We were actually talking about a Somethin' Extra as the basis for our next plane if this one works out. I feel you need a high wing or plug in wings so you don't have to go between the float and the fuselage to get the wing on as you would for a low wing plane.

The modified Heckler isn't going to be pretty. The float is a wide, built up float about 2 inches wider than the Heckler fuselage. The Robart retracts are being mounted on hardwood rails glued to the underside of the fuselage. Nothing is going to be faired in or anything cosmetic. This is just a "house mouse" or working demo. The fixed tip floats are going to be screwed to the flat tips.

If this works, we would design a new fuselage and float, or buy a big float cut to our specs and widen the fuselage to match it so that when the float is retracted, it looks integrated with the fuselage. I figure we could use the SE wing and tail and make the fuselage 5" or so wide.

We have looked at mechanical retracts for the tips, but given the direction from where they actuate, the retract servo would have to be out next to the wing tip. It might be easier to just get another Robart set for the tips. It also might be necessary to jump up to .61 or .91 size to carry the extra weight. It ain't going to be a lightweight 3D plane, but float planes are heavy anyway.

I'll post some photos of the Heckler when we get the retracts in and mounted.