Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

I was pulling some old airplanes out of storage from the basement the other day, and found a vintage .049 powered "Buttercup." Not sure if anyone knows what that is, but it's a good candidate for an electric repower being that it spans only about 2 feet. Trouble is, the wing is warped pretty good, and it's covered with that old fabric texture covering (Solortex?) from the 70's. How can I get the wing back to normal, or do I have to build a new one? Obviously it needs to be recovered with something newer and lighter, but the warp still has me at a stopping point. Thanks.

Combat Addict

How is the material applyed? If heat, then try using heat to soften it up. If glue, try a solvent. Can you give me more info?

Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

I believe it's just an iron on covering. I've managed to unwarp it a little bit by twisting the wing and applying a heat gun to it, but it just goes back to the way it was within a couple of days. Either way, the covering will have to come off. The frame will probably still be warped. How do I deal with that?

rockmon

I would wet it down and hold the warp out of it and dry it with a heat gun. You might have to warp it a little in the other direction while you dry it and when you let go it should be straight. Or soak it down in the tub for a while and pin it down straight till it's dry. This is with the covering off of course. I had to add some washout to the wing of a Decathlon from he!! that I owned and wetting it, twisting it while drying was the way I did it.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

Wetting works even better if you use a 50/50 mix of ammonia and water. Spray it out of an old "Windex" style bottle. Pinning it flat to a surface might take most of the warp out but the wood, once dry, will always spring back a little bit. In my experience, it is necessary to twist the wing the other way a little bit so that when it dries, the tendency to "spring back" will work to your benefit.

rockmon

Yah I forgot about the ammonia. Does anyone know what the ammonia does other than keep you away from the wing until it's dry?