[Parts]Time for Variable Sweep Wings! Powered by Infernal Robotics

[DKnight54]

Hi Guys,

The other day, Jeb was testing some new wings from a new supplier under supersonic conditions. Apparently the wings' structural material was made from bamboo and started flexing backwards under the high dynamic pressure. To Jeb's surprise, that made the plane more stable as the center of lift shifted backwards.

Upon landing, Jeb insisted on Bill making some wings that could blend on command, and Bill found the only parts manufacturer Krazy enough to do it, Dorky Krazy Wings.

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What this is:

A infernal robotics powered wing hinge that allows attached wings to be swung backwards. Yes, you can also swing the wings forward by flipping the part backwards, but the models screw up for some reason.

Required mods : Infernal Robotics plugin(Not included and found here)

Download of parts here

Credits:

sirkut for Infernal Robotics, without which none of this would be possible

ZodiusInfuser for his excellent Infernal Robotics parts which I have been dissecting to figure out how to make it all work.

PolecatEZ for teasing me with the F14 swing wings in the D12 Aerotech. That was also where the initial idea of making the part with infernal robotics came about.

Various Modders who have put together the various guides and tutorials.

Known issues:

Lousy/simple model : First time actually modelling something myself in any kind of 3d modelling software. Be kind

Lousy Textures : See above:cool:

The models flip out when rotated in certain directions : I have no idea myself. Advice would be much appreciated!

Works with FAR? - Not too sure myself. Under a quick test, Cd did not change(Since FAR ignores part occlusion IIRC) but Cl changes(drops) and center of lift shifts backwards. Be careful with that, you can shift center of lift so much that the plane is too stable and cannot pitch up.

Rotating the part under VAB/SPH causes the models to glitch out! - long noted Infernal Robotics issue. I'm not aware of any workaround that I can implement.

License?

I'm releasing this under Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) since I'm sure there are many others that can do a much better job given this starting point and I'm unlikely to further improve the quality any time soon. To that end, I'm releasing the blender model as well. If anyone feels they can do a much better job, have fun!

Regards,

DKnight54

Edited February 9, 2015 by DKnight54

[KerBlam]

You made an F1-11! They are my favourites! So cool...

[sirkut]

I approve of this message.

[CaptainKipard]

Do they change their function in any way?

[DKnight54]

Do they change their function in any way?

Sorry, What do you mean by change their function? more specifically which object's function?

If you're talking about sweeping the wings and whether it affects the flight characteristics, at the very least, it will change the location of the center of lift. That can have a very drastic change in a plane's performance. Also, do note that as far as I'm aware, for sweeping wings to have any effect on flight characteristics, you'd need to be using FAR or NEAR.

In the plane I showed in the screenshots, the center of lift was originally quite near the center of mass, and the plane was quite acrobatic, and quick to respond to pitch control input. When I sweep the wings back, it actually became stable and sluggish in response to pitch.

I also did a quick scan of the numbers in the FAR analysis, and sweeping the wings do modify the stability values. However, I have no idea of how accurate the changes match real world performance. Ferram would be a better person to ask. I suspect at that on the current version for FAR that it's not 100% accurate because part occlusion is not accounted for IIRC.

In theory, one would sweep wings for supersonic flight, but my admittedly limited testing do not show any major differences in level flight aside for a drop in coefficient of lift. I do admit to playing without sudden aero dis-assembly though.

Aside from that, I can only suggest that you play around with it and report back the findings

Regards,

DKnight54

[FreeThinker]

Yes this is what I requested some time ago, now the big question is does it increase lift and lower drag? or is is it only eye candy shifting they center of mass a bit?

Edited February 10, 2015 by FreeThinker

[wasmic]

Yes this is what I requested some time ago, now the big question is does it increase lift and lower drag? or is is it only eye candy shifting they center of mass a bit?

It seems like this addon only moves the wings. The game teakes care of the aerodynamics. This means that if you're playing with NEAR or FAR, it should indeed work realistically. If you're playing with stock aero, it'll just shift the CoL backwards.

[Tyren]

Tested it, having the wings in centered position u have quite nice lift and handling, sweeping them backwards allows for higher speed without getting unstable, so yes, i guess drag gets reduced in swept config...but lift is subsonic reduced, too...as it should be.

- - - Updated - - -

SOmething else: quite wobbly^^ thats my problem with the IR parts...the part stiffness from the moving joint is meh...

Another update:

do NOT, under no circumstances attach things to the sweeping wings whom apply additional forces to it (elevons etc...) or bad things might happen. Nonetheless, very good mod

Edited February 10, 2015 by Tyren

[Van Disaster]

Variable sweep wings do function as you'd expect in FAR, have done basically forever. Most of the issue has been IR joints not being remotely strong enough & your wings bending all over the place which I hope this will sort out . Might be a good idea to make an enclosed glove instead of a basic hinge.

[H3xx]

Okay, 1, Will this still work with 1.0.5? And 2 Would you be willing to make some Telescoping wings that hide in the fuselage? I have an idea for a space plane that can land like a lander pod in zero atmosphere.