The big parts laid out for inspection. It really looks easy!
I had to replace the dihedral brace, though, as it was
a few millimeters short in all directions...
Additional aileron servo plates had to be made for the Hi-Tec HS-85
micro servos as the original ones were designed for standard size servos.
A sudden strike of energy hit me, so I painted the plywood parts red to match the wing.
Nice and very light foam sponge wheels came with kit, I really
like them.
The big tail wheel and the untidy collar I didnīt like,
so I used a smaller type with welded on collars instead.
Tail wheel in place with home made aluminum brace bolted to the rudder.
The supplied plastic one was OK, but much bulkier.
Looking almost ready now, son Mattis holding the Extra in front of our christmas tree.
The tail feathers are glued on, and my winter landing gear bolted to the fuz.
Saito .56 bolted to the supplied aluminum engine mount.
Sure looks nice...
The belly pan is glued with epoxy, here kept in place with transparent
tape that donīt show in this pic, and masking tape while glue cures.
As the Saito will be saved for a twin engine project, a much less inspiring ASP .53 was bolted to engine mount.
I finally decided on this engine as it has been easy to start, and
coupled with decent performance this makes for good winter flying.
So here it is. All finished and looking good. The cowl alone
took me a couple of hours to get the cut outs for the muffler etc. right.
This far the Extra 300 L seems to be good value for the money and certainly for the work involved.
Iīm a little concerned about the high wingloading: 89g/dm² (about 30oz/sqft),
so it will be very exiting to test fly it!
OK, so how much time did it take me? I havenīt really kept book on how much time I used, but a fairly close guess is 12 to 15 hours.
Any claims that you could build an ARF in 5 hours is grossly exaggerated, at least for me!
FLIGHT TESTED!
First flights flown 12.1 2002 shows that
this Extra 300 is a very capable model, surprisingly docile with seemingly no bad
habits what so ever. The center of gravity came out spot on with the ASP .53 according
to the manual, but it feels slightly nose heavy. What surprises me most is the capability
of such slow flight with those tiny wings...