Icaerodesign Extra 330-SC

[Hubert Boillot]

Well done and soooooooo good to see you back on track ...

 

Hubert

Edited June 2, 2018 by MostlyRacers

[airscale]

true staying power in action

 

I am super stoked that you saw this through Brian, and it just goes to show what I always felt was true - that I talk total cobblers and my advice to walk away was clearly more evidence of that

 

brilliant job - and all the more rewarding for having beaten the SOD in a heated battle

 

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Awesome recovery, Brian!

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks gents!

 

Peter, I actually think it was sound advice.......and I surly was going to follow it.

K1s suggestion of injecting resin into a hole in the thin problem spot is something I had not thought of prior, but it worked a treat!

 

If, BIG if I can get the Extra done in time, I'm going to try to take it and my Ohka to the NATs in August, as it and my Ohka are small enough to fly with I think, if I can make a traveling container that will for in my backpack (Will likely have the base separate too to save room)

[Out2gtcha]

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRG!

 

 

Well, I just now took the 75lb + bucket full of misc screws, nails and assorted other metal junk off of the base. I have had this extra heavy bucket of metal on top of the base for the past week or two, hoping against hope that after all the work I put into sanding, filling and priming it again and again that the bucket would straighten the significant warp it had in it.

It was bad enough that the base did not set flat at all, and wobbled pretty bad.

 

When I first took the weighted bucket off of the base, it looked pretty decent, with only tiny noticeable warp.  I then took some another round of Mr Surfacer to it, as well as a final round of that white primer. Those are the pics I took above.................

 

After I photographed that last round of primer on the base, I set it aside. I went to fill just a couple tiny marks left by the heavy bucket and noticed it.....................that same warp was BACK. Only this time, a bit more pronounced.    *SIGH*

This was all part of the display plan I had in my head for the Extra, and it needs to get done, as I have a specific paint job I want to put on the base as well.   Well, not unlike Wile-E Coyote, its back to the drawing board.

 

 

I was hunting around for a suitable wood base from hardwood, and not the cheaper raw pine or whatever that round display base was made out of, as I figured hardwood/a more quality wood would be less apt to warp.

Then I found some pre-made, and  polished black acrylic bases that had some nice beveling on the tops of them.  They aren't especially cheap compared to what I can buy a similar sized wooden one for, but they are already beveled, and polished smooth, with ZERO chance of it warping, unlike the wooden one.  I also can justify the slightly higher cost as I can use the base for other stuff too.

 

Im ordering it online, and will be either a black acrylic 9"x9"x.75" base or a 10"x10"x.75 base, after I plan the build layout, and see how much room I actually need. Something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im hoping to smooth out this last round of filler on he extra this week, and be able to finally shoot the final layer of white. Once that is done, I can re-mask for the blue and shoot that. Once the blue is on, its all down to final detailing of the tail wheel and other bits, then on to final assembly.

 

Cheers, and thanks for dropping in on me. 

[checksix]

I've used MDF (medium density fiberboard) many times and have found that it's a pretty good alternative to wood. It's dead flat, grainless, smooth, easily cut, and takes paint nicely. After cutting and beveling, I seal it with 3 or 4 coats of polyurethane (choose water based for easy cleanup), sanding between coats. Then apply primer followed by color coat.

[Out2gtcha]

I have access to several places that have a nice selection of fiberboard, one even willing to cut it into custom sizes for me

 

 

It is way cheaper than acrylic, but I really like the smoothness and beveled edges of the acrylic. Plus, to me the extra cost is well offset with the zero prep time of the acrylic.

 

No filling, no sanding, no priming....nothing. All I'm going to do is rough up the top flat section to take some paint and apply my custom masks.

 

The fiberboard is an option, but in this case for the Nationals, I wanted to go with something a bit higher end, that in this case, required significantly less prep work, and in the end should be quite a bit more polished looking.

[Shawn M]

SO glad to see you soldiering on with this

[Out2gtcha]

SO glad to see you soldiering on with this

 

 

It really has felt like a war Shawn!    As Radu pointed out I started feeling like it would be a shame to come this far and not finish it. So far with some very helpful suggestions from LSP members I have been able to forge on with this little guy.

 

Another reason I want to finish it, is that it fits perfectly into the Nationals scenario in August;  Its small, and I can take it on the plane, its colorful and will attract the judges eye, and most importantly its in the perfect category for me, as the Civilian categories tend to be less populated than their military counterpart classes.  

[Out2gtcha]

Got it! 

 

 

 I'm just taking a break from masking, but gul dernit, if I didnt fix the fuselage depression issue completely! Its back to about as close to glass smooth as I ever could have hoped, and I've now even completed the masking for re-spraying the red. 

It will then be down to removing the red masking and masking up the Extra for the blue..........................which is where I was about 4 or 5 weeks ago. In this case it actually turned out better than before since the area in question that got damaged is now a lot stronger than it was before. 

 

Ill post pics a bit later, as I'm on a bit of a modeling roll, and will have the red re-shot and cured off by tomorrow. 

[Guest Peterpools]

HI Brian

What a journey but your homeward bound.

:popcorn:

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Ok,

So here is the photographic evidence. Im closer to being back where I was before this all started. Last coat of MRP white is down, and the effect is brilliant. The hard work of injecting the resin, and taking my time with filling and sanding really seemed to pay off. However hard it is to capture the smoothness of the surface, I attempted to use my hand/finger in some shots to capture the reflection of the surface to give a better idea of how smooth it actually turned out (harder than I thought it turns out):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im really happy with the fix, and after some 800 > 1200 > 3200 > 8000 wet/dry sanding the filling and paint really came around. The last layer of paint on was actually sanded from 1200 as I put a nice big set of fingerprints in each side of the cowl. This fortunately sanded out without issue, as the MRP stuff sands and buffs really well IMHO. 

 

The next step was to remove the old stripe masking and reapply the masking for the stripes, which are both red. I learned later after looking at the finished scheme that when I masked the two red stripes, I failed to take into account the blue was going to go over the cowl in a specific shape. Im hoping this wont be an issue,  as the stripes are both very straight looking in all the pics I have and thats how I masked them, so Im hoping they just line up with where the blue is going to go. If they are off when I start to build up the blue masking, I may have to re-shoot the red stripes to accommodate the shape of the blue on the upper forward fuselage. 

*FINGERS CROSSED*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE.................

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

This weekend was also spent putting in a little time toward Phoenix and the US IPMS Nationals. The current plan is to take my MXY-7 Ohka, as well as this. I took the time to make a carrying box for the two together that conformed to American Airlines "Personal Item" size standard which is less than, 18 x 14 x 8 inches / 45 x 35 x 20 cm as I will have the two models as my only carry-on.  Pretty amazing after I made it that not just one but two LSPs are able to fit into one box that is 16" x 12.5" x 5". 

This box is made in my typical foam cord board shipping box standard with a mix of 1/2" and 3/16" foam board and is all completely reusable, collapsible and generally self supporting even outside the box. The two models will rest side by side, with the Extra on the left facing away, and the Ohka on the right facing toward me. The little pink square of foam trapped at teh bottom (the way the box is assembled, keeps the foam box together and at the bottom) contains the dolly for the MXY-7:
 

 



 
 
 
 
 
Thanks to pressure/tension mounted removable boards with foam contact points, once the box is shut it traps the whole thing in place:
 

 






A big thumbs sideways from Benjamin. He doesn't care either way as long as he gets to sleep in the sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

Ill let the red harden off overnight tonight and will strip the masking for the red to get set to see if I can shoot the blue. If the stripes are ok, then Ill re-mask for the blue and shoot that this week I hope.

 

Cheers till next time 

[Guest Maxim]

Great save Brian! Like any good surgery nothing escapes without a jab or two with a needle. Even your cat is content now that dad's happy.

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks! The repair turned out about as good as I could have hoped for. Now I can only hope the stripes line up so I can proceed to the blue