The Smith Miniplane is a conventional singlebay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span braced with Nstruts and wires.The Miniplane design has fixed undercarriage with a steerable tailwheel and although designed with an open cockpit, many have been fitted with canopies. The fuselage and the tail fin are of a conventional truss design constructed of welded steel tube and covered in fabric, and the wing spars and ribs are made from spruce and also fabriccovered. A variant has been built with an allmetal wing construction.

Engines used by builders are generally the 65hp (48kW) Continental A65, 85hp (63kW) Continental C85 or the Lycoming O235 of 100 hp to 125 hp (75 kW to 93 kW).