@serpant I downloaded one of your walker builds. The instructions said that the controls were the same as the last one, so I clicked on five more of your walkers (all of which said the same thing -- "controls same as last") before giving up. The point I'm trying to make is that no one apart from you will even remember what your last build was, let alone the controls for it. You need to include complete instructions with each build.
For one thing, you need to be more proactive when asking for help. If no one's looking at your posts, how many people are going to see your request? Post requests on the forum, or on a post by the user you want help from.
Now, as for this airplane. The only things wrong with it are:
The landing gear is too far back. It needs to be just behind the center of mass (the red ball when CoM/CoL/CoT view is enabled -- press space bar)
The center of mass is too close to the center of lift. The Center of Lift needs to be some distance behind the Center of Mass.
The airplane tends to nose down. To fix this, make the canards flat bottom so they provide more lift.
The pitch controls are backwards. Because the pitch control surfaces are in front instead of in back, they need to be inverted. The airplane should pitch up when you pull back on the stick, and pitch down when you push it forwards.
Here's another tip, every build needs to have complete instructions. Your posts all say "controls same as last." That's just not very helpful. Meet people halfway, at least.
@Treadmill103 What a great quote. I'm going to shamelessly adapt it for this aircraft:
"Make it totally clear that this aircraft is an engine of destruction. Don't add a cockpit -- that not only adds a point of un-armoured vulnerability, it humanizes the aircraft. Make it look like a beast lunging in its final attack on its prey -- all straining sinews, hunched shoulders, neck at full extension, jaws ready to tear into the enemy. Make the intakes look like gaping maws. Make it out of thick metal, then absolutely sheathe that in blocks of armour. You can never have enough armour. Don't use curves -- this thing needs to be all angles and facets, brutal and sharp. Make the engines really big -- they're the muscles of an aircraft, and everyone likes big muscles. As for the guns... make it perfectly clear that they're guns. Make them big, no-nonsense, and give them really thick barrels. Anyone looking at this beauty from the wrong end should feel like they've got two telephone poles pointed at them. Make it clear that this is not an airplane you take to airshows to do some fancy-pants show-off maneuvers in fancy-pants livery, this is a machine with one purpose and one purpose only -- to make war."
You're partly right in that the community has changed and seems to be in a cut-throat competition for points. However, there are still quite a few people who're in it for the fun.
More importantly, you can increase the number of upvotes you get very simply -- by presenting your builds better. Remember that first impressions are very important, so your first thumbnail image needs to look good. For a newish user, especially, It's the only thing that determines whether people click through to the actual post or not. Here are some things you can do:
When taking screenshots for uploading, make sure your build fills the screen. Right now it's very hard to tell what your build looks like from the thumbnail. See this, for instance.
You're on OSX, so there's no reason you should be building like you're on iOS. Mods are available for OSX - get them. First, get a designer background so you can get rid of the ugly platform and have a background that sets off you build. Second, get Color Editor so that you can have better colours for your builds. Third, get Fine Tuner and Overload, they'll help you do a great deal more than the default editor can.
Because the first impression is visual, it's not enough to upload a purely functional build. If you have an amazing walker mechanism but it looks like a bunch of sticks glued together, most people won't even click on it. It needs to look good. Once you've built the functional bit, encase it in a great-looking body.
Remember that no one started getting lots of upvotes straight away*. Every new user goes through a period of uploading lots of builds that get no attention. Once you get spotlighted or featured, your career will take off.
* Unless they're someone who deleted their account and came back, so that they're starting from a high skill level -- there are people who do this just to be able to boast about how quickly they got to platinum.
@CRJ900Pilot And as for changing up my designs, my designs have at least as much variation as anyone else's on SP, in fact it's possibly the widest range of designs on SP. It's just that this website has no sense of history, so people only remember the last few.
@Stingray Yeah, the offset is inevitable with a custom crosshair. The only way to get a custom crosshair to line up with the guns is to have them positioned coaxially. For practical purposes, the small offset doesn't matter and can be easily adjusted for by the pilot/gunner. I can hit any ship from the limits of visual range with this crosshair, I just have to remember to line up the target with the bottom of the horizontal bars.
@JetCarRacer I just realised that uploading it as public might reduce the number of upvotes you get when you upload it, because people would have already seen it. I'll re-upload it as unlisted and update the link.
The most obvious problem is that the center of lift is not just ahead of the center of mass, but off to one side. CoL needs to be behind the CoM and in line with the aircraft's centerline.
Second, the wing loading is too high. Try to bring it below 40 lbs/sq ft. Scaled wings are your friend.
Third, it needs a vertical stabilizer, hidden or visible. Again, scaled wings will help.
If you want, you can finish the design, then I can make it fly. Note that I might have to scale it up to add the required hidden wings and engines.
Smooth. Nice work.
@serpant I downloaded one of your walker builds. The instructions said that the controls were the same as the last one, so I clicked on five more of your walkers (all of which said the same thing -- "controls same as last") before giving up. The point I'm trying to make is that no one apart from you will even remember what your last build was, let alone the controls for it. You need to include complete instructions with each build.
Thanks, @Mustang51. Your builds are pretty damned good too, especially considering they're built on iOS.
@QingyuZhou My style is the same, just constantly evolving.
@SEVEN7H Interesting. In the West, 666 is the number of the Beast (the devil).
For one thing, you need to be more proactive when asking for help. If no one's looking at your posts, how many people are going to see your request? Post requests on the forum, or on a post by the user you want help from.
Now, as for this airplane. The only things wrong with it are:
That's all.
@Treadmill103 Thank you. Comes of a youth sadly mis-spent reading instead of doing something useful, you know, like socializing with brainless twits.
Here's another tip, every build needs to have complete instructions. Your posts all say "controls same as last." That's just not very helpful. Meet people halfway, at least.
@Treadmill103 What a great quote. I'm going to shamelessly adapt it for this aircraft:
"Make it totally clear that this aircraft is an engine of destruction. Don't add a cockpit -- that not only adds a point of un-armoured vulnerability, it humanizes the aircraft. Make it look like a beast lunging in its final attack on its prey -- all straining sinews, hunched shoulders, neck at full extension, jaws ready to tear into the enemy. Make the intakes look like gaping maws. Make it out of thick metal, then absolutely sheathe that in blocks of armour. You can never have enough armour. Don't use curves -- this thing needs to be all angles and facets, brutal and sharp. Make the engines really big -- they're the muscles of an aircraft, and everyone likes big muscles. As for the guns... make it perfectly clear that they're guns. Make them big, no-nonsense, and give them really thick barrels. Anyone looking at this beauty from the wrong end should feel like they've got two telephone poles pointed at them. Make it clear that this is not an airplane you take to airshows to do some fancy-pants show-off maneuvers in fancy-pants livery, this is a machine with one purpose and one purpose only -- to make war."
+1@Treadmill103 You might say it's rather... brutal... in its presentation.
+1@BaconRoll Allow me to be pedantic -- it's actually "Et tu, Brute?- Then fall, Caesar!"
@SadKingBilly78 Wow, that's very mature of you. Thanks, and welcome to SP.
@BaconRoll Spooky? More like evil.
@Ephwurd I know... but adding rotators to a build kills flight performance, so I just don't plan on using them.
Thanks, @Treadmill103. The part count suits the menacing look of this one, don't you think?
You're partly right in that the community has changed and seems to be in a cut-throat competition for points. However, there are still quite a few people who're in it for the fun.
More importantly, you can increase the number of upvotes you get very simply -- by presenting your builds better. Remember that first impressions are very important, so your first thumbnail image needs to look good. For a newish user, especially, It's the only thing that determines whether people click through to the actual post or not. Here are some things you can do:
* Unless they're someone who deleted their account and came back, so that they're starting from a high skill level -- there are people who do this just to be able to boast about how quickly they got to platinum.
+1@grizzlitn It was originally 664, I added two parts just to get it to 666... :)
+1Impressive.
"...that is because I have imagination." Classic.
+1Thanks, @AdlerSteiner
@SadKingBilly78 Thanks for the snark. The reason it's big has to do with smoothness and block sizes, but don't trouble your head about that.
Thanks, @RMark1
@TomShift Yeah, that's because of the special engine configuration I use.
Thanks, @RailfanEthan
Looks good, handles well. Good job.
@Treadmill103 Fascinating, but what do you think of the plane?
@Treadmill103 I believe it's "na na na na na..."
@RMark1 She's got the look?
@Cybercool5656 spend a lot of time figuring out the fundamentals, then you can build anything you like.
@CrossfireDynamics nope, i don't do online chat
Thanks, @Johawks1976
Very intriguing design.
+1Thanks, @Davisplanez @phanps
@CRJ900Pilot Thanks.
@CRJ900Pilot I know you didn't say that, and I'm not taking offence at all. Just clarifying why I post series of similar aircraft.
@CRJ900Pilot And as for changing up my designs, my designs have at least as much variation as anyone else's on SP, in fact it's possibly the widest range of designs on SP. It's just that this website has no sense of history, so people only remember the last few.
@CRJ900Pilot Did you comment on the wrong post? This one is quite different from my past few uploads.
Anyway, I appreciate the suggestion, but I work my own way -- come up with a good design, and evolve it iteratively.
I could also double or triple my upvotes by going mainstream (replicas/bright paint schemes/decals), but that just rubs me the wrong way. Severely.
@Stingray On this one the crosshair is perfectly aligned with the guns.
@Stingray Yeah, the offset is inevitable with a custom crosshair. The only way to get a custom crosshair to line up with the guns is to have them positioned coaxially. For practical purposes, the small offset doesn't matter and can be easily adjusted for by the pilot/gunner. I can hit any ship from the limits of visual range with this crosshair, I just have to remember to line up the target with the bottom of the horizontal bars.
Nice build. I'd spotlight it, but that might be seen as self-serving by some.
+1@JetCarRacer No problem.
@JetCarRacer Link to unlisted post.
@JetCarRacer I just realised that uploading it as public might reduce the number of upvotes you get when you upload it, because people would have already seen it. I'll re-upload it as unlisted and update the link.
@JetCarRacer Here you go.
@JetCarRacer No bother at all.
The most obvious problem is that the center of lift is not just ahead of the center of mass, but off to one side. CoL needs to be behind the CoM and in line with the aircraft's centerline.
Second, the wing loading is too high. Try to bring it below 40 lbs/sq ft. Scaled wings are your friend.
Third, it needs a vertical stabilizer, hidden or visible. Again, scaled wings will help.
If you want, you can finish the design, then I can make it fly. Note that I might have to scale it up to add the required hidden wings and engines.
@Stingray Well, it's hard to cater to every device out there...
Thanks, @Jetspeed1001
Thanks, @EternalDarkness
Thanks, @JetCarRacer
@Jetpackturtle I doubt that story. But anyway, it hardly matters.