Blueprints for non-researchable items

I wish to create a plugin that makes non-researchable items researchable, such as the LR300. I'm still in the early phase of getting to know the code base and understanding how everything fits together. So far I'm struggling to figure out how the blueprint system works. Can anyone point me in the right direction in terms of creating the before-mentioned plugin?

 

I tried making this work. Successfully spawned an LR300 BP and learned it. Still could not craft.

Have to add it to ItemManager.bpList

So I made a new ItemBlueprint for the LR300 to add to the bpList. Unfortunately, won't work without a target item.

Code:

public ItemDefinition targetItem
  {
    get
    {
      return (ItemDefinition) ((Component) this).GetComponent<ItemDefinition>();
    }
  }

Can't mess with it directly. I tried .AddComponent but it barked at me:

error CS1061: Type `ItemBlueprint' does not contain a definition for `AddComponent' and no extension method `AddComponent' of type `ItemBlueprint' could be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?

Anyone know how to add an ItemDefinition component to an ItemBlueprint?

After adding the new ItemBlueprint to the bpList, a new item did sort of show up in my weapons crafting menu. But it has no icon and you can't click on it. It shows up as a blank space.