Extra EA 300L
Four Blade Propeller

Brengun, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 is a two-seat aerobatic monoplane capable of Unlimited category competition. It was designed in 1987 by Walter Extra, a German aerobatic pilot, and built by Extra Flugzeugbau.

Design of the Extra 300 was based on the Extra 230, an early 1980s monoplane having a wing made of wood. The Extra 300 has a welded steel tube fuselage covered in aluminium and fabric. The midset wing has a carbon fiber composite spar and carbon composite skins. A symmetrical airfoil, mounted with a zero angle of incidence, provides equal performance in both upright and inverted flight. The landing gear is fixed taildragger style with composite main legs and fiberglass wheel pants. The powerplant is a fuel-injected Lycoming AEIO-540 which produces 300 horsepower (224 kW).

The first two-seat Extra 300 made its maiden flight on 6 May 1988, with German type certification following on 16 May 1990. The single-seat Extra 300S flew on 4 March 1992.

The Extra 300 is stressed for ±10 G with one person on board and ±8 G with two. Some Extra 300s are registered in the experimental category under a Special Certificate of Airworthiness in the U.S., while others are type certified in the aerobatic category.*

* Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia

Brengun has released a 1/48 scale Extra aerobatic aircraft.

This is Brengun's second 1/48 scale Extra kit, the first being the three-bladed propeller version released in 2021.

Prior to this, Brengun released a couple of 1/72 scale Extra kits. The parts count and kit breakdown of the smaller relation are very similar to the 1/48 scale kits.

The new model differs only in the four-bladed propeller (the three-bladed version is still on the sprues though) and markings.

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Thumbnail panels:

Underneath the gorgeous box art, Brengun's EA 300L comprises just 46 parts in grey plastic, one part in clear plastic, a decal sheet snd printed instructions.

The plastic is smooth and satin in finish.

Surface textures are simple with a limited number of recessed panel lines and rivets plus some nice subtle stretched fabric effect on the rear fuselage.

Cockpit sidewall detail is moulded in relief on the inside of the full-length fuselage halves.

Cockpit detail is simple but adequate with seats, control columns, rudder pedals, instrument clusters and more.

Parts breakdown is conventional with full-length fuselage halves and wings presented as upper and lower, port and fuselage halves.

Horizontal stabilisers are one-piece each side.

As this is a limited run plastic kit, there are few alignment luxuries but the stabs do have locating tabs and slots. Elsewhere, just take your time lining up parts before applying glue and you should be fine.

The undercarriage includes spats and wheels moulded as one part each.

The canopy is not exactly thin but seems pretty clear of distortion. A dip in Future floor polish (or whatever it might be called in your neck of the woods) will improve it further.

The canopy opens to the starboard side on the real aircraft but the instructions do not mention this.

Marking Options

Decals are nicely printed and in register.

Three colourful decal choices are offered:

• Extra EA300L #1 Escuadrilla de Alta Acrobacia Halcones, Chilean AF

• Extra EA300L OE-CFV, Volker Fuchs, Austria Extra

• EA300L G-FIII, Roger Nagel

This is a straightforward kit of a very attractive aerobatic aircraft.

Recommended.

Thanks to Brengun for the sample

Text and Images Copyright © 2024 by Brett Green
Page Created 29 January, 2024
Last updated 1 February, 2024

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