mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

I have a royal se5a ( 40 years old ) that for sentimental reasons I want to put into the air.

The wood is solid, the hinges need to be replaced...the decals are pealing, quite honestly it gives the plane a pretty cool vintage look.
None of this bothers me, I have the skill to fix anything here that is a problem. What I don't know, because I have no experience with silk/dope/paint, is how to handle a lower wing that due to 40 years, likely some shrinkage of the cloth and living in a basement has got a slight wobble in it.. I was wondering if any experts out there had any advice on how to straighten this out in the most non-invasive way. Obviously stripping and recovering I could take this minor warp out with little effort, but I'd really like to leave the plane intact if possible
Thanks!

jeffo

My Feedback: (68)

The safe play would be to strip it,and go through all the glue joints to make sure it's safe to fly.jeffo

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

While I don't disagree with anything said here... stripping it isn't happening. I'll re hinge it but I've gone through much of the body where I can and believe the glue to be solid.

What I really would like to know is if there is a way to work with a doped finish to relax it and take the warp out of the bottom wing.

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

I've been in the hobby for over 50 years, and although I have not done it myself, back in the old days the magazine articles would talk about removing warps with steam blowing out of a tea kettle. Those had to be doped structures. I have also heard that dope is a thermoplastic hence can be worked somewhat with heat. I was a kid then and just tried to fly crooked models.
Chuck

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

That seems like a very loud way to do it. at least with my tea kettle... it whistles !!!

but I think it might be worth a try... I have a warped aileron that I can detach first and try it on that and see how things work.


It is such a pretty model once you are past the dust. I want to really do as little as possible to destroy the vintage patina on it. I doubt I could reproduce it.

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

you are the man!
little bit of heat and everything snapped back straight and true....

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Sorry about the cat but nothing I tried would remove her from the photos. Glad it worked out for you Matt but for others looking for a good way to steam a plane I thought I would show what I use. The hand steamer allows me to work out a warp from place to place and with only the steam needed. It's also a good tool to remove dents in balsa, a bit of steam and dents sort of just get sucked right out.
It has several attachments that come in handy, keep your eyes open at swap meets and flea markets.

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

I think your cat thinks its the center of attention!

Great information!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Ya Think??? She is still young and the world is a toy. I moved her three times from the box but the bag was just too much to be ignored!! When I was looking at your photos I saw all the real stitching and understand someone really did a heck of a job on that build. Stripping the covering is the easy way to do it but that is classic work. New decals can be had all over the net, you can try decalit, they have everything.

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

Thansk Gray Beard...My dad had a little bit of talent...

honestly if it was any other plane I would say yeah you strip inspect and re-cover... but I for one while I do have some building skills, can't hope to reproduce some of this work...So far all I've done is cleaned it up a bit... gotten the dust off...

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Back in the very early 60s I used silk and dope but wouldn't even attempt it today. I never did anything as well as your SE.

Michaelj2k

Your plane is not from Royal, it's a Dave Platt design produced by Top Flight. Plans are located here. http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=4249

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

Can I pretend that I meant Royal Air Force S.E.5a?

I knew it was a top flite kit... i have 2 boxes that say top flite all over them... no idea why I put Royal in the heading...

Thanks.

The sad part is I had this up for a week and didn't even notice my error unitl you said something....