The Iron Wolverine is a unqiue fighter plane in the Nikronian Defence Force.

Following one of the first air battles between the Axons and the C Quadrant Defenders over Nikros, the wreckage of a Wolverine fighter was found in the desert. Much of the space fighter's hull was salvageable, but it would likely never be space worthy again. As they say, one space force's trash is another air force's treasure. The best engineers on Nikros gathered up what remained of the Wolverine and set to work rebuilding it using the technology they had available, and the Iron Wolverine was reborn from the ashes.

The existing internal combustion engines and rocket engine had been destroyed beyond the possibility of repair with available metalurgy knowledge available. Nikros excels at steam-based technology, so it stood to reason that they would refit the fighter using that instead. A centralized wood-fired bronze boiler was installed in the center of the airframe, and the engine housings were rebuilt around a pair of steam turbines attached to large propellers using gear reduction. The quad machine guns in the nose were removed and replaced with a a spear cannon, connected to the boiler. A simple box was attached to the underside to hold a dynamite bomb payload, in place of where the rocket engine previously sat.

The boiler is fed from a central gravity hopper running through the rear fuselage, with air intakes behind the propellers. Crates of spare wood and barrels of additional water for the engine are carried on either side of the hull, behind the turbines. The exhaust from the boiler is then fed back through a dynamo at the rear of the aircraft, used to recharge a pair of lead acid batteries. The electrical power is provided for a two-way vacuum tube AM radio for the pilot. A central antenna mast is attached atop the boiler, with aerials running back to the tailplane.

You can still see the resemblance to the original Wolverine, but the Iron Wolverine is very much an aircraft unlike any other.