Another Completed Rokitflite Fake-Wulf

[e42]

I have finished my Rokitflite Fake-Wulf. It was a wonderful kit to build. Top notch material and very detailed instructions. The attention to detail that Scott put into this kit are phenomenal. It would appear to be a labor of love on his part because I am sure that he not getting rich designing and kitting the Fake-Wulf. I am pretty satisfied with the way it turned out. I tried to cover the grain of the balsa with multiple coats of primer but could not get it completely hidden. Now if I could only get it to fly and well as I believe it looks (more on that later).

Here is a picture of the completed glider with the pod and without.

<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_pod.jpg" alt=""><br><br>


<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_1.jpg" alt=""><br><br>

--- Ron

 

[e42]

Here is a shot from the top.

<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_4.jpg" alt=""><br><br>

--- Ron

 

[e42]

Here is the bottom.


<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_3.jpg" alt=""><br><br>


--- Ron

 

[Indiana]

Very nice! That's an awesome paint job.

 

[e42]

Here is one more from the wing tip.


<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_2.jpg" alt=""><br><br>

--- Ron

 

[e42]

I had a chance to take it to the MASA monthly club launch last Saturday for it’s first flight. I performed a couple of hand thrown test flights with marginal success. Sometimes it would appear to glide but always banking to the right. I decided to launch and see what would happen. Let me start out by saying that all launches were with a B6-2 and flight to apogee was perfect. The pod separation was smooth as silk with perfect recovery. The glider flights were less that spectacular but no damage was sustained.

On the first flight, the glider went into a tight spiraling dive. To trim for the next flight, I added a small portion of clay to the tail and put a trim tab on the end of the wing. After some test tosses, I was ready to go once again. This time the glider fluttered through the air for tumble recovery. For the third flight I removed the clay and relocated the trim tab to a portion of the wing right before where the wing tips angle down. I was getting constant glides from my hand tosses. During the flight, it would glide for about 10 ft then flip over with a roll then flutter and get back into a glide for another 10 ft.

I need to do some more testing before I launch again. I am confident that I will be able to get it to fly because so many people already have.


<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/f-w_launch.jpg" alt=""><br><br>

--- Ron

 

[foose4string]

Nice lookin' Wulf!

Too bad it didn't glide well on your first attempts. My first attempt wasn't good either, but it does work! Hopefully, Scott (and maybe some others) can help you sort through this and help you get a successful mission out of it.

 

[rokitflite]

Hey Ron, nice looking bird!!! Where is the CG in relation to the leading edge of the jet pylon?

 

[e42]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Where is the CG in relation to the leading edge of the jet pylon?

Scott, the CG is right at the leading edge of the tail fin supporting the jet pylon.

--- Ron

 

[paparoof]

Hey I was there and I thought the glides looked really cool. Another awesome paint job. The Deuce in your other thread looks great too. You do good work.

 

[rokitflite]

Thanks for the compliments guys.




Scott, the CG is right at the leading edge of the tail fin supporting the jet pylon.

--- Ron

I would say to add a little nose weight if that is the case... Several of the prototypes balanced as much as 1/2" ahead of the pylon's leading edge.

 

[e42]

I would say to add a little nose weight if that is the case... Several of the prototypes balanced as much as 1/2" ahead of the pylon's leading edge.

I will try that and let you know the results. Thanks Scott.

--- Ron

 

[rokitflite]

I will try that and let you know the results. Thanks Scott.

--- Ron

Yeah Ron... The clay on the nose MAY be ugly, but it gives the model a more stable glide... A trick that I used on one of the prototypes was to drill a small hole in the forward shroud and put lead shot in the nose until I achieved the balance point I wanted, then I filled the hole in with filler and touched it up with bottled paint. (Testors flet red in the squared off bottle seems to match the decal color almost perfectly). You were saying that you put several coats of primer on and the grain was still not filled to your liking. Did you sand almost ALL of the primer off between coats so that the grain in the wood got filled and not the surrounding areas?

 

[BobH48]

(Testors flet red in the squared off bottle seems to match the decal color almost perfectly).

I used Testors FLAT Red to touch up mine. There was a little gap near the pylon where the decal didn't quite reach and you really can't tell that the gap was filled in with paint.

I had the same problem with the model flipping end over end. I thought mine was nose heavy and added weight to the tail. When I removed the weight from the tail, I got a nice looooooooong straight glide.

 

[foose4string]

For the third flight I removed the clay and relocated the trim tab to a portion of the wing right before where the wing tips angle down.



--- Ron

Ron, when you say you relocated the tab, does that mean you had the tab on there for the previous flights? When I hand tossed mine, before actually flying it the first time, I decided it needed a trim tab. The tab created a spiral dive just like you describe for your first flight. Turns out, it didn't need it at all. I took of the tab and it flew just fine after that. If it's tumbling it end over end, needs more nose weight, but I suspect adding extra clay on the tail caused that.

Trying to trim this thing by hand tossing won't help you at all. Has it flown without any trim tab, or extra clay?

If the first flight was without anything extra, and spiral dove, then it sounds like it just needs a tab, no extra weight.

 

[e42]

Yeah Ron... The clay on the nose MAY be ugly, but it gives the model a more stable glide... A trick that I used on one of the prototypes was to drill a small hole in the forward shroud and put lead shot in the nose until I achieved the balance point I wanted, then I filled the hole in with filler and touched it up with bottled paint. (Testors flet red in the squared off bottle seems to match the decal color almost perfectly). You were saying that you put several coats of primer on and the grain was still not filled to your liking. Did you sand almost ALL of the primer off between coats so that the grain in the wood got filled and not the surrounding areas?

Scott,

For the primer, I used two coats of Kilz Original and sanded after each. I then used a light grey auto primer which was sanded very little. Then rest of the paint was applied after that. I would normally just apply two coats of auto primer and sand off about 90% each time then apply a white primer coat. That is how my Thrustline Arapahoe E was done.

<img src="https://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/wirthr44/Arapahoe_e_RW.jpg" alt=""><br><br>

While Fake-Wulf is not perfect as is, I am thinking about applying some type of antique stain process to weather it and made the grain (there are only a couple visible) more like combat dents in the wing.

If the clay works on the front, I will find a way to hide it. Thanks again.


--- Ron

 

[e42]

I used Testors FLAT Red to touch up mine. There was a little gap near the pylon where the decal didn't quite reach and you really can't tell that the gap was filled in with paint.

I had the same problem with the model flipping end over end. I thought mine was nose heavy and added weight to the tail. When I removed the weight from the tail, I got a nice looooooooong straight glide.

Good to know Bob. I am sure that nose weight is the correct answer. Thanks for the info.

--- Ron

 

[e42]

Ron, when you say you relocated the tab, does that mean you had the tab on there for the previous flights? When I hand tossed mine, before actually flying it the first time, I decided it needed a trim tab. The tab created a spiral dive just like you describe for your first flight. Turns out, it didn't need it at all. I took of the tab and it flew just fine after that. If it's tumbling it end over end, needs more nose weight, but I suspect adding extra clay on the tail caused that.

Trying to trim this thing by hand tossing won't help you at all. Has it flown without any trim tab, or extra clay?

If the first flight was without anything extra, and spiral dove, then it sounds like it just needs a tab, no extra weight.

Craig, the first flight was without any extras. The second was with the tab and weight. The third was just the tab but relocated from the end of the wing to about 3/4 from the body. That provided the best test flights. I am hoping that the suggestions of nose weight and the trim tab will correct the glide problem. I probably should have done a fourth flight with the nose weight but my first spiraling dive flight made me nervous :trytofly:. Thanks for the input.

--- Ron