In the "Pilots' raffle" I won a Smoothie ARF at the Palmer Memorial contest this weekend.  First, which should I build first, the Oriental or the Smoothie?  Second, same questions as on the Oriental - what needs work.  I got some great tips from Bill Heyworth, who helped Bob Palmer check out the original prototypes, but I would love to get as broad an opinion as possible.

Bill's tips were basically:

1- punch out the bulkhead behind the tank area to allow a 4.5 ounce tank, and then mount the tank with the rear to the outside and front to the inside for killer engine cutoff.

2- the bellcrank and leadouts are OK, but replace the pushrods and clevises with higher quality arrowshaft hardware.  I need to get the name of the source, as I forgot to write it down.  Some guy in Texas makes a set to match the model.

3- reinforce the landing gear mount, it is hopelessly weak as made.

4- start with 1/2 ounce of tip weight, and if necessary, trim the inboard flap to prevent hingeing in hard corners.

5- the Brodak 40 is the ideal powerplant.

Any other suggestions or experiences out there?

Larry,
Since I did not get my OTS ship finished in time for VSC this year, I flew an ARF Smoothie.  I used a Thunder Tiger 36 in mine and once I got the right prop on it, it flew very well.  The Smoothie nose is much shorter than the Oriental, so the heavier engine hit the CG right on with a plastic spinner and one of the super light Hy-Flow mufflers.  Again, I set up the controls with more elevator movement than flap.

The airplane was straight and flew right out of the box.  The OTS pattern is not very demanding of the airplane, but it seems to have no bad habits so far.  With the gear location used on the Smoothie, it lands much better than the Oriental.

Steve

We have built several....mine flies real well, as do several others around here...

I suggest doing the about, and making the elevator to flap ratio 2/3 (more elevator)....I just cheated with the pushrods....the bellcrank to flap horn is fine, and slid a carbon tube over the rear....I also offset the rear horn so that it is external (easier to adjust the ball link).

We have found that an area tab on the outboard wing substantially reduces the "wiggles" and that tip weight isn't needed. The tab should be about 4 square inches....I used clear plastic.....

Be sure to seal the seams with oil based polyurethane....or NEVER get rain drops onto the stock covering.....

Have fun.....