KerbalX

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 113
• Pure Stock

Description

I’m happy to present my newest creation, my first published electric plane. 

I’ve seen the forum take a huge interest in electric powered flying contraptions, many poorly miniaturized. I decided I would fix this, with one of my smallest and lightest planes to date. 

I took inspiration from an ancient popular vehicle, MajorJim’s biplane. Yet unlike this, an authentic biplane needs a proper propellar! So I developed a new, very compact electric motor and bearing to use!

It’s quite a fun little bird to fly, and excellent to explore Kerbin with if you can tolerate its slow speed compared to jet aircraft. I have much faster electric planes in the work, but none are as small and aesthetic as this!

I love old school aviation and WWI birds in particular, which is where I got most of my inspiration. I might release the motor/bearing as a sub-assembly for people to toy with in the future for small, slow birds. 

Directions

After decoupling, trim settings should be used to power up the motor using alt+e.

The propellers also have variable pitch settings. To toggle between low speed mode and high speed mode, switch to the propellers and press 0. Low speed mode will generate more thrust at low speeds. High speed mode will allow higher top speeds but with less acceleration. For tight maneuvering, switch to low speed mode. Use this like gears on a car or a bike. 

To land, switch to the propellers and hit alt+x to reset the trim and disable the motor. The plane has no brakes and instead uses a tail skid.

Weight: Approx 4 tons.

Top speed at sea level: 80 m/s 178 mph

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.5.1.