N410DC

First off, the receiver and battery were not wrapped in a plastic bag, and the inside of the fuse was not fuel-proofed with epoxy. Yes, I did know better. No, it will not happen again.

The tank in my Big Stik 40 ARF spung a leak yesterday. A small crack somehow formed right below the stopper. The plane uses glow fuel (10% nitro, if that matters.) Everything in the fuselage was soaked, except for the servos and the tail aft portion of the fuse. The receiver was still working, but just to be safe, I removed the tank and all of the radio gear at the field, except the servos. I then wiped down the components and soaked up as much of the fuel as I could with paper towels. I disassembled the receiver to allow it to air dry. As soon as I got home, I cleaned the board in the receiver with contact cleaner, as well as the connectors on the servos and battery. The Receiver still seems to work fine today. At the moment, I am convinced that the radio gear has not been damaged. That's the good news.

The bead news is that the fuse is still soaked with fuel, to an extent. I dried it as best I could with paper towels, and as soon as I got home, I then tipped the plane on its side and aimed a fan inside the fuse for a couple of hours. The balsa inside the fuse is still pink from the fuel, and portions of the balsa (the floor of the fuse, mainly) are a little weak. Of course, the safest thing to do is to order a new fuse kit (and a tail kit, since taking the tail off the old fuse and installing it on the new fuse probably would not work well.) However, this would cost $56 total, plus shipping. Furthermore, Tower Hobbies will not have a fuse in stock until early June.


Does anyone have any ideas as to how I might be able to salvage the fuse? How much damage does fuel contamination do? Any suggestions are welcome.

sensei

Get yourself a can of K2R spot lifter and soak the inside of your fuselage in the affected areas. Follow the directions after that, you may want to give this several applications but in the end it will clean it up.

Bob

WSwope

My Feedback: (5)

Cover all fuel soaked areas with corn starch and allow it to soak up the oil over night. Several applications may be necessary.
Will

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Get off the guilt trip...I stopped putting my equipment in bags and fuel-proofing the inside of the fuse decades ago. You could shoot my fuel tanks with a bullet out of a varmint rifle and blow the things to smithereens and my equipment might get splattered, but not drenched. Can't image a scenario where everything drowns in fuel. And you might not find K2R anywhere.

Kurt

Kurt

sensei

http://www.amazon.com/American-Home-...0582811&sr=8-1

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=C...145177&cad=rja

Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware to name just a few places you can easily get it.

Bob