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Wolverine Space Fighter (First Revision)


 About the Wolverine
The Wolverine is the mainstay space superiority fighter of the C Quadrant Defenders. While the original version was considered unremarkable, the variations and improvements made to the spaceframe would result in the fighter serving in a variety of roles with distinction. And if you knew how to fly the base model, you could be easily trained on any of the variants that followed.

The first version seen here is somewhat of an oddball, due to its mixed propulsion design and lack of wings. Two flat-eight internal combustion engines with three-blade propellers are mounted in a pair of nacelles on either side of the fuselage. These engines were intended for atmospheric flight, allowing for low-accelleration, high efficiency takeoffs and landings. They also could be fed oxidizider to operate in a vacuum in order to serve as an auxiliary power unit. The main engine is a centrally mounted atomic rocket engine, which provides thrust in space flight and during atmospheric combat.

Wolverines were expected to be launched from the ground, space-based carriers, and space stations. Each fighter is armed with a bank of four machine guns in the nose, plenty of firepower for dogfighting with other fighters in the air or space. Behind the cockpit is a storage compartment for the pilot's personal effects. The example here has been expanded at the pilot's request.


   The Wolverine space fighter.


   The Wolverine's four machine guns on the nose are its only armament. The internal combustion engines assist in atmospheric flight.


   Wings aren't needed on a space fighter.


   The main source of thrust is the atomic rocket engine below the tail.


   The Wolverine and it's pilot, Captain Sam Kell.


   Double-sized storage compartment -- a request made by Captain Kell for his personal fighter.


   The standardized cockpit.



 Meta Description
This might be the single oldest creation I've posted here, originally being made some time around 2002. I posted it to MOCpages in February 2006, and what you see here is a later revision from 2007ish? It's the Wolverine CR but with the trim reverted to the original red, and the special features of the CR removed.

So, let's discuss the elephant in the room: There are no wings. It looks better the way I built it way back then, and I'm not going to argue with an aesthetic choice superseding logic (AKA Rule of Cool). The sensibilities of my pre-teen self were at play, and I have to be forgiving for that, what else can I do? The landing gear seen in the original are completely gone now.

The inspiration for the base fighter comes directly from 6544, one of my favorite childhood sets. Later on, I would draw parallels to fighters like the F-104 (particularly the NF-104A with the rocket engine for training pilots for X-15 flights), and the SR.177. However, when I built it, I wasn't really aware of either yet.

I liked this fighter enough to keep it around, still assembled for 20 years. This modified version improves upon the original design, still using many of the same original pieces, but cleaning up some of the color mismatches and bad angles. However, there is still more that needs to be changed in order to get to what I consider the current design. Ultimately, I've learned to stand by the less realistic design choices if it's fun.
 
General Characteristics
NameWolverine
TypeSpace Fighter
AffliationC Quadrant Defenders, Earth
Armament4 x Machine guns
Propulsion1 x Atomic rocket
2 x Propeller engines
Crew Compliment1




Gallery was generated using igal2 2.2
This page was last updated on 3/22/2023
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