Popriv

I bought this cherokee over the winter. It had sit in an old timers basement for 3 years, he has given up the glow and only flys small electrics now.
I had to repair some serious hanger rash and finally flew it a couple of weeks age, Well was I surprised! I love this little cherokee!!!
So I decided to recover the plane as the PVC covering is brittle and getting a new hole every time I handle it.

You can see what I found when I started peeling. Looks like bugs and eggs or peas? they are hard, I just cut one open and it looks like a pea?
***? they were in one wing, only stuck to the the underside of the PVC. Nothing on the wood at all. about 30 to 40 of the peas and bug bodies spread over 3-4 bays.

Is there any point in even asking if anyone has seen this before? I should put some in a baggy and ask the old guy what they are?


ANYWAY! I have two questions about recovering this wing.

1. I'll strip the covering off the alierons and recover everything with monocote. How should I handle the hing gap area? cover around them the best i can of cut them off, cover and rehing?

2. Whats the best way to repair the crushed sheeting. if I had access from the back I could push it flush and glue BUT without that access how would you repair?

ChuckW

Looks like you had a mouse or two living in there and they carried in some dinner.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with Chuck. The little black things look like mouse droppings, and it looks like dried peas.

The Hanta Virus is a serious airborne disease that can cause death from mouse feces. I don't know if mice in your area carry it, they do here, and in the Western States. People die from it.

Do not breath the dust when you clean that out. Take it outside and clean it out, make sure everything is clean, wiped down, don't breathe anything. Check the CDC in your area for Hanta Virus.

Weirder things have happened than you getting sick from that airplane. Better to be safe than sorry.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Yeah, those aren't bugs, that's mouse crap! Not sure what the small balls are from the photo, if you think they're peas, they may be!

tschuy

My Feedback: (1)

time to set the traps with peanut butter...

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

If you can leave the covering that goes down into the hinge gap, do so. Then you can cover to a point just past the edge of the top of the wing/stab into the gap.

To repair the balsa sheet, poke a hole with a t-pin and take a tiny screw and just thread it in. You might also just try a bent t-pin; anything to pull up on the broken part. Pull up on the broken part and CA it. A little lightweight spackle or a little can of 'hole filler' for walls will be a perfect paste to fill up any indentations and sand smooth. Very light, finishes nice.

I wonder if any of the critters got a free ride??

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

peas and poo what a combo,
you definatly want to wear rubber gloves when cleaning up after mouse debris, there nasty little buggers, not a bad idea to wear a dust mask as well if there is alot of fecies in the wing, that virus is a real deal and can make you really sick,when I was in South America a few years ago there were several deaths associated with it, just use common sense when cleaning it up, and handling the areas where the debris is.

Campgems

It's lucky that they had a taste for Pea, not balsa. When I was a kid, we lived in the country and the garage had a gravel floor. The rats loved the dry area and tunnled under the floor. We were of a live and let live nature back then, so we didn't try to poison them. I saved up enough money to buy a $1.00 commet kit of a B17. I worked on that thing for weeks and when it came time to dope the covering I setup a card table in the garage and did my dopeing there. The next day my uncle came over and I dragged him out to the garage to see my plane, The rats ate it over night. All the covering was gone and all the balsa was nawed on. Sure a good thing your mice liked peas.

Don

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Learn to cover [or recover] all your control surfaces after they are prehinged. This is a superior way to cover planes that are meant to be flown. It not only seals the air gap, but leaves the model with fewer seams to maintain. The key to a nice job is using the least amount of heat to tack the covering down smooth with, and to progressively iron a nice crease into the hinge line.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

You can always taste one of those "peas" just to make sure [:'(]. You know.. if it walks like a duck...

CGr

simmo8

LOL i was about to say the same taste one
yeh a realy weird case but looks like you got yourself a nice little plane

simmo

Popriv

Yes I put on gloves when I saw this... I didnt think of mice but that sounds right. I'm also surprised they didnt gnaw on the bulsa.. Good for me..

Thanks for the info..

Pop

opjose

The round things look like spider cocoons. You may have little itty bitty spiders growing there.

I had a similiar situation.

I took a wing and put it in a plastic bag with a small aerosol fogger inside.

I took this outside, sealed the bag and released the fogger for a few seconds. I did not empty the fogger.

I let the wing sit in the bag for a few days, then I took it out and aired it for two weeks hanging from an indoor clotheline.

The wing was vaccuumed and cleaned with a dry paint brush to shake loose anything that remained.

Popriv

I was originally thinking of spider cocoons. When I held the wing up to the light I could see them through the covering.
I think an earlier poster was right, A mouse must have been hiding peas in the plane...
The wing covering looked like crap, they use a preprinted PVC. with the covering off there is one ding in the sheeting and one cracked rib, otherwise it looks like new... I'll start recovering tonight...