mgnostic

Regarding engines and fuel, I would suggest caution when running airplane or helicopter engines on car fuel. If you want to see if the airplane engine is good, go ahead and invest in a quart of quart of airplane fuel with 10% nitro. I don't intend to cast shade on the person who sold you the stuff but it isn't that difficult to clean up an engine to "like new" appearance. Conversely, some of the "just broken in" engines that I have come into yet were not remotely ready for flight. I'm just saying that if you really want an accurate assessment of an engine, set it up with the correct fuel and proceed as though it was a brand new motor. Don't take the sellers word for it. I know very little about helicopters so I will leave that to others. As for the airplane, the pictures didn't upload. With a wooden airplane almost anything can be repaired. The question comes down to whether or not it is something that you like well enough for it to be worth your time effort and money.

LLRCFlyer

mia45943.

Your photos did not post. You must have 10 posts before the system will allow you to add photos. Not having seen what you have, I can take a few guesses.

Car fuel typically has a fairly high nitromethane content... probably too much for sport flying a new glow engine. Small (1/2A )size .049 engines need high nitro (20-30%) fuel but most sport glow engines larger than 0.09 cubic inch generally do better on 5% to 15% nitromethane fuels.

If the airplane was built from a raw balsawood kit, then the "balsa wrap" you refer to could be any of a number of repairable or replaceable covering films such as Monokote, UltraCote, EconoKote, Superkote, Solar Film, Coverite Black Baron film, etc., which are all iron-on heat shrinkable polyester films. Most are easily repairable or can be completely replaced. If the plane was a lower end factory built Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) then the covering type could be most anything.

As for fixing cracked balsa wood, there are a number of options. If the wood is soaked with old fuel and oil residue, it will need to be replaced or first "dried" of the oils with corn starch or K2-R spot removers. Glue does not stick to oil. If the wood is clean, then hairline cracks are best repaired with any of the thin alpha cyanurate (CA) super glues that will quickly wick into the wood pores. If it is in an area that will be subjected to fuel /oil contamination such as an engine compartment, then use epoxy. It the wood pieces are completely separated and are in a highly stressed location, then use epoxy and possibly some reinforcing splices. If it is pieces of sheeting, then thin CA glue may work well.

Recommendation: Based on your questions, I assume you are new to airplanes and helicopters. Please do not try to fly anything except a computer simulator without a qualified instructor and a "buddy box". Otherwise your results are a guaranteed certain total disaster... probably within 15 seconds after launch of the airplane and within 5 seconds for the helicopter. If you do try to fly on your own, take all the pictures you want before hand, as that will be last time it will be intact and photo worthy.

Find someone who is experienced to help keep you out of trouble and allow you to really enjoy this hobby.