I just finished building the cowl for my TF Contender out of balsa. It took a little time, but was easy. You basically use 4 pieces of wood. 3 are 1/2" for sides and front, the 4th is 1" for the bottom. You just put them all together and play with it till you get the shape you like.

Here is a link to the thread for mine and two other RCU members (hoverit & Charlie P.) progress on our Contenders. We all had to build a cowl from (almost) scratch.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...hreadid=521128

I hope this helps.
ALL