I mixed up some touch up paint from some artists acrylic paint that matches the light blue on the bottom of the airliner perfectly. The acrylic paint does not harm the foam as some lacquer/polyurethane based paints can.

       I used two colors to make the light blue: Liquitex #2002-432 Titanium White and Liquitex #2002-316 Phthalocyanine Blue. I also picked up some silver to touch up the retract mounts under the wing. For that I have some Model Master #4678 silver acrylic.

       I used some of the Titanium White as a primer on the bare wood of the retract mounts. I let the paint dry a few hours before putting a coat of silver over it.

       I used a epoxy brush to paint the inside of the gear bays. The blue acrylic really covers the foam well.

       The silver paint took a few coats to get right and drying was required between coats. There may possibly be a better choice for the silver out there.

       Ahhh and she is finally done!!! I reweighed the airliner once more and it looks like she gained an overall 4-1/8 ounces after the conversion. The next step would be to see if she would fly the same as before, the real “proof in the pudding” if you will.

       I took the jet out to the local flying field to see how she would do. After doing a range check and bench test of the gear I rolled her out to the runway. I trimmed the steering a bit and lined her up for a takeoff. I applied full power and she picked up speed as she always had rolling gracefully up to a fast clip. I was careful not to jerk the plane off of the runway but there was no reason to worry as she gracefully lifted off very scale like with only a moderate amount of stick.
       She climbed out just as she had before with a nice and easy rate of climb. The airliner looked as real as any jet taking off from Ontario International Airport loaded with passengers anxious to get to their vacation spots and family reunions. I flipped the retract switch and the gear curled up nice and slow (thanks to the radio mixing of my transmitter). The airspeed seemed to be a little faster with the gear up but nothing phenomenal. I tested the vertical climb and it was decreased honestly about 15-20% but the retracted gear increased the planes scale flight appearance by 100%

                 See the E-Flight Airliner Retract Demo Video here!!

       I could not get over how real the airliner looked in the sky without the stock gear hanging off the plane. Most people would not be able to tell the difference in these photos between the real thing and the foam model.

       I flew the jet for a bit trying maneuvers I was able to complete before the conversion. The jet could loop and roll as before but needed good amount of airspeed for the loop. Although it really does not look very scale like looping an airliner and frankly the passengers don’t care for it either :0) I prepared for a landing and made a gear pass to check on the wheels. It really looked cool to see the 10 wheels swing out of the airliner and lock into place. I lined up the airliner for the approach and lowered the power to about 50%. As she got closer to the runway I slowed down the fans to 15% and she settled in nicely. The only thing missing was the chirp of the wheels as they touched down and little puffs of smoke swirling off the tires (possibly a new project? ;0).
       The E-Flight Super Airliner is quite a fun plane to fly with or without retracts. Although I may take it out more often now that I can take off it’s training wheels ;0)

             See the E-Flight Airliner Retract Demo Video here!!

       I hope you enjoyed this article and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks, Don Giandomenico

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