Project XR2 Ravenstar - Mk II

[Urwumpe]

The XR-1 looks like it might almost fit in the bay of the -5, if only it had folding wings!!:speakcool:

For that problem, I had designed the XR0 design... it was designed to fit smoothly into the XR-5 payload bay and leave some small volume for cargo. :lol:

 

[dutchpirate]

Give it a low-vis/stealth paint job and you could do some cool SpecOps scenarios with that!

 

[Urwumpe]

Give it a low-vis/stealth paint job and you could do some cool SpecOps scenarios with that!

Should go for it... I just need somebody who could do the meshes...

 

[Coolhand]

Welcome everyone, to the XR0 thread!

For extra credit, you should design one that can fit into an XR2 bay...

 

[V8Li]

It's a great design and somehow it seems more realistic than the one of the DG, almost near future.

Delta aircrafts are not known for their best handling, especially at low speeds, and I was just wondering why don't they just add an extension -like an extra elevator- to function in the airstream. Like the one in the attached picture (I hope you know what I mean, it's a 30 sec job ).

 

[santy86]

COOL,

so now just XR3 and XR4 are missing to complete the series

:rofl:

 

[Urwumpe]

Delta aircrafts are not known for their best handling, especially at low speeds, and I was just wondering why don't they just add an extension -like an extra elevator- to function in the airstream. Like the one in the attached picture (I hope you know what I mean, it's a 30 sec job ).

Actually, Delta aircraft are too good at low speeds. Delta aircraft don't stall like normal planes, they just start dropping faster and at one point drop like a stone without further warning. They are just also more instable around the roll axis usually. Also they fly at higher AOAs during low speeds and thus have much more drag as other wing shapes.

Also, Delta Aircraft are more stable close to the ground - turbulence has less effect one them.

Russian lifting bodies had their wings folded up during hot reentry (using them as yaw stabilizers) and folded them down for subsonic flight, so the idea was not unknown. But they also used jet engines for getting to the next landing site after a suborbital recon mission.

I would keep it simple and avoid variable geometry if you can. A delta spaceplane will arrive over the runway at pretty high speeds, so the low speed handling problems only apply shortly before landing.

You are also not supposed to do aerobatics with it.

 

[willy88]

How's it supposed to dock with another spacecraft without depressurizing the airlock? Do those docking rings retract?

Welcome everyone, to the XR0 thread!

For extra credit, you should design one that can fit into an XR2 bay...

Well, I've had the idea of a one-man pod-type thing...

Maybe it could be something like the XP1 Workpod?

And yes, I am aware that it looks like a robot monkey.

 

[martins]

ok, well here's a revised version. i was able to retain the main part of the wheel well and move the little annexe that the strut retracts into from aft to forwards of the main part... essentially just mirroring the well or reversing it. obviously the gear needs to be extended to maintain the AOA but it seems to accomodate this. most the main gear assembly will need to be rebuilt and retextured but i've been able to make the changes with minimal changes to the geometry of the model.

the grey circle indicates the wheels previous down postion, it's a fair bit further forwards now.

Wow, this was a fast redesign job - the wheel position looks much better now.
I wonder - is there a plugin DLL for the XR2 yet? Not that the flight model could act as a reference (and no, ground effect isn't modelled unless the module code explicitly implements it), but it might be interesting to see how she handles with plausible airfoil and control surface definitions, and the centre of mass, centre of pressure and touchdown points adjusted to the correct values.
Nothing like a test flight to iron out the final design points .

 

[Coolhand]

We will let you know Martin, it's still early days as far as that goes, there's nothing flyable at the moment.

Willy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Robot Monkeys.

 

[willy88]

Willy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Robot Monkeys.

Yes, but you should watch out for the ones with "laser" guns. :rofl:

 

[Cale]

Wasn't it Yeager who said, "Well, a monkey's gonna make the first flight"?:lol:

Coolhand, I really like the change. One of the things I love about the XR1/XR5 is the takeoff roll and landing.

Just wondering, what will the glide characteristics be like...similar to the XR1? Am wondering as the XR1 works great with Mikey's AutoFCS. Would love to see the Ravenstar do a shuttle-like re-entry and landing at KSC.

Lastly, will the base colours upon release be in that white/grey scheme?

Cheers,

Cale

 

[Coolhand]

Flight handling has yet to be worked out. There should be a few different skins available on launch, and a paint kit for at least the upper part of the hull if you want to make your own.

 

[dutchpirate]

IMHO I think you should only release a paint kit for the upper hull, your work on the belly is wonderful, and it keeps the craft looking 'real'

 

[Coolhand]

well i may go back and replace the tiles with something else, but the tiles make it look like its something that might be built today, which is good and bad, i like em meself...

here's some texturing on the bay, not entirely happy with the doors but those can be worked on later, just have to get it into shape for doug to export to orbiter. I've seen the model in the sim and aside from a couple of problems that will be fixed (i hope) in the next export, it looks pretty good.

 

[Donamy]

AC3D is a good program for conversion. It is also great at smoothing.

 

[Coolhand]

There's nothing wrong with the smoothing, how i've broken up the surfaces took care of that (or so that i could see), and thankfully it was preserved through the export.

Frankly, It looked way, way better than i expected for a first go. and the problems that were there, should be solved by a few changes that i can make prior to export, attaching a few objects to each other and removing animation keys that i've put in to help me model the moving parts. Doug has done an excellent job of figuring a route into orbiter for the model. Russ also deserves a mention for his advice on getting the ship into maya.

 

[Russ_H]

I had just e-mailed Doug asking how things were going. I am happy to see that things are moving along nice now.

That ship looks so good. Every time I see it the ship looks better an better.

Can't wait to fly her. Nice work Coolhand!!!!!!

Russ

 

[Coolhand]

cheers Russ, we've managed to avoid maya entirely now, down to dougs lateral thinking.

I can't wait to fly it either.

 

[Cale]

One thing I'd consider is something that DanSteph came up with for the DGIV: Ejection capability...the DGIV can blow off the canopy so the pilot and pax could bail out in an emergency. Just a thought..=)