Icaerodesign Extra 330-SC

[Out2gtcha]

As I needed something to distract me while the primer dried on the Tigercat, I broke the little guy out of the SOD storage shelf upstairs in my display cabinet. Almost couldn't even see the little guy back there!    

I forgot I blanked him in Tamiya fine white primer before putting him away; and not very well I might add............

 

 

So here is where I left off:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some definite filling needed here before proceeding:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I masked off the sides of the fuse, and top/bottom of the wing root and glazed the wing to fuselage joint with Tamiya putty after I took some 600 wet/dry to some high primer areas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got out all the flying surfaces, spinner, engine stand and other little stuff I had for the cockpit details,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not much yet, but since the Extra is nearly at the paint stage, Im thinking it could be a welcome distraction from where the F7F is at currently. 

I still as of yet, have not busted out the box containing the 10 or 20 or more copies of the canopy made for me by Hubert and another gent from Icaerodesigns. That is on the list for tomorrow, as its going to be needed pretty soon if Im actually going to paint. 

 

Cheers till next time,

 

 

 

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Damn that is awesome!

[Hubert Boillot]

I hope you can find one usable canopy in my parcel ...

 

I had not realised you disliked vac-form canopies so much. In fairness, there is no other way I could have molded the new canopy, as the kit's resin one has demonstrated it is far too flimsy for useful purpose. I destroyed mine trying to duplicate it for you (but it would have cracked anyway when trying to cut from its support for my own kit).

 

Hubert

Edited November 23, 2017 by MostlyRacers

[bdthoresen]

Nice work Brian- Extra tends to deal with the seam between the body top at the wing root with an extruded black rubber seal. you might be able to replicate it with a thin strip of styrene- it would run from the top wing trailing edge to the bottom trailing edge; all the way around.

Glad to see you are getting back to her....

THOR   

[Out2gtcha]

Hubert,

Not at all my friend!  Thanks to your canopies Im now back working on the Extra. You did me a HUGE favor, and I couldn't have started this back up without them. Cant thank you enough!!

 

 

Thor,

Good to know! I already filled that area, but may actually darken it with a wash or something similar.   My worry now, is that the paint masks are all out of wack. There are really large spaces in some of the mask areas, as some rolls of Oramask 810 seem to be really pre-shrunk badly, and some stretching can occur.  This appears to be what has happened to my Extra masks in this case.

 

I PMed Mamutel of Icaerodesign about it, and we shall see what he says. In this case, the masks may be bad enough that I can use them. In that case I have a cunning plan...................

 

I may end up cutting my own masks from 3-view plans and making up my own graphic design for the plane. This would lead me away from Jeffs mount, and it would become a what-if racer but that would be ok too, as I have several really cool thoughts in my head floating around for that idea.

We shall see what Mamutel says.

 

Thanks all! 

[Out2gtcha]

Well good and a bit of bad here too.............

 

I have taken a look at my OOB paint masks for this, and they are verging on unusable. Im not sure if its ALL rolls of Oramask 810, but my giant roll doesnt seem to have the tendencies that some rolls seem to have; and that is to be significantly pre-shrunk, so that when a mask or design IS cut out of it, the internal parts of  the mask off of some rolls tends to shrink and retreat from its cut borders, making the mask incomplete, and basically not the correct size.

 

That is what seemingly has happened to the Extra 330 mask set. Now, on my roll of Ormask 810 although I have not cut things out and had them sit long, I have seen no evidence of such shrinkage yet. 

I sent a PM to Adrian of Icaerodesigns, but not only have I had no response, he has not even read the PM yet. No clue if that is going to pan out or not. In the mean time, my "plan-B" for the paint masks/scheme would be to change it up, and design my own scheme, on my Silhouette cutter.  In the mean time, I have continued on with the necessary, which at this point is more sanding, filling and priming.

 

The little Extra got 2 or 3 rounds of filling and sanding after the initial layer of Tamiya Fine white, including sanding flush the previous gaps around the wing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some areas had some high spots, so they had to be flushed out down to the resin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time for another round of Tamiya Fine white primer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This also did not go on perfect, but because of the sanding and filling before this layer, I should be able to sand the imperfections out with 600 +, then on up to 1200.

Once Im there, I will determine if I need another layer of primer before paint. I will also be starting my secondary engine that was sent to me by Icaerodesigns that will reside on the custom engine stand for display.  I will also soon start to cut out a few canopies to see which one will be most suitable.

 

 

Cheers till next time! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawn M]

looks great in primer, smooooooooooooooooooooove

[ClumsyDude]

Looks really crisp, Brian. Great work!

 

Jim

[Out2gtcha]

Shawn, Jim, thanks for taking the time to stop in on me & post.    Well, I have not heard back from Adrian of Icaerodesigns. I found a previously listed picture of the masks from PB, and even from two years ago in 2015 when I started this, the masks looks way better than their current state:

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is currently much MUCH more separation of the mask parts, and with as intricate as they are, and as many layers as needed for Boerboon's scheme (also for as neat as I intend this paint job to be) , these masks are unacceptable in their present state. 

Since I have not heard back from Icaerodesigns on a replacement set, I have made the decision to make this a what-if scheme of my own personal design, coming up with a scheme via my Silhouette cutter/plotter and the upgraded software. 

This will not be an AI design, but with the upgraded software, I am able to create Vector file format images, and create all the masks for painting my own scheme that I would need. 

 

 

This means no more red, white and blue. I was not really fond of the scheme if I was honest any way. Now that the constraints of Jeffs scheme are out of the way, the sky is the limit with this new scheme!!!

 

 

 

I have come up with a design for the bottom, (top and bottom schemes on aerobatic ships are normally VERY/COMPLETELY different visually for identification purposes for ground personnel and judges),  but not the fuse nor top side yet.

 

I have however come up with my color combos:

 

MAIN COLORS:
- Pearl white

- Metallic blue

- Bright yellow (possibly with some metallic pigment thrown in) 

 

TRIM:

- Chrome 

 

 

I will be clear coating all of this, so the MRP chrome (which I have never used before) may take on a different hue, which is ok, I just want a really shiny smooth perfect (looking) paint job here, so Im going ALL out/ WHOLE hog on this paint scheme.

 

The new scheme will need some really intricate masks, so Im hoping Im not over my head here. We shall see!! 

[Guest]

OH MY !!........Harv

[Out2gtcha]

OH MY !!........Harv

 

 

Thanks buddy!    That was my reaction too when I made the decision.    Hopefully will be as cool looking in the end as it is in my head. 

[Guest]

Brian, I'm shure it will come out fantastic......Harv

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Just a thought....

Can you maybe lay Tamiya tape over the gap in the masks, and trace the outer boundary with a scalpel?

[Shawn M]

cant wait to see this, its gonna be a stunner!

[Leaning_Dog]

Hi Brian - Great to see this one back on the bench... looking forward to seeing what scheme you come up with. From what I've seen lately in the world of unlimited aerobatics the more colorful the scheme the better!  

 

Cheers!

 

John