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Ok, so you have built your 37th space station and keep needing larger stations. You have built monstrous craft to try and find a way to lift most of the station in one go. By the time the craft is done, it contains hundreds of parts. You launch it, and your system starts laughing uncontrollably, and finally manages to say “You want to go where?” That is without any payload yet.
If that describes you, then this is for you. You have proved you can do what it takes, you now just want to move on and colonize the universe.
This is a single part SSTO cargo hauler. It started out as a Delta Wing, I swear. Don't even ask how it ended up this shape. Any way. It attempts to be all things to all men at all times. It contains most of what you need to get to orbit. I was tired of long thin transport vehicles, so it has a large squarish cargo bay. Still on the flat side, the craft does have to be at least wingish in shape. The top opens up either as 2 gull wings, or as a whole. Some form of mod, like FS hangar Extender, which allows you to build outside the VAB or SPH is highly recommended.
It has a large number of attachment nodes on the back to try and satisfy almost any engine configuration you please. Yes I know near the middle, there are 4 pairs of nodes very close together, the reason is so you can either have a circle round the center engine, or the first row in line vertically like the rest.
Inside the bay I provided quite a few nodes as well on the front, back, sides and floor. If you have trouble using the nodes inside, I have found, that bringing the camera very close to the node, helps. This can especially be necessary when trying to detach parts once placed. The camera has to be at least inside the bay. Kerbals can enter the bay through the airlock in the bay.
There are a set of nodes on the side, but they will most probably not see much use, it is merely as a reference for the one flat area on the center rim, but use it as you please.
On the front the nose folds down to reveal more nodes for things like sensors and folded up dish antennas. The center is large enough to fit a standard clamp-o-tron.
The front space is cabin and control space, and can hold 20 Kerbals. The sides are for fuel. The built in tanks can be configured with Interstellar Fuel Switch (in fact it is required.) Mono Propellant is always available. Battery’s are built in, as are Solar panels. Reaction Wheel built in, full SAS, and some transmission capability. The plane Body is obviously also a lifting surface. At the moment there are two versions, one that has no control surfaces, the area around the engines provides lots of space to attach such. The second model has the back protrusions removed, and are provided as as control surfaces that can be re-attached. There is only pitch control enabled. Enabling Roll control as well tends to cause problems. Yaw control is envisioned as being attached on the side. (reference .craft file included). Bearing in mind this is a cargo hauler and not a fighter jet, the flywheel does a reasonable job of handling roll control.
I decided not to build the RCS into the craft, large payloads, could seriously change the center of mass, and it was better to provide separate RCS blisters. Also I provided rather large Air brakes.
I Included wheels, designed for the craft, that can carry the weight. With wheels wells, that smoothly merge with the body, and have a low profile. Two types are provided, the back ones attach to the flat surface at the back. The front ones have their angle and height designed to optimally attachment on the angled surface just a little forward from the flat section which should give you a reasonably level craft. Depending on the weight of you payload, you may have to increase the strength of the brakes in the right click menu, and even maybe play with the friction control.
The top and bottom have air scoops that open and close, it is just cosmetic, the air intake is available whether they are open or closed. (have not looked at programing) The Windows have covers to close them for re-entry or retract them, once again just cosmetic.
Being one part only, has the draw back that you are very much at the mercy of the system to configure dry and wet Center of Mass and Center of Lift despite config settings. This is where the 3 strange blue blocks come in. They are purely for moving the CoM to a more appropriate point if your payload does not. For that reason I have made the craft lighter than it should be, so don't be shy add some weight if needed.
What else? So the craft has pretty decent temperature resistance, because of the nice black coating on the underside and around the leading edge. In fact most of the values in the config files have been boosted quite a bit above the standard. This is a monster after all. That said, this is a Beta. I need feed back, Most chosen values are an attempt at best guess for what would be needed or is appropriate. Please be kind, this is my first attempt at any thing like this.
In case it is not monster enough, all the config files have tweak scale statements included, so if you have tweak scale installed, you can scale it up to 400%. It wont fit on the runway, but have at it any way.
No ITS yet, I have made the cabin, but that is it.
About Project
Created: January 6th 2024
Updated: January 6th 2024
Project ID: 72045
License: All Rights Reserved
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Game Versions:
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January 6th 2024
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