Brodak Smoothie Weight Question

[craig charles]

ALSO POSTED THIS AT STUKA
I have built from a Brodak kit (not an arf) a Smoothie that is now primed and sanded and weighs 26 oz.  The hardware, landing gear, engine (OS40 FP), muffler, and tank weigh 17 oz. So total weight now is 43 0z... Read that wing loading should not exceed 14 oz./sq.ft. of wing, which puts the Smoothie at a max finished weight of 52 oz. ... Question-- If I use up 6 oz. in paint and come in around 49 oz. finished, is this still too heavy from other Smoothie's that have been built.  Don't have the experience to know how much weight will be added in the paint phase or to know how much a Smoothie should weigh.. Any guidance is appreciated
THANKS

[Paul Smith]

There's no real answer other than the lighter the better.  I built a 52-ounce green box Nobler.  I was disappointed, but some said it was OK.  I flew OK, but would have been better lighter.

My advice would be to go with a clear dope finish over colored silk or silkspan.  There are not enough appearance points to overcome weight.

[john e. holliday]

Anything within the 40-50 ounce range should be great.   Yes lighter is better, but some times weight is a help when it gets windy.   If you exceed 50 ounces you may have to fly just wee bit faster depending on line length and size.

[Mike Scholtes]

Hope this response is not too late to be useful. My ARF Smoothie with LA40, stock (fairly heavy) OS muffler, Brodak alloy spinner, and metal tank weights 51 oz without fuel and flys very well. I have used lighter mufflers to bring it down to about 49 oz but not much difference in flight characteristics. I built this as a fully take-apart model, which added about 2 oz due to hardware and stronger structure. Point is, a Smoothie in the 48-52 oz range should fly just fine. I also built a Brodak kit Smoothie, polyspan and dope finish, but not much difference in weight or or performance.

[phil c]

I built a Brodak Smoothie kit before Bob died.  Excellent kit.  Mine came out weighing 40oz with a Brodak 40.  It needed nose weight so I dropped in an LA 40 with a 3blade Master Airscrew 10/5.  It now flies much better even though it weighs 46 oz.  The extra power more than made up for the weight added to make it fly smoother.