Balsa USA Smoothie XL Build
 

With Check6 stopping his build I thought that rather than continuing my build in there I'd start another thread. He did a great job of documenting his work and I don't there's any value to repeating it here. You can find it here:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/kit-...-xl-build.html

#1: Finished installing all the cross-bracing. This is over and above what called for on the plans. I'm just an IMAC guy and wanted the extra rigidity. There was some play in the tail, a perfectly normal amount, not implying it's weak at all, and these few grams of added weight completely eliminated it.

#2: Installed the bottom sheeting and the tail wheel mount. I also mounted the main landing gear. That's just 8 screws and plastic straps. Not worth the bandwidth to post pictures.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190109http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190110

Signed on Pappy. Do you know why Check6 decided to sell his Smoothies?

Rich

Sorry, I got interrupted, Supper Time. I wanted to the end results of the build. He was very good about posting pictures, I enjoyed his work. I am happy you picked up the ball and continued the thread.
Pappy have you thought about becoming a member of the Balsa USA Brotherhood on the site. Lot of like minded folks, you would enjoy.

Keep up the good work
Rich

I've been laying off for a few days with the holiday's fast approaching and cold(er) weather arriving here in West Tennessee.

#1: I bought a new 2017 Dodge Durango Citadel and will be picking it up on Black Friday. The wife thinks it's for hauling family around but we all know it's my new hobby-hauler (she just said she knows too...damn!).

#2: Finished up the front gear mounts and installed the cooling hatch (I haven't cut the cooling slots in it yet).

#3: Tail wheel mount is done and the lower fuselage sheeting is installed and rough sanded.

#4 and #5: As I mentioned earlier, I've never in 38 years in this hobby successfully brazed steel landing gear wire together. Here's what it looks like. Not too bad for a first attempt. Best of all, I didn't burn the house down in the process!

#6: Got the Smoothie up on its legs finally.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190427 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190428 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190429 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190430 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190431 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2190432

Hi Rich,
I'm back. I will be posting my glassing and covering of the smoothie soon. I just picked up another toy 72 Nova Yenko tribute. When I need parts I sell my planes LOL. Anyway it didn't sell so, I will be finishing it. Stay tuned.

Pappy 35 as usual your work is impeccable Great Job!!! Keep posting I enjoy reading both threads and comparing notes.
Thanks and have a Blessed Thanksgiving
Fred Menna Check6

I got sidetracked by Thanksgiving and things are in "upgrade mode" at the moment. Upgraded the car, bought a bandsaw and drill press. Ordered 8 Savox SV-0220MG servos. The airplane is on a temporary hold while I get the bandsaw setup. I need to assemble the stand for it I got from Harbor Freight, then it's on to mounting the engine and picking up the build from there.

Hey all,

I ordered a Smoothie XL tonight for a winter build. This will be my first balsa build in a loooooong time. Looking forward too it. Thanks for posting info up here fellas.

Jeremy

I saw your posts elsewhere and was going to send you links to these two threads we have going here. Glad you found us.

Mine is on a bit of a hold while I add some power equipment to my man-cave. Like you, it's been forever since the last time I built a balsa kit; a real BUILD, not a mis-labeled ARF assembly. You are going to love this kit. Just having laser-cut parts is a huge step forward compared to die cut parts.

Oh, and as for that Harbor Freight stand. Total POS. It literally could not be assembled. I usually do OK with stuff I buy there (like my tool cabinet and a bunch of tools I use constantly). Not this time. It's the $30 one. If you're thinking about buying it. Don't. Haha...

Not directly build-related but I bought these 2x4 Basics (that's the brand name) legs cause I needed a table for my new band saw and drill press. After 45 minutes, most of which was cutting the 2x4's and ripping the plywood top and shelf, presto! New work table! Strong as hell, well engineered, quick to build, and inexpensive. Thought I'd share...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2192608http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2192609

What with all the gift shopping/buying, work, etc., I haven't had any time to make any progress on the airplane itself but I have enhanced my man-cave some.

Here's how this happened: I get to the step where I need to set the firewall position. To do this I need to MacGyver-up a jig of some kind to hold the engine in position. That and I also need to trim the firewall a bit as it's about 2mm too wide to fit. I thought "Hmmm wouldn't a band-saw make this easy!" For a band-saw I need a table (see previous post). And here I am, a month later finally back to making sawdust!

Pic 1 and 2: 2x4 Basics table assembled. I added a couple of coats of water-based polyurethane to seal the top and, once dry, I mounted my new Craftsman 10" band saw. I haven't figured out how I want to light the area though it'll probably be track lighting from Home Depot. For now though, I'm finally caught up enough that I can make my jig.

Pic 3: La Jig a la Al...looking at the pic I see it may be a little less rigid than I'd like. Might add more support before I finally get to mounting the firewall.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193562 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193563 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193564

I've never had a band saw before so I'm still experimenting with blades and different tooth sets and such. I made these parts with a 1/4" 24TPI blade. I have 14 TPI and 18 TPI raker blades coming in 1/4" and 3/16" widths just to see how they cut.

I've mentioned that I think the cowling is one of the nicest ABS pulls I've ever gotten in a kit, the pants though I didn't like because they come in halves and need to be fitted, trimmed. joined, filled, then sanded, ad infinitem...

My solution was to buy a set of pants. I chose a set made for a Great Planes Escapade 30cc. They are red but I can change that if needed. It'll be much easier to change a color on a well-prepped substrate that it is to build a set from ABS and get then to the same point. If I choose a finish that is red-ish I can use these straight away. Plug and play. They did a really nice job on the paint and the mount points. A pretty nice unit that for a pittance will save me a bunch of work. It's pretty large as you can see and can, barely, swallow a 3 1/2" wheel.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193567http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193568http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193569

Got my mounting jig all set up. At this point all it's doing is establishing the plane of the firewall which gets glued in next.

Pic 1: Here's the jig in position. I am going with about 2 degrees right and 1 1/2 degrees down. Why? Well every RC plane I've ever had has some down and right. I read one flight review somewhere stating that the builder used some right thrust and that it helped with upline transitions. I figured it would be easier to get a good, even, spinner fit now than it would have been to fix it later and I can offset the cowling as required pretty easily before I cover and paint. Besides, it's been awhile since I played with any trigonometry and I needed to get some practice in.

Pic 2: Shows the down angle. the angle looks more pronounced than it is, 1 1/2 degrees appears more pronounced than you might expect.

Pic 3: Shows the engine in place with the firewall in place (but not yet glued). I added supports fore and aft and a shim between under the crankcase so it's weight, cantilevered off the jig, wouldn't add more down thrust than I wanted. The mounting bolt markings, which I applied by measuring the offset of the thrust line, not by eye-balling from this position mind you, worked out really well. I need to move them up (down in this pic) as I hadn't settled on the down thrust when I marked them.

That's enough geometry gymnastics for one night. I'm gonna pick this up again tomorrow.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193674 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193676 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193675

Pic 1: After using the engine jig to define the firewall location, I drew lines and then added a basswood frame to give me something to bond to and set the firewall axial location and angular offset.

Pic 2: Once the three pieces were secured, I used Hysol E-20HP epoxy applied around the perimeter and then dropped the firewall in place.

Pic 3: Firewall clamped in place for the overnight cure.

If you haven't used Hysol, their applicator gun, and mixing nozzles, you've been working too hard mixing epoxy. I buy these from McMaster-Carr and the mixing nozzles are only 93 cents each if you buy a bunch at a time. I do use regular hobby-store 5-minute epoxies for regular use but for anything important I go for the Hysol.

The dispensing gun is item number 74695A71 $24
Hysol E-20HP is item number 6430A19 $15
Mixing nozzles are item number 74695A57 I like these as they are fairly short so there's less loss and they have a tapered tip which gives good access.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193726 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193727 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193728

Success!!!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193736 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193737

Pappy35 and Check6:
would like to know how you rigged up your rudder control rods/horns. Seems like the broad fuse tail prevents getting the horn attach at or near the hinge line. My plan at the moment is to cut a hole in the tail block. Was hoping one of you has a better idea.

I haven't gotta quite that far yet. Still messing around with the nose but I did just get my pull-pull hardware pushrods so that isn't too far off.

Yes, I jumped ahead wishing to ensure that I could get the control assembly in properly before sheeting the bottom of the fuse. After looking at the plan some more, appears that the "boat tail" shape of the rear will mitigate to some degree the perceived problem.

I used a large control horn gives plenty of clearance. I'm using a single fiberglass pushrod not a pull pull.

Pappy and Check6 - I was wondering if you could provide detail on how you're going to mount your on/off switches. Will they be exposed on the side of the fuse? Will you put them under the hatch? Something else?

I just started building mine. The first wing panel will be finished today. Appreciate seeing your progress and ideas!

Greg

I hadn't thought about it really. Putting it under the hatch would be troublesome as you'd have to remove and install it twice per flight (once for on and once for off). Given that this is a sport model, I don't really see the need to hide the radio and ignition switches or fueling port so I'll probably just mount them on the side somewhere.

Yes, but it is such a pretty sport model ;).

I find myself wanting to do better with each build. I may find a way to hide them when I get there. We'll see. I may ask Chad what he did on the prototype I saw at Toledo.

Greg

Well, make sure to post what you decide to do. I agree that the prototype was gorgeous so maybe hiding those bits would be a good idea.

It looks like Chad mounted his on the right side of the plane. If you visit http://shop.balsausa.com/product_p/435.htm and look at photo 8 (the one with the hatch off) you can see a switch on the right side. FYI it also looks like he went with two elevator servos.

I'm thinking about converting the hatch to have a couple dowels at the front. Then a spring loaded catch behind the canopy, along with a couple alignment pins at the hatch rear to keep it from shifting. That way the hatch is easy on/easy off without the hassle of the bolts. Plus the bolt holes go away.

We'll see when I get there ...

Greg

Control throws are not in my manual so, in case they're not in yours either, here's what I got from BalsaUSA.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194824

Holidays get in the way of progress (that's not a bad thing BTY) but I have been making a little here and there.

Pic 1 through 5: assembly of the nose section.
Pic 6: Opening up slots through the bottom hatch for cooling.

Next up will be mounting the cowling. This will be a little tricky since I've added right and down thrust and the cowling is molded with none but it shouldn't be too difficult.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194825 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194826 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194827 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194829 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194830http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194828