A Different Fake Wulf...

What is different about this Fake-Wulf? I’ll admit a little work was done with Photoshop to hide it’s secret. I wanted to build another model and paint it to resemble the one I built and sent to a friend a couple of months ago (first photo). But jeeze, I’d already built half a dozen of these things… I needed to do something different with this one OTHER than the paint job…

So… What do you do when you have a good boost glider design for B & C motors?

Scale that puppy up!!!

Originally, I was going to do a 2X upscale, but the wingspan would have been 36”! That fact combined with the weight would have forced the model to be composite motor powered. I wanted the model to be powered by D12-3s and E9-4s that, even without my employee discount, are more reasonably priced. I settled on 1.5X scale. This made the wingspan 27” and the main body tube a BT-70. And hey, as long as it was this large, why not make it RC??? Zog43editor and his stupid Jedi mind tricks made me buy some tiny servos from Hobby Lobby which I decided to use. I tried for ages to figure out a clean way to have the servos in the main body and use various linkages to move the control surfaces on the outer edges of the wings. Ultimately I decided to put the servos in the wing. Here’s a look at the model WITHOUT the photoshop work.

The servos that I wanted to use were just over ¼” in width and a 1.5X wing would only be 3/16” thick. I decided to make the wing ¼” thick and then went on a quest to find some good balsa stock. I went to 3 hobby stores (mine included) and could not find good, unwarped ¼” balsa in 6” widths. Finally, I settled on laminating two sheets of 1/16” balsa on either side of a piece of 1/8” Depron foam using finishing epoxy. I glued a piece of basswood to the leading edge and framed the rest of the wing with hard balsa… I always over build my stuff.

rokitflite said:

Scale that puppy up!!!

Originally, I was going to do a 2X upscale, but the wingspan would have been 36”! That fact combined with the weight would have forced the model to be composite motor powered. I wanted the model to be powered by D12-3s and E9-4s that, even without my employee discount, are more reasonably priced. I settled on 1.5X scale. This made the wingspan 27” and the main body tube a BT-70. And hey, as long as it was this large, why not make it RC??? Zog43editor and his stupid Jedi mind tricks made me buy some tiny servos from Hobby Lobby which I decided to use. I tried for ages to figure out a clean way to have the servos in the main body and use various linkages to move the control surfaces on the outer edges of the wings. Ultimately I decided to put the servos in the wing. Here’s a look at the model WITHOUT the photoshop work.

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SWEET! When is the first flight or have you already flown it?

I cut tracks in the wings and ran servo wires through them and covered them up with lightweight spackle.

I finished the wing with clear dope and tissue. It came out nice and light and it could probably handle a G engine boost… Again, I over build stuff. A few coats of auto motive primer and it was ready to go.

To cover the servos I had fun with my little vacuum former that I made and fabricated little hatches with bulges in them. I cut slots in the hatches to allow the servo arms to stick out.

The nose shroud on the front of the ‘Wulf had to be removable so that I could access the receiver and battery. I made it out of a paper shroud and the coupler to my Semroc Apollo capsule (gotta order another one of those from Carl!). After the shroud was formed and fitted I coated the inside surfaces with Alumilite to make it good and sturdy. The nose skid was made out of 3 pieces of 1/16” plywood that were then cut into 6 pieces to make a tab in slot setup that would lock the nose shroud on with a single bolt.

I used a Sig clear canopy and painted the frame lines on it for this upscale. I tinted the canopy for a more “sinister” look. I also scaled the jet engine up a little more than 1.5 to make it look a bit more powerful.

Since the canopy was clear I took a picture of the cockpit of a 1/18th scale 21st Century ME 109 and printed it on Avery label material to attach to the body under the canopy… Kinda neat if you look closely.

Thanks to my crabby Alps printer I easily up scaled a couple of sets of decals. Since the nose shroud was a separate piece I simply painted it red, and since there were ACTUALLY elevons on this model I did not need control surface decals.

The pod assembly was pretty straightforward. The only difference was an extra baffle tube (there was room so I figured why not) and a shortened parachute area to allow for the radio compartment in the glider. I made the front section of the pod removable so that I could adjust the nose weight and make it replaceable in the event of damage. I painted it black and silver just like the original.

Here are a few more construction photos of the glider...

And a few more... Heck, I took em, you might as well see them!

Here are a couple of shots showing how the nose skid fits together.

The assembled model was treated to a couple more coats of primer and sanding before the color coats of Krylon Tidepool, Semi Flat White and Smoke Gray Gloss were applied. The look I was going for was a fictitious yet believable winter camo.

A couple more paint photos...

The “Big Fake” decals were applied followed by a coat of Testors Dullcoat to protect the decals and give the model a more scale look.

The cockpit sticker was applied next.

Here are some photos of the completed model… I am waiting on a lighter receiver before flying this Big Wulf. Finished weight is 10oz without the engine.

Bohica said:

SWEET! When is the first flight or have you already flown it?

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No flight report yet... I am waiting for someone else to press the launch button... So I can blame THEM if something goes wrong!

Oh, you devil!!! The RC version is looking cool. Let me know in advance (if you can) when you are planning of flying it. BTW thanks for the wedding gift...

rokitflite said:

No flight report yet... I am waiting for someone else to press the launch button... So I can blame THEM if something goes wrong!

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You are a wise man Scott....or a big ol' chicken...

Seriously though...it looks great.

Big Bad Wulf. I Love it!

We demand video!

It's pretty. Looks really nice in person. I can't wait to see it fly.

kj

zog43editor said:

It's pretty. Looks really nice in person. I can't wait to see it fly.

kj

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Be careful what you wish for... You will probably be the one pressing the launch button!:surprised:

Bohica said:

You are a wise man Scott....or a big ol' chicken...

Seriously though...it looks great.

Click to expand...

I am going with "A wise ol' chicken" Gerald!

That is a thing of beauty! I can't wait to hear the flight report.

Scott,

any chance you're going to launch this at the NARHAMS sport launch on 9/15?