How have you abused the KSP aero model?

[SubzeroSpartan7]

So recently among all the talk about the new aero model that is coming out in 1.0 I have also seen a bunch of people talking about how ludicrous the current model. We all knew that already and we al have probably seen or built some absurd things with this system. So before it is gone (except for the toggle switch) what are some of the most ridiculous things you have done with the system. I haven't done to many crazy things but to start this all off here is an aircraft I just built which is a little ridiculous:

I am also editing a video with it's construction and flight. So I will post that when I can.

[Madrias]

Well, I don't have any pictures for it, but just about every infiniglider I've flown is an abuse of the aero model. As for blatant misuse... An aircraft I called the "Flying Box." Wing panels making a square wing, fuel tank in the middle, jet engine hiding inside the box, and one of those 2x2 Structural Panels slapped on the front.

[Superfluous J]

Before the Trajectories mod was a thing, I pinpoint landed on Eve's tallest mountain by coming in straight down on it from interplanetary space. That's also how I to this day return to Kerbin from all interplanetary encounters. Just hit Kerbin and be happy.

I also had a pretty crazy ship launched for my Jool 5 mission, that I'd have hated to launch in FAR.

I don't have any pics but the start of this video is the launch:

[viktor19]

Turning on infinite fuel and flying to Eve in the matter of hours. Then entering the atmosphere at 20 km/s

Edited February 14, 2015 by viktor19
forgot the smiley

[Renegrade]

My avatar is a "parachute" without using parachutes. Just give 'er a whirl, and try not to hurl...

Here's a detailed version of it:

In picture 3, it's descending at 4.8m/s. Courtesy of infiniglide. Spinning it one way (and it has no reaction wheels, those shots are from a very early BTSM) will speed it up, spinning it the other way will slow it down.

I've actually noticed that even a basic plane without hundreds of wings will often accelerate if you just hold the elevators at full deflection.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Renegrade

[Red Iron Crown]

Aside from the typical wide-rocket-without-fairings thing that most stock aero players do, I made this for a challenge:

No infiniglide, the winglet stacks have all three control axes disabled.

Flies like a dream, landed on the first attempt:

[sal_vager]

Hmm, one thing that I and I'm sure others do currently that may no longer work in 1.0 is use wings sideways to eliminate their lift, that way they can be used for structure or decoration without effecting a crafts handling in unwanted ways.

[cantab]

I forcibly set all parts to have zero drag and zero lift, pummelling the standard aerodynamics into limp powerless submission, then I run a custom aerodynamics model instead

[Nano606]

I changed the lift ratios of a few of the wings to make my space planes look nicer (and be able to take off in some cases) but as a result on some of the control surfaces allow me to glide smaller sized craft indefinitely.

[panzer1b]

Some things i habitually take advantage of due to my personal preference of aesthetics above 100% realism. Things like wings clipped inside fuselages, yes in real life this would NEVER work, but its the sole reason many of my sci-fi craft, such as my entire Tri-Fighter lineup, and my relatively successful fully SSTO capable Normandy replica, are even capable of moving and flying.

Jet engines are also something ive been abusing, since they are (regardless of the fact i could care less and like them as is) overpowered in too many ways. They eat way less fuel then any real life engine, they function at altitudes real engines would never work at, and most of all they (with enough intakes), can get you to absurd AP's above 200km alone with no rocket engines!

Finally, regardless of what others may think, i actually enjoy the game for what it is, i see nothing wrong with abusing these bugs (or features). It makes this game something unique compared to say another flight sim. I would love to see realistic looking craft fly realistically, but at the same time i would love for some of those crazy designs, sci-fi replicas, and absurd contraptions still be possible to make. I dont mind outright bugs like infiniglide or krakendrives gone, but i still think things like clipped wings functioning is essential to too many designs.

Edited February 15, 2015 by panzer1b

[Guest]

Well, there's this thing, which you can apparently fly in FAR with some adjustments, which highlights pretty much everything I think is wrong with the current aero system. Older album in my sig.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[sal_vager]

But, it also flies in FAR? (with adjustment)

[Guest]

But, it also flies in FAR? (with adjustment)

Apparently you need to shift some parts a bit, reduce the wing spam, add canards, tilt the wings, and tilt the engine.

[BagelRabbit]

I like this thing. It's one of the worst offenders for Aero-Model Abuse that I've ever seen.

Oh, and before the original Small Control Surfaces were nixed, I could build craft like the following (which, yes, was capable of sustained flight and glided at less than 60 m/s):

I think I've abused the stock aero model more than most. My sincere apologies to those who think this is immoral or something.

[Spartwo]

Placing flaps perpendicular to the direction of travel to drag the COL back.

Doing the same to eliminate the COL on rockets(does not work with the new wings)

[technicalfool]

Because flying skateboard ramps is bestest skateboard ramps.

[GoSlash27]

I built a combination infiniglider/kraken drive craft. Flew it from Kerbin to Eve to Laythe to Duna and back to the runway at KSC in 19 days with no fuel expended whatsoever.

That was abuse bordering on human rights violation

Best,

-Slashy

[zekes]

I got a 137 ton Brick of a shuttle to land at 50 m/s.

[KerrMü]

Hmm, one thing that I and I'm sure others do currently that may no longer work in 1.0 is use wings sideways to eliminate their lift, that way they can be used for structure or decoration without effecting a crafts handling in unwanted ways.

Honestly, I´m gonna miss that. That´s a nice trick to make some designs work. But that won´t stop me having loads of fun with the new aero system.

So... how have I abused the old aero?

Long ago I built a car, then I made it fly, then I turned it into an SSTO.

Sometimes I clip control surfaces into the nose of a plane for better pitch authority. Yeah, I´m bad.

And recently I taught this little guy, that he doesn´t need a magic feather to fly in KSP:

This is my farewell kiss to the old aero model (where elephants could fly).

Edited February 15, 2015 by KerrMü

[Superfluous J]

Oh I also have built lots of planes that look exactly like they should fly, that fly in stock. I didn't try all of them in FAR but based on 100% of the planes I *have* built in FAR, I can only assume each and every one of them would have flipped over, nosedived, or done a barrel roll roughly 1-3 seconds into flight.

There. That horrible abuse is off my chest. I can move on.

[moogoob]

I don't have a pic of "Eyelashes", but just imagine a mk1 airplane in which the only flight surfaces is a ring of 12-16 advanced canards. Surprisingly nimble!

[TimePeriod]

Not sure when this was from but it was around 300t taking off from the runway without even needing the entire runway.

[StrandedonEarth]

This is nothing next to some of these previous posts. The most abusive I've been is stacking this quintet of lifeboats with no fairings and putting it in orbit to ferry down all the returning interplanetary kerbanauts, and destaffing some of my local stations.

Edited February 15, 2015 by StrandedonEarth

[SpaceHips]

I guess the most obvious abuse would be ballistic reentry at literally any speed.

Have you tried it? So long as you aren't going so fast that you skip through the entire atmosphere in one tick, you can't actually reach the ground going more than a couple hundred m/s while unpowered.

Shame there's no reentry heat, was looking forward to it back in... which was it, .18 or .19?

Looks like they're finally getting around to it, though. Hopefully.

[[email protected]]

Honestly, I´m gonna miss that. That´s a nice trick to make some designs work. But that won´t stop me having loads of fun with the new aero system.

So... how have I abused the old aero?

Long ago I built a car, then I made it fly, then I turned it into an SSTO.

Sometimes I clip control surfaces into the nose of a plane for better pitch authority. Yeah, I´m bad.

And recently I taught this little guy, that he doesn´t need a magic feather to fly in KSP:

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

This is my farewell kiss to the old aero model (where elephants could fly).

I'm just gonna go ahead and call it, this wins. I didn't know this thread was a contest, but this has won.

- - - Updated - - -

Back when I played without FAR I did all the typical stuff, launched huge space stations in one go sitting on top of a pancake, launched rovers straight up with a large flat bottom facing directly into the prograde vector, and of course I completely ignored any data concerning speed, periapsis, etc on interplanetary returns. I would come straight down on high elliptic returns from Jool or Eeloo just so I didn't have to spend any appreciable time in 4x timewarp or the drudgery that is a controlled descent.