Fred420

My Feedback: (1)

I am rebuilding an old, 25yr, aircraft. I do not know make or model, but it is a trike with a top wing. Anyway ........ the right side of the fuselage is fuel soaked. I stripped the covering off and have lightly sanded but can not remove the sticky oil feel off the wood. I know I need to get to bare wood to have the covering adhear to it

........ any suggestions as to clean it up?


Thanks,
Fred

Rubbernecker

My Feedback: (22)

K2R and a heat gun. After a couple or 3 applications and before trying to recover you should put balsa-rite or something on it to help.

John

The heat gun is to speed things up. Also helps to bring the oil to the top.

83scamp

I'll second that. K2R spot remover and patience. The stuff is incredible. It's getting harder to find, but look for a local Ace Hardware store. There are a couple of places online that sell it, but you have to buy it in a 6-pack, and that would last most of us two lifetimes!!

You have to give it time to work. Spray it on, and let it set overnight. When the white, chalky K2R turns yellow and gets "doughy", brush it off and give it another coat. Keepdoing it until it stays white and chalky, then you've got it.

kenh3497

Some body mentioned mixing acetone and corn starch. Brush/spray/slather it on. Works much the same as K2R. I've never done the acetone/cornstarch thing, but K2R dies work well.

Sessholvlaru

You can also try covering it in cat litter/speedy dry for a few days.

RC_Fanatic

My Feedback: (1)

Tried that. Did not work nearly as well as K2R.

KitBuilder

Brush on epoxy once done.

Ed Smith

I tried that. The two cats thought it was their new litterbox. Need I say more?

Ed S

KitBuilder

Next question... how do you remove cat pee from balsa

Ed Smith

It was the dark brown, sticky, smelly stuff that was the problem.

Anyway with a name like "Kity builder" you should know.

Ed s

Lloyd

My Feedback: (1)

Years ago I bought some "whiting Compound" from Brownells.
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...-prod1133.aspx

The same process that removes oil from gun stocks also works well for balsa. Its a powder you mix with a solvent (I've used acetone, alchohol, MEK, etc.) into a paste that will dissolve/thin the oil. It then draws oil out and into the powder. Some heating also aids the oil transfer. Leave alone until the powder darkens. Scrape off the oily paste and reapply until the the paste dries white and free of oil. Sometimes I'll use a flat iron to heat the dried paste to see if more oil will leech from the wood. When no more oil will come out you can glue, sand, or apply heat coverings to the balsa (I haven't tried paint). It also lightens the balsa nearly to the weight of when new.

I've used KR2, prior to the discovery of whiting compound. It worked as well in the old days. But, with recent formulation changes, not so much. It's also more expensive than whiting compound if you do a lot of repair work.

Cheers,

pschulte

I've sprayed brake clean on a totally fuel soaked fuse followed by baby powder. It was as a last resort to save the plane and it worked well. The plane still smells great. Make sure to have good ventilation

racer639

I am in the process of repairing a YS 120 powered Lazer 200 that has a lot of oiled wood, have been using brake cleaner mixed with whitting to remove the oil. So far it has removed at least 98% og the oil works very well.

ratshooter

I didn't know what Whiting was so I looked it up on Google. Whiting is calcium carbonate. Guess what calcium carbonate is? Its chalk. If you need a small amount of Whiting you could pulverize some sidewalk chalk. I am an insurance adjuster and I use sidewalk chalk all the time for marking hail damage on roofs. Using readily available chalk would be cheaper than ordering it from Brownells and paying the shipping.

You might be able to use a rasp or course sandpaper to get the chalk to a powder state. Just a thought.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

You may want to laminate the inside with 1/64" ply for added strength when you're done. If all else fails replace the wood.