More dinking around in KSP (Image heavy)

[Logan Darklighter]

I have managed to put together what I think has become my personal favorite jet design. A surprisingly nimble, yet rock stable number I call the Draken. The name was inspired by the Saab Draken because of the double-delta wing shape. (Though this is a twin engine, twin tail jet. So it's kind of like an F-15 Eagle and a Draken combined.)
She's a beauty isn't she? 



Comes standard with Mech-Jeb for auto-piloting (though the plane is super stable even without it. It's just for really long trips). Also has an eject-able cockpit pod with parachutes in case of unrecoverable emergencies. Fly safe!

The only slight problem with the design is that the landing gear makes the Draken sit a bit low in the back. This is not a problem on take-off, and in fact makes take-off a breeze. 

The problem is landing - doing so without dragging the tail into the ground and destroying the jet nozzles in the back was so tricky that I decided to put an extra gear wheel on the tail. It's only needed on landing. On take-off, I stow it before going down the runway so that the Draken is using standard tricycle gear formation. 





The extra air intakes allow superb power to lift ratio - 





They also ram so much air down that I can "air hog" across the very top of the atmosphere. I've recorded a maximum speed of 1573 Meters per second! If I'm not careful, the jet will reach sub-orbital and go right out of the atmosphere!











I did mention that she's nimble, too? How nimble? 

THIS nimble! 

"It's time to buzz the tower, Goose!"











YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAA!!!!!













All in all I'm quite pleased with this. I've designed other planes before, but never quite hit such a "sweet spot" as this one. ^_^

[nocarename]

I like how Bob is horrified in every single screen shot of the tower buzz.
I know I would be.

[Bluemage]

That, sir, is a thing of beauty, and I wish I had the skills to make one like it.
All of my jets end up either falling apart, flipping end over end until I turn off SAS, or flaming out WAY before 1500m/s.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Logan Darklighter]

Here's a proof of concept design where I've used KSP to recreate a ship from a classic Disney Sci-Fi film. 






And yes - I'm working on the bigger ship from that movie... 

[Pyeknu]

Are you going to try to recreate the USS Cygnus to go with the Palomino?

[Logan Darklighter]

That's the idea. 
Mind you - I have little hope of getting it up into orbit in a normal fashion. I have an anti-gravity mod which I can use if I can't launch it "legitimately". I do want the Cygnus to be balanced and move normally once in orbit though. 

This will, of course, take a LOT of trial and error. But hey - the USS Palomino worked. And I've seen stuff just as crazy get lifted into orbit with regular chemical rockets in KSP. Case in point - 

[Logan Darklighter]

There is only one relevant question in regards to this picture... 
Does it come in BLACK? 



Seriously - someone designed the Tumbler Batmobile... in KERBAL FREAKING SPACE PROGRAM. 

And yes - It does have a rocket thruster in the back - and it works.

[robkelk]

It's in KSP - why wouldn't it have a rocket?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bluemage]

The real rocket question is if it has any vertical thrust.  I'd like to see a Tumbler that could make rocket-powered leaps.
While I'm posting, is there any way I could get a copy of the craft file for the Draken, Logan?  It looks like a lot of fun to play with.
/is not bitter about launching a station, getting it into a near-perfect equatorial orbit (120km per/122km apo, 0.1-degree inclination) manually, detaching my pod, and doing a perfect reentry burn/landing, only for the Kraken to eat it before I got to the Tracking Center

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Logan Darklighter]

Sure, I can email it to you. PM me with your email addy and I'll send it along. ^_^

[Dragonflight]

I'd recommend the Orbital Construction mod, which seems to allow people to build things in orbit. This would let you launch Cygnus from orbit without having to cheat outrageously to get it up there. As I'm still installing programs on the new PC, I haven't had a chance to try the game, yet. Soon, though...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[Bluemage]

One could also, with a bit of effort, figure out the persistence file format.
Once you do, all you have to do is get a simple rocket into the orbit you want, put your station on the pad, then go into the file and swap the speed, position, and orbital information of the two.  No mods required.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Logan Darklighter]

BTW - the old 1999 Eagle still works (with a few tweaks). But it's no longer being updated. If anyone wants one, I can email you the files for it. 
But going forward, there's a new Space 1999 Eagle being developed by one of the KSP modders. And although I do think it needs some slight tweaks to it's proportions to nail the look down, it's a real BRUTE of a ship. And - unlike the Redspar Eagle, the Wayland Eagle is actually modular and can carry different modules underneath the truss! 

Though the modder has not completed work on the modular pods, the Eagle itself flies just fine. And I've helped out a bit by test flying it and figuring out techniques for flight, VTOL and pick-up and docking using "dummy" modules. 



It's EXTREMELY tricky to hover and land straddling a pod like in the show. So what I've found is the best way to do it is to land NEXT to it. Then ramp up the VTOL thrusters to just barely under lift power. Enough to negate almost all the weight/mass of the Eagle without actually lifting off. Then I use the RCS thrusters to push/slide the Eagle into position. 







Oh - did I mention that - unlike the Redspar Eagle, this one has the retractable gear as well? You can lower the Eagle down to dock with the pod. The authentic Eagle pods will also have extending landing gear of their own that could raise the pod up for docking. As well as extra thrusters to compensate for the weight. 















I foresee a lot of uses for this mod. 

Oh - and it even comes with it's own authentic Moonbase Alpha landing pad! ^_^  (now just gotta figure out how to get THAT up to the Mun!)

[Pyeknu]

Another golden oldie, my friend. Beautiful.

[CrimsonKMR]

picked this up this weekend on the steam sale... I really need to learn how to NOT suck....
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[ECSNorway]

And someone's photobucket appears to be hosed.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Star Ranger4]

not hosed, just bandwidth exceeded
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Logan Darklighter]

Yeah. Screw Photobucket. They've finally jumped the shark completely. They want 30+ Bucks a month for unlimited storage. The 10 Gig limit I apparently burn through in a matter of hours at the beginning of every month. I'm in the process of transferring as many relevant images over to imgur.com as necessary.