Dang Brian, that really is a great looking Smith. I used up every piece of scrap covering in my shop for mine, looked like something out of a circus!! The reason I went to the OS .70FS was the .46 OS I had in it didn't fly the plane well enough for me. The other reason was I had the .70 on hand and it wasn't doing anything at that time. As for the ground handling with the bigger engine, I was in control of the throttle so there wasn't any great difference in how it wanted to get away from me. I'm sure Brian is correct though and the .56 may be a better choice?? I just didn't have anything smaller on hand. My Smith came out very tail heavy but it's been so long I can't remember how I set up all the gear. I did have two aileron servos though, it's just easier for me to set up two then one. The two degrees of Diff just helps the roll rate. Try flying it once without it then try it with Diff and see what you like best. I find it helps with bipes and I test most of my planes to see if they work better with it or without it, only takes a minute to change it in the radio.

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: x-small">well i made a little progress today. cutting the angles on the connecting sticks was more of a challenge to get them perfect than i initially thought they would be. for some reason, i cant find my razor saw miter box. don't know what i did with that. buta little sanding to get rid of the ink from SIG and the edges trued up perfect, and she'll be ready to throw together a little more. here's the pics.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: x-small">well, time to check out the wing for a bit while the fuse sides are drying. </span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">when you built yours, you had the servos in the wings? how did you do this? were you using mini servos? i was wanting to do the same, but if i hold a standard servo, bottom to the rib or the drawing, the base of the servo is too think for the wing area.</span>

Depending on the terminology of your radio end throw may or may not work. If your using a computer radio with two servos they both need to be plugged into different channels, and both ailerons should start and stop moving at the same time with the downward aileron deflecting less. Torque is not the real culprit with ground handling in models or most A/C for that matter. Short of High performance full scale A/C torque is minimal. P-factor is the real culprit. Read up on it if you haven't heard of it. It will make what the plane is doing more obvious. A great book to read for anyone in this hobby is "Stick and rudder: an explanation of the art of flying" by Wolfgang Langewiesche. It will make you understand your A/C like never before. Truly understanding the theory of flight is the best way to enjoy this hobby. A larger engine will mean a larger prop therefore more P-factor. You can reduce the prop diameter and increase the pitch to lessen the effects of P-factor though this will also increase the ground roll and the top end speed a little. It also tends to take a little longer to slow down, but bi-planes don't usually have that problem. It is usually best to stick near the recomended engine size until you have more experience with this type of A/C. Above all learn to use the rudder.

Oh boy, here we go...

You disagree?

Not entirely.

Crash,

Have you put thought into putting both servos in the center of the wing?

You could use either golden rod or ..... stupid me, the correct name isn't coming......pivot arms (This is stupid! I use them frequently!!!)...

I'll look.

It's a bellcrank. Brainfart!!!
Brian

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: x-small">bell cranks...i know what you mean. my cub was supposed to have the golden rodsrunning from the center of the wing out to the bell cranks and then to the ailerons. then my 300 extra i built from a set of rich uravitch plans has the same setup, but was supposed to be torque rods. and here we go, what??? i know how totakeoff,fly and land.i know what p-factor is and does to the plane, all my planes are tail draggers,it makes it all crazy. i'll definitely check out the book. thank you brian.

cfir, are you a pilot or engineer or something? i usually get alot of lip from aircrews. usually off my zipper... and yes, i'm a crew- chief.</span></span>

This might be a stupid question, but did you try them laying on their side or just straight in like most aileron servos are at the wing saddle?

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small">yes, laying them on their side would put the bottom of them against the rib. unless i wanted them sticking out the top AND bottom of the wing.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-size: x-small">and no, not at the wing saddle. i want them out on the wing with direct control.</span></span></span>

Yes I am a pilot and also flight line avionics on F-16's so I guess thats a double wammy. I meant no disrespect I have just found that many have never heard if it. I figure TMI is better then not enough.

They do make low profile servos for just that application, just a little pricey.

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: x-small">wow... a pointy-head pilot. that's your double wammy, alright.i meant no disrespect, either. just usually the pilots and engineers that think they know too much and the rest of us don't. BUT ANYHOO...back to the aileron thing.i thought about the low profile servos for the ailerons, but looking at the thickness of the ribs at the thickest area is still pretty small. right around 3/4 at the thickest of the wing.the servos, i think, are 3/4 or so of an inch thick. i'm not sure if they make mini servos with enough torque for this application or plane. especially if i'm going to be throwing it around like a bat out of hell someday. i'd like at least the same amount as the standard 3004's.

i have some pic's of the cowl after sanding the **** out of it to get rid of the step on the top and bottom where the joiner seam was, but my stupid camera died before i could get the pics on my computer. won't work with it plugged into the port with a dead battery. leave it to nikon to think of some crap like that. you have to take the battery out to charge it too. they'll be here tomorrow. need to do some sanding and putty filling on it still, but it's primed to start with.</span></span>

Funny thing is half our shop are pilots, we even had one of the younger guys get a pilot slot. There are some really high torque micros out there with metal gears. I would stick with a name brand even though it can get pricey. I think as far as the benefits go it is well worth it. I agree direct attachment is far better. It is too hard to keep bell cranks from getting sloppy, golden rods bind too easy, and too much flex from torque rods.

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small">i never have problems with any of it. i just prefer short runs. i really don't like the torque rods, just it makes things interesting when you have to repair your ailerons and there's a rod glued inside it while trying to remove it.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small">well. sitting here at work on saturday with no jet or work to do has provided great time to reflect on my priming job of the cowl. i got it all sanded back down to see all the little dimples and pits thet need to be filled before priming again and then painting. with the cowl being glass, is there any specific stuff i need to use or will the bondo stuff be just fine? i don't have any resin mix on hand, and am planning on using automotive paint for the final coloring of it. i probably won't paint inside just to avoid the thoughts of the paint not playing well with the nitro. i'm going to try to get as close to the transparent red coloring without having to mix paint since i have no gun to squirt it with. rattle can, baby!!! i'm sure there's some kind of little bit darker red paint for automotive engines that would work great.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small">just found it... where do you get this stuff at? an automative joint or like a home improvement store?</span></span>

<span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">so after a brief stop at the ole McD's and napa auto parts, i found 3M's bondo glazing and spot putty and a can of bad *** duplicolor "chrome red" spray paint. sweet!!! so, off to filling pits and patches on the cowl, i go...</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: small">not sure how that happened. supposed to be edited for lack of spelling knowledge.</span></span>

Crash- allow me to recommend the Saito 62 for your Mini. It's the perfect engine for this model. I have mine with flex-pipe exhaust, and it sounds like a vintage full-scale when it flies by- awesome. [sm=thumbup.gif]

When I said a long time ago it was a very long time ago. I just went out to the shop and pulled down a 60 size Aeromaster I have and the wing servos are mounted on there sides right on the hatch cover. If you look you can see a servo bump. The other shot is just another way to mount servos. I use four different ways and a fifth if it is a scale plane with a thick wing. I'm really not much help on the Smith because it was so long ago. At that time I was into WW1 planes and the bipes just before WW2. When you get to the wing just stop and think about how you can get a servo to work in your wing, the answer will come to you. The mini servos like the HS 82 have the torque needed for your plane but the servo motors are pretty small and will burn out quicker depending on how you fly and how often. With the standard size servos that are tapered that are made today I don;t think I would go mini. Go to Tower and Servo City and look at the different sizes you can get today. I'm sure you will find something for your use.

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-size: x-small">a couple of pics of the cowl primed. it's sanded down now and done with the putty, but needs the finish sanding, yet, before being painted up. the 3M bondo glaze and spot putty is awesome stuff. i was sceptacle at first when i squeezed it and some oily looking stuff oozed out, but then it turned "normal". you can kind of see where some of the repair areas are with the primer on there, but not as bad as before it.</span></span>