Great Planes Extra 300S 40 Product Review

For my grandfather, and my father as well, the memories of aviation are about wars and military craft which kept America free. The aviation of their youth were Jennys, and Sopwiths, then Corsairs and B-25s. As a child I thrilled to listen to my grandfather talk about WWI and the early aircraft that kept us safe. I have reveled many times in listening to WWII pilots' explanations of the incredible trials they endured to protect our country. And to these craft and their pilots I am eternally grateful. Because of them my youth (and even more so my daughters' youths) have been less focused on military craft to keep us safe, and more on the aeronautical feats of such marvels as the Space Shuttle and the X-15, and on such aerobatic genius as Walter Extra. It is with great pleasure that I believe my daughters will never see a fighter, a bomber or tanker, except at an airshow or near a military base; that for them aviation can focus on civilian transportation and striving to excel beyond the laws of nature. It is with great pride that I can say birds like this one are the planes of MY youth.

And surely Walter Extra's line of hand crafted aerobatic masterpieces are just the type of planes that my daughters' aviation memories will be allowed to focus upon. The first of these ultra-light-weight, composite-constructed graceful superstars—the 230—took the aerobatic arena by storm in 1984, and its descendants continue to do so year after year. The next, the 260, was a hand built prototype for Mr. Extra himself which later helped Patty Wagstaff to become the first only woman to be the U.S. National Aerobatic Champion—3 years running—and led her to exceptional placings at the World's upon each attempt. The 300 is an aircraft that needs no introduction, which is so popular that it has spawned an ever-growing line—the 300L (a twin seat low wing—the latest addition) and a single seat low wing, the 300S.

I could ramble for hours with all I've learned about the history of the Extras, and this plane in particular, but for me this quote from "Private Pilot's" November 1992 cover story says it all:

I see it unfortunate that ... energy has never been adequately focused on a less tangible, but no less significant, aspect of aircraft design...basic handling qualities.... When someone makes the sacrifice and takes the time to put it all together, a gem is born....The Extra...has met its performance goals without sacrificing handling qualities one iota. Hallelujah!...The Extra 300S is a 300-hp, single-seat monoplane designed expressly for world-class aerobatic competition....[The extras are] both capable and predictable. And they're easy to fly.

We experienced our biggest disappointment of the entire kit when we first opened the box—a severely creased canopy, apparently from shifting within the box and some type of fiber caught in the mold—which Great Planes immediately replaced for us. Otherwise, the die cutting was excellent, wood quality was typical top notch Great planes. It was immediately evident that gone was the balsa shape-and-sand blocks of the UltraSport, Skybolt, and Sportster series. We were thrilled to see high quality aluminum gear and lock-and-tab plywood fuselage sides with large lightening holes. If we weren't excited to build this aircraft before the kit arrived, we certainly were now!

Included was a 2 piece ABS cowl; we selected Stans Fibertech's ProLight aftermarket cowling instead. The stock cowl requires spacers which fit it lifted away from the fuselage sides, leaving a rather odd-looking gap. Stan's Fibertech cowl has been redesigned (after the prototype shown in the photos here) to have a clean, snug fit around the fuselage sides and allow the ventilation out the bottom instead.

The hardware package was very complete, including cloth hinge material and axles. The decals, like the wood, are typical Great Planes' quality—top of the line, sharp but subtle, not oversized or gaudy. The accessory list on page 3 of the fully detailed 47 page manual clearly detailed the few items needed, and we were ready to get started.

This 47 page manual made for easy reading the evening the kit arrived. Included with the manual was a sheet of 4 updates. These updates were perfect—"go to page x step y, change dimension from 26 to 26 1/4", etc. The instructions were crystal clear, and included my 2 favorite parts of Great Planes manuals—"Expert Tips" and "The Trim Guide". Expert Tips are quick instructions on easier ways to handle such items as building wing sheeting and covering techniques. By far our favorite of this manual was how to mark your motor mount to drill. Their idea to place the motor on the mount, then use a heated steel rod to mark the center of the location for the motor mount screws is as simple as it is effective, and is a trick we will use from now on. Thanks, Great Planes! The Trim Guide is a trusted old friend we have Xeroxed from every UltraSport manual we have ever handled. It is an excellent reference for setting up and trimming your model for a variety of concerns, from CG to lateral balance, one we would never be without.

The stick?frame tail fell together with ease, and was completed quickly and without difficulty. The only place we differed with Great Planes instruction in this arena was hinging. We prefer not to hinge until after the model is covered to avoid double slotting and risking weakening the glue joint.

Wing construction was surprisingly pleasant. Instead of being tabbed on only one side, the ribs were tabbed on top and bottom—the tabs on top are used to keep the wing flat; the tabs on bottom are used to set dihedral. Great Planes has done it again—pure simplicity. The wing is build upside down with tabs on every rib, ensuring that the wing will be as flat as the builders' surface. The instructions are clear about pinning the tabs of the ribs, not the spars, to the work surface, because the wing is not constant chord. The spar is actually off the work surface at the tips.

One of the updates with the instructions is to cut the lower wing sheeting to size. When we tried to sheet the bottom of the wing, however, the sheeting was still 3/16" too large to fit in front of the dihedral-setting tabs protruding from the ribs. By trimming this sheeting 3/16A, the bottom side of each wing panel was easily sheeted without removing these tabs.

Once the bottom of the wing was sheeted, we simply flipped it over onto the tabs protruding from the underside of the wing, carefully sanded the spars fit, and joined the halves. Great Planes even provides a Dihedral Gauge to be certain your wing is flat and each half matches, as a second safety measure. Nice touch, Great Planes.

Before we knew it, we were looking at framing this lock-and-tab fuselage. It took very little looking, though—it fell together like a jigsaw puzzle. In no time, a boxed fuse sat before us drying.

We search for simplicity and time and weight savings in everything we build. More than 90% of this plane is designed with exactly these concerns in mind. The tabs for dihedral are a great example. The lock and tab construction of the fuselage, too, made it a breeze to frame. The fuselage belly, however, is sunken below the fuselage sides and sheeted for a scale appearance. This construction technique was a little awkward. For simplicity and scale appearance we would have preferred a lock-and-tab plywood fuse bottom flat across from the fuse sides (cross-grain balsa would be another alternative), with a pair of stringers below this fuse bottom to create the scale shaping. However, the instructions were clear and precise, and this approach works well. The turtledeck, too, has sheeting up each side onto stringers, with a balsa block on top. A quick glance in our scrap plywood box was rewarded with a piece of 1/64th light ply which we decided to use to replace this sheeting and save the sanding time and dust.

Another pleasant surprise as we completed the fuselage was a small plywood hatch on the top of the fuselage, covered by the cowl, that allows access to fuel lines and the tank stopper. Congratulations again, Great Planes, this is simple as can be and amazingly helpful.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about the design of this wing. It's strength, fit and style really impressed me. The leading edge of the center section of this wing is cut out and recessed 4", slipping onto rather than into the fuselage, and locating with twin wing dowels. A belly pan is then built up onto the underside of the wing, with a plywood mounting plate glued to the trailing edge stock at about a 35 degree angle, which is carefully mated to a wing bolt-down plate at the same angle on the fuselage belly. The trailing edge then bolts down with a single nylon wing bolt at a 35 degree angle through these twin wing-bolt-down-plates, with access via a hole in the belly pan.

This construction style offers multiple benefits—the ply plate on the fuselage is already a structural member which is not duplicated with an additional wing-hold-down block. It is fully tied into the fuselage, to help take the blow of a hard hit to a wing panel. It has a sharp, sleek scale appearance. It also allows the gear to be mounted in the fuselage where it is carefully tied to the structure of the fuselage, while still being properly placed for excellent ground handling.

The landing gear mounts were straight forward and easy to work with. We mounted the gear exactly as indicated, in the fuselage under the recess in the wing, and it has worked exceptionally well. We immediately checked that the aircraft balances between 15 and 25 degrees above horizontal at the thrust line, to ensure proper ground handling, smiled at the proper gear placement, and went on with the plane.

My brand new OS46FX had 3 tanks of fuel run through it before mounting quickly and effortlessly in the 300S. The Expert Tip to use a heated rod to mark the motor mount screws simplified the most difficult part of the task. We drilled a single hole in the fuselage side for a Great Planes aluminum fuel line plug to protrude from the aircraft as our ultra-light-weight and fool-proof fueling system. The Slimline exhaust fit the motor perfectly, and settled inside my cowl quite nicely.

I could probably spend the next two hours re-reading the entire manual, trying to find something that was omitted or unclear. And I might find a misspelling, or one or two words I would have changed for clarity. But that would be all. In typical Great Planes' style, this manual is crystal clear with exceptional black-and-white photos for nearly every step, excellent diagrams, and straight-forward easy-to-read English. Two thumbs up on the manual and the plans, without a doubt.

My baby extra is covered with MonoKote's missile red, insignia blue and true white. Such a sweet, straight forward design covered with ease and lent itself well to this favorite covering scheme of ours. Of course, the tail fillets were a challenge to cover, but that cannot be helped. We paint with the DuPont Chromatic 2-part automotive clear-kote system, and were pleased with the result. The single layer Pro-Light glass cowl flexes, and so requires a flexible paint to avoid cracking and chipping.

My 300S was test flown on my 11-year old's JR388. A JR4001 for throttle operation is accompanied by a JR4131 servo on the ailerons, one on the rudder and one for the elevators. The wide, scale fuselage allowed plenty of room for easy radio installation, and the plans and manual were clear. I set my throws to their exact recommendations. My 800mAh battery pack and receiver were placed slightly aft of the recommended location to balance the aircraft, and she was ready to fly!!!

Ah, the best part of all. I grew more and more excited as the days past during the week it took to get this plane constructed. This little aircraft was shaping up to be much more than I had anticipated, and I was most anxious to see if it flew as terrific as it looked.

Now I have never flown the maiden flight of an aircraft before. Ever. Michael has always done this for me. So the adrenaline rush as I pointed this tiny beauty down the runway, applied throttle and fed small amounts of high rate rudder is one I had never known before. I was prepared for anything—anything except what I received. Instead of a hot, racy handful of an aircraft which would simply be fun to toss about the sky like a FunFly, in my hands was the sweetest, truest, best-mannered little plane I could have ever imagined. It lifted off without effort, took a small amount of up elevator and a few clicks of rudder, and graced the sky with its presence in a manner enviable by any pattern plane. After 2 trim passes, I put it through the 1996 IMAC sportsman pattern, with cute comments coming from the peanut gallery around me that I was scoring 2-2 points higher per maneuver than I ever had with my Bucker.

I can't say enough about how it flies. It's stall and spin characteristics are as predictable as my desire to fly this plane. Rolls are crisp and snaps are exciting, with an extra 1/4 turn over-rotation. Inverted flight took a fair amount of push, but not enough to keep me from trying an inside-outside cuban 8 in this first flight. It is responsive but not twitchy, with plenty of power and tail authority. It is the most confidence-inspiring aircraft I have ever flown, and I can only give one example to truly validate that—I had never done a knife edge loop, but the knife edge was so smooth, so stable (with less than 5% mixing required for rudder/elevator), that I went to high rate one pass and asked for Michael's instruction. The little extra and I performed our first knife edge loop together on our first flight. (Now, of course, it looked a lot like my first loop 3+ years ago, but it did complete the loop despite my ineptitude!) I suspect there will be many more firsts for this little sweetheart and I. I knew immediately I would compete both IMAC and pattern with it in 1997.

It landed with a pattern-like long glide path before I touched the main-gear-only for a flying touchdown. The low wingloading and the perfect gear placement have since made for numerous "greased" landings. The rigid tail wheel assembly does make for a rather harsh "step" on take-off as the plane transitions from tail wheel to rudder; I may replace this with a spring assembly in the future.

Knowing I'm a less than perfect judge of an aircraft's aerobatic capabilities, (and dying to take pictures of this little masterpiece), I allowed Michael his one (AND ONLY!) flight (if he wants to fly one, he can get his own!) He confirmed everything I had to say about the little plane, and performed much of the 1996 Unlimited IMAC routine for me, convincing me that if needed (and allowed!), he could place admirably in Unlimited flying this .40 sized aerobat. I can provide it no higher compliment.

I can't say enough nice things about this airplane. The kit is reasonably priced, exceptionally well designed, and quick and easy to assemble with top notch components and instructions. When we build Michael's, we will change the belly pan as discussed above, and go to a spring tailwheel. I have no doubt it would fly off grass, thanks to the top quality aluminum gear mounted to the fuselage for support. Michael wants a .70 4-stroke in his, and I have no doubt this aircraft would accept the additional weight, but I prefer the lightness and reliability of my OS46FX. We spent less than 40 hours on the 300S (including the analysis of the kit and modifications)—we opened the box on a Tuesday morning, and I came home from work Friday night to my completed plane, just waiting for paint to dry. I hope the photos demonstrate to you just how well this little plane presents in the air, and how difficult to tell it is just a little 40 sized play plane. The approximate cost of my new baby, without radio gear, is $350. And she is worth at least twice that.

Congratulations, Great Planes. I suspect we will end up having built as many of these as the Ultra-Sports. The 300S is yet another Great Plane.