CLASSIC PLANE 1:72 EXTRA 300
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf  (rec.models.scale)
Addendum supplied by Kevan Vogler on sprue shot and reference info and Brian Nicklas on tinting the canopy

History:
If you have ever visited a civil airshow, you will probably have seen one of these little machines perform its breath taking stunts. It was designed in 1988 by the successful aerobatics pilot Walter Extra. The original design was a two seat mid wing, mixed construction aircraft powered by a 300hp lycoming boxer engine. It is stressed to withstand +10/-10g loads. Nowadays there is a low wing 300L and single a seat 300S version available too. Because the empty airframe only weighs some 670Kg, it can virtually "hang" on its propeller. For displays it is being flown from the back seat. The front cockpit only has an altimeter and an artificial horizon while the rear cockpit has a full set of instruments.

Production started in the early nineties at Extra Flugzeugbau GmbH in Germany and is still going strong. Even today the Extra 300 is still considered to be one of the most potent aerobatic aircraft around. Three well known teams fly with it, and have been 
performing at airshows in Europe and America regularly. Many aerobatic pilots have won prizes at contests while flying an Extra 300.

The kit:
As far as I know this is the only kit of the Extra 300 in this scale. AVM maquetas of Chili announced a resin kit sometime ago but I don't know if it was ever realized. The model comes in a rather inconspicuous brown end opening box. In it there is one sprue with grey parts, a canopy, a decal sheet and one A4 size instruction leaflet. This leaflet has no construction notes whatsoever. It does have painting instructions, a scale drawing and pictures of the real aircraft. Text is in German and English. The text mentions there should be vacuform parts for the windows in the bottom of the fuselage but they where not present in my kit. For an Halcones machine they are not needed anyway because their aircraft do not have these windows. This is a short run kit, but even so virtually no clean-up is required, sprue gates aren't overly thick and the parts are finely engraved. The quality and "feel" of the moulding reminds me of AML kits.

Accuracy:
I've found several figures for both length and span and the kit doesn't match any. Compared to the figures on the Extra company website the model is 2mm too long and span is 4mm too large. It seems quite a bit on such a small model but after comparison with pictures I can say it isn't noticeable. Span is pretty easy corrected by just sanding off 2mm of each wingtip. The kit captures the looks of its agile original very well.

Construction:
Because of the lack of a construction diagram 2 pieces had me puzzled for a while. But after looking at a lot of photographs I could figure it out. As parts are not numbered, it is difficult to tell you what went where. Construction starts with thinning down the fuselage sides a bit and covering the holes for the lower windows. The cockpit floor part can be discarded, as the real plane has no floor. Because the interior will be very visible under the large very clear bubble canopy, I will add some rod along the fuselage sides as well as some cross-beams. The seats of the kit can be used and will be applied to the cross-beams. Note that the front seat is placed quite a bit lower than the rear one. The front instrument panel is much too large and can best be replaced by a smaller piece of plastic card. Control columns have to be scratchbuilt. I will also add a front bulkhead to prevent a see-through effect to the engine compartment. The cockpit interior is white except for the black rudder pedals, instrument panels, control column and padding of the seats. The seatbelts are dark blue. The canopy fits well. 

The wings are all butt joined to the fuselage. Since this is such a small model no strengthening is necessary. The prop consists of a spinner with 3 separate blades but no axle. It will be quite fiddly to put together because of the small size of the parts. Note that the Royal Jordanian Falcons fly with a 4 blade prop. When attaching the exhaust pipes, study photographs of the aircraft you are modelling. There seem to be a few different styles. The Halcones machines have very short stubs. 

The wheels and spats are one moulding, the struts are a separate part. This calls for some careful alignment and superglue as there are no location pins. The Jordanian Falcons fly without spats. So if you are building that kit you'll need to find, or scratch build, new wheels. The tailwheel assembly is a very delicate moulding and looks very good. The only things that remain to be added, and are not included in the kit, are a radio antenna on the fuselage bottom and the triangular balances under the ailerons.

Painting and decals:
The instructions are quite helpful in describing the colour scheme. The decals are of good quality, well printed and in register. The white decals look opaque enough to cover the blue they will be placed on. The striping for the spats is available as a decal too, but it will be difficult to get them to conform to the curved surface. The other option is hand painting them which will hardly be a doddle either. If you wonder where the red bands with 3 white stars should go, they belong to a German civil machine (D-EGEW) and not on a Halcones aircraft. The Halcones machines have blue tinted canopies. Since I don't own an airbrush I have no idea how I will replicate the blue tint. Any suggestions? (email to SMAKR, and will be passed on to Johan, - Ed)

Conclusion:
This is a cute kit. It will be quick to build because of the low parts count and simple construction. If you only build military aircraft, like me, but want a break from the dull low-viz colours, this kit will be an excellent choice. If you prefer civil aircraft this kit will interest you too. There are plenty highly colourful machines flying around. Classic plane is to be commended for their choice of subject and I hope it sells well. Maybe they will consider doing more kits of aircraft types that are flying in military as well as civil colours.

This kit is also available with decals for the Royal Jordanian Falcons (#CPi 013), the Northern Lights display team (#CPi 014) and two German civil machines (#CPi 015).

References:
http://213.68.239.250/extra/
http://www.czasopismawlop.mil.pl/zespoly/hal.htm
http://www.luftfahrtmuseum.com/htmd/dte/ex300.htm
http://www.worldairshownews.com/airpro/acts/Northern_Lights.html
- And many other websites

Addendum supplied by Kevan Vogler:
I think the Extra Aircraft website is essential as it includes the aircraft technical manuals on-line and will be invaluable for anyone trying to build a cockpit for the kit. www.extraaircraft.com. Additionally, if you have the Chilean Halcones version, a visit to the team's website is also in order, they have an extensive gallery of pictures that will be of no small help in getting the paint scheme and decals set correctly. Their site comes up in Spanish but has an English option. www.halcones.cl. 

Addendum supplied by Brian Nicklas:
For tinting the canopy blue of the Classic Plane Extra 300, use Future Floor Wax (aka Johnson’s “Klear”) (clear acrylic). Decant into a small container [a bit bigger than the canopy] and add a few drops of blue food coloring.  Dip the canopy in the tinted Future/Klear, and when you pull it out and set it aside to dry, it should take on a blue tint. Depending on how much food coloring you add, you get a darker tint. Possibly dipping a second time will also darken the tint.

 

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