flat-side-out before placement, you can often use them to strut together two stack-attached pieces of the same diameter, without any extra parts..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4057920/Kerbal%20Space%20Program/v0.22/Screenshots/screenshot323.png

Turn off snap-to (the C key) to do that.

[magnemoe]

If you rotate the strut pieces so that they're flat-side-out before placement, you can often use them to strut together two stack-attached pieces of the same diameter, without any extra parts..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4057920/Kerbal%20Space%20Program/v0.22/Screenshots/screenshot323.png

Yes, also just moving around a bit, as other say this was common before arm, today its really only needed if you have 2.5 meter on top of a 1.25 meter part like a probe core for lifter.

However the engine hard point looked good, in 0.90 version of KAS you can place the strut hardpoints in VAB too

[Whirligig Girl]

TT-70 Radial Decoupler

The one with the extra spacer. Gives you a nice stand-off to reach around things and are jettisonable. (no leftover parts)

Or you could use the more aerodynamic looking C7 Aerospace decoupler, the Structural Pylon. (Although if you use Ven's Stock Part Revamp it does leave a little massless nub behind.) You will have to place more struts on these pylons because they really like to flex. Just two extra struts (placed from the pylon!) will do.

The Structural Pylon is a pretty weird part though. It's got an impact tolerance of 999 m/s, (used to be 20), the leftover nub, while separately modeled, has been commented out so it leaves nothing behind, and it has a blank staging icon. This can be kind of scary, I know. But don't let that stop you.

Also, I bet you didn't know that a stack separator will decouple anthing radially attached to it? This could be useful information.

Edited January 30, 2015 by GregroxMun

[NecroBones]

Yeah, struts with the small hardpoints is something that a friend of mine did about 6 months ago, and I thought it was a clever solution. I'm glad to see other people independently discovering it.

EDIT: Actually it was in March of last year. I found some of his screenshots:

Edited January 30, 2015 by NecroBones

[cantab]

I wouldn't use the structural pylon for this. The whole point is to make things stiffer, and the structural pylon is infamously floppy.

The cubic octagonal strut is the best performing choice since it's massless. The small hardpoint does look sleeker. Anything else should only be considered for looks or career mode limitations, IMHO.

[aleis]

This is a thing. Pre-arm I often had to build cages around done of my station components with girders and struts that all connected to stack separaters on various things so it would all blow off once in orbit

[Renegrade]

This is a thing. Pre-arm I often had to build cages around done of my station components with girders and struts that all connected to stack separaters on various things so it would all blow off once in orbit

Sort of like this?

(the modules to the left attach to a station, and the framework/RCS/engine on the right all detach and de-orbit. BTSM components so reaction wheels are a no-go, and I didn't want to leave RCS tanks/probe cores/etc on the (VERY HEAVY) power modules to slow down loading times/transitions into physics range)

[problemecium]

I don't usually do this myself, only because I don't like having the little strut nubs on my long-term missions, adding to the part count without doing anything useful or looking pretty. Sometimes I'll throw on a couple for short missions, or I'll attach the struts to structural pylons (and suck up the excessive price) so they don't leave goop when they decouple.

[GusTurbo]

If you rotate the strut pieces so that they're flat-side-out before placement, you can often use them to strut together two stack-attached pieces of the same diameter, without any extra parts..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4057920/Kerbal%20Space%20Program/v0.22/Screenshots/screenshot323.png

Wow, I've been playing forever and I didn't know about this.

[NecroBones]

Huh, I never had any problem "stitching" same-diameter parts together, without rotating the struts. I'd just stick them on, with some careful placement. Thankfully this isn't as necessary as it used to be, though.

[Majorjim!]

If you rotate the strut pieces so that they're flat-side-out before placement, you can often use them to strut together two stack-attached pieces of the same diameter, without any extra parts..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4057920/Kerbal%20Space%20Program/v0.22/Screenshots/screenshot323.png

Dude you can strut between those two tanks in the gap between them. That way they are hidden.

[Delrey]

I've launched the same rocket with struts inside the fairing and this offered the most support. It bypasses the decoupler and like I said I like having the hard points on my spacecraft.

[peachoftree]

I use kerbal joint reinforcement, never have to use struts inline.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55657-0-90-Kerbal-Joint-Reinforcement-v3-1-1-1-15-15