NEO,

The airplane is a 32% 3W Extra. The fuse is gel coated fiberglass and the rest of the surfaces are balsa sheeted foam that I glassed with .56oz. cloth and EZ-Lam epoxy resin. I was concerned with doing a glassed/painted finish on this type of plane, but I wanted to give it a shot (I have little interest in other types of planes). I managed to keep the weight gain to a minimum thus far by being careful on material selection and application. I have a target weight of 25lb., heavier than one would like for a 1/3 scale extra, but reasonable for this plane I'm told. I'm going to use a ZDZ80 single for power. I don't think thrust will be a problem, it's the wing loading that concerns me most.

I'm using an Iwata 100 gravity feed detail gun and an Iwata eclipse airbrush for the small stuff.

The reason I decide to paint this plane is to avoid the wrinkles that always develop in my covering jobs. I've tried a thousand techniques with that stuff and none held up. I've seen some professionally done covering jobs that sat in the sun all day and still looked great, but I think there's some voodoo magic involved.

Ben