Classic Plane 1/72 Extra 300

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

History

The Extra 300 is one of the best modern aerobatic planes and has dazzled airshow audiences worldwide. A light weight coupled with a powerful engine help propel this plane designed by aerobatic champion Walter Extra through the air, while full-span ailerons send it twisting and turning like few others. Classic Plane's kit of the Extra 300 shows the worldwide popularity of this type through the myriad of releases, with the only difference being the decals. Chilean, Jordanian, United States and German Extra 300s are all depicted in different boxings.

The Kit

Like the real plane, the model has a first appearance of being simple and basic, but upon a closer inspection there are more parts than first realized. This is a well-detailed kit, with one injection-molded tree, one vacuformed clear fuselage section, one injection canopy, and a resin propeller hub & blades. Construction is straightforward, with the interior being provided for by a floor, two seats, and a couple of instrument panels. This is a very basic interior considering how large the canopy is, so some Extra research will be needed to spruce this area up.

The fuselage is split in half and has window cutouts on the bottom portion under the wing. Not all Extra 300s had these cutouts, so again refer to photos to determine whether they need to be filled in or left open. The vacuformed parts for these areas will be tricky to apply as there's no locating stubs or anything. It might be easier to just cut out that entire section of the fuselage and replace it with the vacuformed piece (after suitably thinning down the insides so the interior doesn't look out of place). The wings and tailplanes are solid and are provided in right and left halves. The landing gear has a very delicate tail wheel on a thin strut and main wheels in spats. The wheels are molded in with the spats, making for some tricky painting. There are no locating pegs for either the wings & tailplanes or the landing gear, so again refer to photos and/or drawings to make sure everything is aligned right.

The example I received came with the Chilean decals and they are very nicely printed. The fuselage cheat lines are all included, as are numbers for all five performers. Painting instructions have you paint the plane in blue, white and red, with decals making the borders for all points except for the lower wing. This will make getting that perfect paint job much easier as you don't have to be quite as precise with masking.

Conclusion

This is very likely going to be the only injection-molded kit of the Extra 300 that we'll ever see, and while the interior may be lacking it is very definitely buildable and will add a nice spot of color on your shelf. With the LS Pitts S-2A and Amodel Pitts S-1A (erroneously billed as an S-2) & Sukhoi Su-26 you can end up with quite a nice collection of civilian aerobatic planes.