Finally got out to the flying field today, although it didn't quite go as planned. First, I've been having problems with my Irvine 53 as of late. It started several months ago, when I suddenly dead-sticked. Up until then the Irvine has been a gem. I though I had it figured out a few weeks back, but now it's back. It's as if it's not drawing fuel when advancing the throttle. It just dies. Every now and then it will run at full throttle and then when I throttle back, it will die. Today I noticed that fule was leaking from the head. Upon inspecting, the bolts were somwhat loose. The more experienced guys at the field thought that this had caused crud and dirt to creep in and cause the problems. Tightening the bolts didn't help. Right now I'm "cooking" the engine in antifreeze to clean it up and will assemble it again tomorrow. No flying the SE today.

So, I brought out my trainer, Arrow 9 and fired it up. Had my two boys with me and one of their friends. They all took turns on the buddy box and they all had a blast. I had forgotten myself how much fun it was to fly the trainer. We did about 7-8 flights before calling it quits. While cleaning it up and taking the wing off, I discovered that the fule compartment was flooded with fuel [:@]

Got back and took the tank out. Turns out that the fuel tubing had broken right where it leaves the brass coupler. Now, I'm trying to clean out the fule compartment as best as I can. Since this was an ARF, it was never fuel proofed.[&o]

All in all though, even with my problems, it was fun flying with the boys and to see their friend in awe when trying to fly himself.

-tychoc

Although I've never had that problem with fuel in the fuselage, I've heard that K2r availalbe in a lot of grocery stores can help soak the fuel out of the wood, with a few applications. Here's a link that describes this product. http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/s...rchid=inceptor
But you should be able to find it in many grocery stores or hardware stores. I've heard this stuff almost works like magic, so give it a try.

Good flying.

Tom

If no KR2, then try making a mixture of corn starch and isopropanol. Make it into a thick paste. Brush it on, and let it dry to a powder--wipe off the powder, and continue the process until dry. Works great!

Also, in ARF's, it's YOUR responsibility to fuel proof it. Since it was a trainer, and probably your first ARF, then you probably didn't know that. Very few ARF's will come fuel proofed. Just a little tip for later on...

I second the K2R for getting the fuel out. I may take a few applications to get all of the fuel out, that will depend on how much the wood soaked up. Here's what I found works great. Using a heat gun (a blow dryer will work too if you don't have a heat gun) and heat up the affected area, this will force fuel out of the wood. Spray on the K2R, wait for a 5 minutes or so to let it soak up the fuel, then brush it off. Keep repeating the heat/K2R cycle until you get little or no fuel forced out when you heat it.

I've found that the K2R can be hard to find sometimes (Wal-mart has is sometimes). Another thing that I've found to work is cat litter. But the fuselage in a box and fill it with cat litter (a garbage back around the front of the fuselage will work too if you can find a box to fit). Let it sit for a couple of hours, then remove the fuselage and "stir" up the cat litter, then replace the fuselage. Keep this up for 24 hours or so. You can also use the same heat method as I listed above too.

Hope this helps

Ken

Thanks for the tips. I do have a can of K2R from when the I extracted fuel around the firewall on my Venus40 where the monokote was not glued down. Another thing I've learned through experience...
I've already done a couple of rounds.
RCKen: THanks for the tip with the heat gun. I didn't know that you could speed up the process with heat.

grandad1: Yes, being that this was my first ARF, I didn't fuelproof the tank compartment. Didn't know any better. In fact, the instructions never mentioned it. Now that I've built a couple of kits, I know better. I guess I should have remembered and gone back to fuelproof my trainer. Other beginners should note this step. Also, it is pretty much impossible to fuelproof this area unless you cut the fuse open and make a tank hatch. Hardly somthing you're ready to do on your first bird, but in retrospect worth doing.

-tychoc

Good advice! But what would you recommend for fuel proofing the area? I was going to use some polyeurethane varnish.

I use finish cure epoxy, which is really thin and can be brushed on. Others I know use plain old clear dope or thinned out epoxy.

-tychoc

So, the "cooking in antifreeze" cleaning job didn't work [&o]

However, as a last spur of the moment move, I hooked up my newly purchased fuelpump to the carb and put 2-3 ounces of fuel through at full speed, both directions. Guess what, that was it. Something was stuck in the carb. I guess I should have checked that earlier...., oh well, now it's back to running nicely again

-tychoc