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Old 02-22-2006 | 04:04 PM
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the-plumber
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From: East Cobb County, GA
Default RE: fuel cleanup?

Alcohol won't hurt the wood at all, providing you don't do anything which would distort the wood before the alcohol evaporates - at worst 24 hours.

The real problem with fuel-soaked wood is not the methanol/nitro, it's the oil content. And that's only a problem if you need to repair the model - adhesives generally don't stick well to oil-soaked wood.

If you just gotts to get the oil residue out, you can try ironing paper towels onto the wood - the heat will draw the oil into the paper towe; the same process works very well for removing candle wax from fabrics, BTW.

Otherwise, just flush the thing with denatured alcohol and let it dry. The only time fuel in a fuse becomes a problem is when you don't know it's there, and the wood becomes saturated - the nitro can loosen CA and the methanol can soften the wood. In truly bad cases, the fuse falls apart because the glue joints soften.