Balsa USA Smoothie RC Plane Kit Build No 17, Wing Mounts Part 1

In this video I install the wing mounting dowel located at the center of the wing at the leading edge. In an earlier step, a slot was cut into the center front rib assembly to accommodate the wing dowel. In this step I have to drill a hole through the leading edge of the wing to expose the dowel slot. It was a little time consuming because I needed to make sure I didn't drill the hole off center from the slot. I also show how I located the correct location for the hole that is drilled into the front bulkhead that accepts the dowel. It's a tricky little step to make everything is lined up correctly. In the next video I will install the mounting block and bolts that hold the trailing edge of the wing to the fuselage. I will also show hot to measure and align the wing so it is in the correct mounting location on the fuselage in the next video.
The Balsa USA Smoothie kit is a 40 class (size) sport plane and has been around for a long time and is still readily available on the Balsa USA website. Balsa USA also has a larger version of the plane called the Balsa USA Smoothie XL. I will be using an OS Engines 46 AX2 glow engine to power it and Futaba S3004 servos, receiver, and 6J transmitter.
For this balsa kit build I use traditional rc plane kit building techniques. In each build series episode I will focus a different aspect of the build including the wing, fuselage, tail section rudder and elevator, engine mount, landing gear, tail gear, engine set up (OS Engines .46 AXII), fuel tank, servos and receiver (Futaba), Sullivan control rods and horns, Monokote covering, carving and shaping wood, using CA glue (Zap CA glue, Starbond CA glue), epoxy (JB Weld, Bob Smith Industries, Z-poxy finishing resin), Titebond Wood Glue, tools and everything thing else involved with building a radio control plane kit (RC Airplane kit).
I have been building, flying, crashing, modifying, and repairing radio control planes (RC Planes) for many years and enjoy sharing what I do with the radio control plane community, so I started RC Plane Tech channel for fun. I am not an expert, there are many different techniques to building radio control planes. A good way to learn about flying and building rc planes is to see what others are doing, that's what I do and that's why I like to share what I do. Thanks for watching my channel. Have fun!

[@gb741]

Love the "Smoothy"! love your video's! As a suggestion, had you glued in all of the bulk heads and left the second bulkhead unglued, you could have placed the dowel hole on it before installation, slid it over the wing dowel and moved it up or down to get the exact placement or intercept between the dowel and hole and then glued it to the fuse sides, trimming or adding to the top or bottom of the bulk head accordingly, saving you from having to elongate the hole to compensate for the miss alignment. You method works but is a bit more frustrating and work to get correct alignment between the hole and dowel. On a positive note, you are showing that one does not need to have lots of fancy tools to get the job done. To those that are long time builders your videos also illustrate how nice it is to have a few good tools such as a Fret Saw, micro Table Saw, small Drill Press and an electric sander or two. Especially when have to fabricate new parts or when building from plans. I am now subscribed and enjoying all of your videos. Thanks for all the effort to produce these videos. "New Bee" or "Old Fart Builder", we all learn from each other. All the best! GB

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi , thanks for the suggestions and insight. I do a lot of second looking back on the way I do things as I build and hopefully learn better and easier ways to do things along the way. I always appreciate the thoughts of others and have picked up a lot of tips since I started this channel. So your comments are much appreciated. I didn’t think about holding off on the bulkhead gluing until this step. That would have been helpful.

[@gogg62025]

Great video series. You certainly saved me a lot of time. Your concern about the cheesy 3/16 dowel was well founded. I maidened mine today and it sheared off with a not particularly hard landing. It’s been replaced with a 1/4 dowel

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Wow, congratulations in finishing the build. I still have some work. I hope you didn’t have a lot of damage. Now Im wondering if I made a mistake on going with the 3/16? Im thinking of filling that open space below the landing gear plate and wing with wood stock to brace the leading edge, so the wing “plugs” more into the fuselage. Ill try to remember to mention this . Thank for the info.

[@gogg62025]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech No damage. The landing gear block caught the wing, so it didn't entirely fall off. I was back in the air an hour later. The trick to replacing that dowel is to drill it out with a tiny pilot hole down the center and step it up a couple sizes at time until you get to 1/4. I too thought of filling in that gap between the block and wing. I might yet. For what it's worth, I powered it with an E-Flite Power 46 motor and that seems to be plenty. Flying weight, including 3200 4s battery, 4 lb 14 oz.. This was the first time I had to make no trim adjustments on the maiden flight. It flew right the first time.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Sounds like you did a great job on the build if you didn’t have to trim much. Thats great. Ill have to think about that dowel situation, good tip. Did u use the supplied wire gear or another type?

[@gogg62025]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech I used a Du-bro 60 size fiberglass gear. I wanted extra clearance because the electric motor is swinging a 13X8 prop. It’s kind of a heavy gear but I was happy to come in below 5 lb.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Nice. Im going with a gear set that survived from my Great Planes Escapade. Thanks for the info you provided, especially about the dowel. Sounds like you have a nice setup with the electric motor also.

[@cosmiccharlie8294]

That wing dowel hole could be made in a rectangular piece of ply floated and then glued to the former. Easy and perfect.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

I like that idea. I was worried that it may be on the small side.

[@cosmiccharlie8294]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech I remember fretting over that front hole on my four star forty years ago but i lucked out with it. I used thin ca on the threaded blocks in the rear. Drilled, coated the holes, tapped, coated the holes again. Worked well.

[@IamBlackdragon]

Comming along nicely. Great job

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Thanks! It’s a slow process.

[@kennethturner8212]

I recently purchased this kit because of you and your Chanel. I’m new to kit building, but because of how detailed you are in recording and walking us through each step, i feel comfortable taking on this build! Please keep doing what you’re doing! I know some people probably complain about how slow the process is with your style of documenting, but it makes a huge difference for us new guys! Once your build is complete, I will start mine! Thank you again, and Happy Easter to you and your family!

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. It does take some time. I would be done with it already, but the video work and editing takes a lot away from it. Based on my rate, I estimate Im still a fee months away of completing this. I have not done it all perfectly for sure. I do like to stress that all my “modifications” are just personal preference and are not necessarily needed to do. They are just things that I add. I have some confusion reading the instructions on this kit, so by building has some quirks in it. But overall if you fallow the instructions and take your time, check and double check before gluing or cutting and all that, you will do a great job. If you are watching my vid and have a question please let me know. I stress that Im no expert, but sharing how I do things and I know there are a lot of people out there doing it better or differently. We all develop our own ways and learn from others also. Good luck with the kit! It will be fun.

[@marcobuonavita2757]

sempre un gran bel video di un ottimo lavoro , con pazienza e tanta passione grazie per averlo condiviso e auguri di Buona Pasqua

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Thanks Marco, have great Easter also! Hopefully I’ll finish this by Christmas

[@michaeljohnston406]

In other Kits that I have built there is a suggestion of taken regular CA and cover the threads to harden the threads. I never had the threads pull out in my 45 year RC career?

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Ya, I have never had them pull out either. I think for me, I always looked at the CA hardening as a way to help the wooden threads hold up to just normal screwing the bolts in and out over time so they don’t get loose or sloppy? I will say that as I mentioned in the video, the “hardwood” that came with this kit is not very hard or high quality. It may have just been my particular kit. But the wood supplied was on the soft side. I was worried about the thread strength for sure and the CA really strengthened them up.

[@fergsrcenjoyinglife352]

Can i attach my fly baby wing this way? If i can figuer it out. Im getting ready to start building a flybaby.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Boy, not sure. I don’t know anything about the flybaby. But do you have the build instructions or plans? I’d follow that if you have them?

[@thebarronflights]

Why did you just mark the former on the plan and drill a 3/16th hole in to the former? 🤔 Then rest the wing in place and mark the leading edge as required. 🤭

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

If I understand your question, you are suggesting to mark location of dowel using the plans? Well the plans are not exact, they have some distortion probably because they are copies of copies. The instructions say don’t rely totally on the plans for alignment and such. Plus, my build is not exact either, so I just followed how they do it in the instructions and fit it. So line the wing up perpendicular and center to fuselage and make measurements from there. I hope that made sense. 😬