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CobaltWolf / Bluedog-Design-Bureau

Stockalike parts pack for Kerbal Space Program
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/122020-131mostly-functional-141-bluedog-design-bureau-stockalike-saturn-apollo-and-more-v142-%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81-1feb2018/
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Mercury Boilerplate #1267

Open DaveJ576 opened 2 years ago

DaveJ576 commented 2 years ago

Is it possible to get a boilerplate Mercury capsule similar to what we have for Apollo? It could be used for Little Joe and Big Joe flight tests. The current Mercury spacecraft has texture changes to make it look like the boilerplate, but it is obviously heavier than a boilerplate would be. I have also found that the boilerplate spacecraft were built differently. Big_Joe_capsule

As you can see here the lower portion had a smooth outer shell. I read somewhere that it was actually reinforced fiberglass. The rest was the familiar corrugated metal, and was bolted on to the lower section.

CAOPHmercury_nasa_LRC1959-B701_P-04946

Big joe 1

Coloration changed quite a bit. The last photo shows the Big Joe boilerplate, and we have a texture that roughly approximates the color now, but not the change in texture.

Big Joe 2 This shows the Big Joe spacecraft on the booster.

79256-a338cc30ae138c045aeaa9fd36c39464 This chart will show the color variations for the boilerplates used in the Little Joe and MR-BD flights. Note they are not all the same. The only one not shown here is the one used for the Beach Abort test, and you can see this one below:

beachabo

Unlike the Apollo boilerplate, this one would need some sort of probe core built in so that it could be used in tests without an astro aboard.

This link will give a lot of info on the color variations: https://www.spaceinminiature.com/ref/merc/merc2.html

This may be a lot of work, and it is cool if no one wants to take it on.

Thanks!

Invaderchaos commented 2 years ago

At one point I had considered doing Little Joe/Little Joe 2, however I found that there would be some large scaling issues relating to how we scale down to KSP scale and round up/down. Additionally, I personally don't have too much interest in doing any boilerplate other than Apollo. The reason it made sense to the Apollo boilerplate capsule was that it flew with Pegasus, and without it, Pegasus could not be flown.

Flying a fully fledged Apollo CM (which would've needed to be done had I not done the boilerplate) would feel very strange (and it would be an issue with the tech tree as the CM unlocks after Pegasus). It also felt weird to have the boilerplate SM without the boilerplate CM (and the SM was definitely needed as it was hollow and housed Pegasus). TBH, I feel boilerplates don't really have a good function in KSP, and if it wasn't for Pegasus, I would not have made it. I don't think it would be good to have a Mercury boilerplate without Little Joe, and I also feel that doing Mercury would open a big can of worms regarding boilerplates (like a boilerplate for Gemini). We do have a boilerplate texture variant for Mercury and Gemini however, so for people who really want to fly boilerplates hopefully that will do.

DaveJ576 commented 2 years ago

Thank you for your consideration. No problem at all. We have so much to use in BDB that it sometimes spoils people! Not everything is possible or realistic, but I thought it was worth asking.

On the other hand, I seem to remember getting a very firm "NO" when I asked about getting a LRV, and look what happened! LOL

Thanks again!