kenh3497

Last year when I crashed my CAP a fellow club member gave me a Super Sportster 40 to use with the caveat it must be passed on to the next person in need, if I stop using it. I think I'm the 5th or 6th owner. It just won't die! Well last week the stopper came out of the fuel tank and you all know where the fuel went. I dumped a bunch of floor dry in the fuel compartment to soak up the left overs. That worked fine.

To the "tip"..... well almost. I was blowing out the left over dust and the air got under the covering at the wing saddle ripping the covering. I tried to iron the covering back down but it would not stick due to all the oil in the wood.

OK "the tip".... I made a long skinny bag out of some brown wrapping paper and put the plane in the bag after stripping all the covering off the fuse. I filled the bag with floor dry and will let it set for a couple weeks to suck out as much oil as possible. From there maybe just a good soapy bath in some hot water????? and rinse well. I know about the KR2 (I thick that's the name) trick and may use that also. It's just the plane is still solid, flies well but with so much oil in the wood. You know the story. I hate to chuck it.

Ken

countilaw

Don't use soapy water! ! ! The wood will warp three ways to well,,,,,, Use MEK, Acetone or Lacquer thinner to soak the wood, Then use corn starch to soak up all the solvent and it will pull the oil with it. I made take a couple of applications, but it will pull the oil out.

Frank

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

I'm certainly not an authority but I'd have to agree with Frank.....  especially soapy water which is going to wick in even more and not want to come out.  I would think you'd get enough swelling and warping to pop some glue joints even.  I'd be careful with solvents too because you also might pop some seams depending on what glue was used.  In short, I'd do my best to salvage it, but I wouldn't go nuts or she's a goner anyways.  [:'(]

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Why don't you just try to floor dry where the covering won't stick, get it as dry as you can and then just glue the covering back down with something appropriate?  I know it's not ideal, but if the covering won't adhere, maybe a really thin layer of epoxy, goop, or whatever might be better than wrecking the whole airframe.  That may be *way* off-base, but just my thinking.  Good luck with it, whatever you decide!

jaka

Hi!
K2R and aceton will fix it!
Used it many times

Rodney

Once you get all the oil out you can, coat the wood with one of the alaphatic glues such as Titebond II with as thin a coat as you can put on, smear it around with your finger to get a good even coat. Let it dry then put on your covering. I'm quite sure the covering will now iron on nicely.

Walt Thyng

My Feedback: (9)

K2R from your local bodega is the way to go. May take a number of applications, but it always does the job. As a college student I frequently rebuilt the results of somebody's "oops"; K2R always took care of the oil problem.
Walt

kenh3497

I pulled the old girl out of her sack tonight to see how much oil had been soaked up. The wood was less oily, but still a ways to go an boy howdy did that floor dry stink!! I re-bagged her[X(] with floor dry and will let her set for a week or so. I'll stock up on the K2R ( I had the right letters, in the wrong order) and have at it later. I may wind up with a new rudder as the tail wheel has wallowed out it's mount and the tail wheel and the rudder can be as much as 20 degrees off of each other. First the oil problem then the easy stuff to follow.

I'm not sure what kind of glue was used on this plane. It was an ARF so who knows[&:] I try some Acetone after the K2R. Everybody is right on NOT using soapy water. What the heck was I thinking[:@]

Ken

rcmigpilot

My Feedback: (26)

Balsarite film formula will fix your problem.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXB355&P=SM

AERORICH73

Yes, Frank is on to the way of getting the oil out. I made dams around a oil soaked fuse side, and filled it with cornstarch. Then using an eye dropper, soaked the cornstarch with acetone. After it dried, I dump it, and checked for oil. Just to be sure, I did the second soak period, and cleaned off the surface with more acetone. Coated the wood with Balsarite, and ironed on new ultracoat. Believe some method of damming wing ribs enough to allow the cornstarch and acetone to suck out the oil enough for the Balsarite to stick. As it has been mentioned, soap and water is really a no-no.

aerorich73
Scappoose, Oregon

biam

A good tip I picked up here is to use a heat gun, works fantastic, pretty quick also, when applying heat the oil will bead up on the wood which then can be wiped off. Be patient, keep heating and wiping till its all out.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Lot of great tips here for varying situations!

kenh3497

Now that you mention it I do vaguely remember somebody saying something about balsarite being a big help. Thanks for jogging my memory!!

The heat idea is a good one. My garage is about 140, so that and the floor dry should do the trick

ken

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Don't laugh but I've people use kitty litter as well. Dennis

Papa51

My Feedback: (3)

You are correct. I've used kitty litter with great success. It's cheap too!

Dzlstunter

You can mix up a "slurry" of alcohol and talc (or corn starch) so that it is just spreadable with a stiff brush. Brush it into the wood and let it dry.
When dry, brush the powder off with a stiff brush, then wipe with alcohol and paper towels. Repeat as necessary. Good luck, Dzl

Scott Douglas

My usual trick is....if you have an iron for covering, lay some kitchen roll over the affected area then run the iron (hot!) over it..it'll draw the fuel into the kitchen roll. Then its good old Balsarite (Balsalock as it is here) and re-cover

**edit to corrent my useless typing **

blvdbuzzard

I have used denatured alcohol in a spray bottle to soak the wood. You can see the oil come out of the pours. The oil was designed to mix with alcohol so spraying it on works well. I have used the alcohol with corn starch, saw dust, paper towel to good effect also. I had one fuse that was so soaked, I could not get the oil out so it was a write off any way. So, if it is broken you can not break it. I used break cleaner right out of the can. I soaked it with break cleaner. You should have seen the oil run out of the wood. After it dried I applied 2 coats of Balsarite for film and the covering stuck like it was a fresh kit.


Buzz.