Overview
If you follow this guide you will make a flying machine that is nearly impossible to crash if you stay above the tree line.
Introduction
I made a flying machine a while ago and have made a few more recently so I thought I should make a guide on how to make a good flying machine.
My first one:
[link]
They are useful for getting around the world, getting to high places, and building things suspended off the ground. I think you should make your own at least once.
Weights
Making your stable flying machine the right weight is crucial for allowing it to hover.
All weights are measured by wood blocks, for example, a metal block weighs 5 meaning it has the weight of five wood blocks.
See Weight on scrap mechanic wiki[scrapmechanic.gamepedia.com] for a more detailed list.
Blocks
Wood : 1
Barrier : 1
Concrete : 2
Path Light Block : 2
Tile Block : 2
Glass Tile Block : 2
Glass Block : 2
Brick Block : 5
Metal : 5
Parts
Piston : 0
Bearing : 0
Controller : 2
Timer : 2
Logic Gate : 1
Thruster : 16
Driver’s Seat : 144
Seat : 96
Driver’s Saddle : 100
Saddle : 27
Toilet : 27
Gas Engine : 40
Electric Engine : 60
Switch : 1
Button : 1
A Thruster at the 5th level can carry 300 wood blocks without changing altitude (hovering).
In short:
The weight of a block is the weight density times the amount of space it takes up.
Light weight : one wood block per block
Medium Weight : two wood blocks per block
Heavy Weight : five wood blocks per block
Sometimes parts take up less space than they appear to
For example:
The light weight Stop Sign weighs 7 blocks, not nine because four of them take up half a block.
Design
Designing your flying machine is very important.
Make your flying machine shaped like a square and put the thrusters in the corners (the corners make it stable). Add extra weight in the corner to add up to 300 per thruster (at level 5). Make sure that your flying machine is always symetrical and always the right weight. If you want to add something remove something else so the weight evens out.
Put more thrusters than it is required to hover. Attach them to a button and make them high powered, attach the thrusters required to hover to a switch. Press the switch then the button and you go up then hover when you let go.
Put thrusters on the sides near the corners (2 per direction at minimum) and attach them to buttons. Now you can move by pressing the buttons. Make sure thrusters have equal weight above and below them.
You can attach the buttons to a seat, maybe WASD converter (make it symetrical) , a control panel or maybe a movement controller with sensors. You can add thrusters facing down so you could fly upside down , or crush your freinds.
You dont have to use a square. You could make a circle or a triangle (Good luck) ,or maybe a heptagon. I made a huge one [link] that is 48 by 48 blocks (you can actually walk around on it while it is hovering).