Plane Cleaning
 

Hi there. I just bought an older crashed trainer and need some help. It was sitting a couple years, and was told that a mouse got into it. So I completey stripped this thing of all hardware and electronics. It is now an empty mostly-there trainer. As well, the main fuse area is dirty from dirt, cob-webs, etc. What can one use to clean up the inside of this thing? Pressure washer, garden hose, or would that affect the wood. This is just going to be a beater trainer for playing around with, and was told by others to totally scrap this one, and buy new. What are your opinions. The front was already repaired and is solid, just the tail is broken now. Also any help identifying would be great. OS LA 40, 64" wingspan tip-to-tip. Thank you.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

That looks like a Kadet. Get some simple green to clean up the covering. If it is a Kadet, they make great trainers.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

It is a balsa sheeted fuse, no lightening holes, etc. All fuse covering is off now for repairs. Wing is in good overall shape. Just needs a few small patches. Thanks for the help.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

I'd avoid the pressure washer. 

Soapy water on the covering and acetone for the bare wood.   

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Acetone or alcohol to clean the coveering and wood.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

bought, as you paid money for it ?? No way[X(]

its a bit of a project, but learning how to build and rebuild is as important as learning to fly.
Certainly suitable for a trainer.
Mount the main wing before re gluing the rear stab and line it up squarelly, epoxy would be best for a good bond

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Unless it was given to you, it's going to cost at least $25.00 to recover the fuselage. Which club do you attend to fly from? Saints, WRCC or Steinbach? Just repaired and recovered a Tower Trainer 40 in ultrakote. I bought and flewthe planethe past 4 years, so I thought it was worth recovering.

Jim

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

for general cleaning I like to use a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and water in a spray bottle, and some paper towels work great for cutting the grease and grime, the mix evaporates quickly but willremove most of the oil you get from glow fuel.

as for the plane it would be handy to have the remaining bits of the fuse to get the rite H stab incidence otherwise the repair looks pretty minor in its condition just patch the areas where the film is ripped and get the tail feathers on strait and fly it like ya stole it if it survives you could recover it later but have fun first

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

This is what I make and use:


Airplane Cleaner


Mix into a gallon milk jug or equivelent-

*10 cups of distilled water
*2 cups denatured alcohol
*1 cup of ammonia
*1 cup of favorite dish soap ( I like Dawn)


Shake up lightly and pour into your spray bottle and use on your airplanes as you normally would.


This stuff removes bugs and oil of off non sealed- and sealed Solartex with a few wipe attempts and it cleans, Ultra, Mono and silk and dope aircraft. The stuff is so good I use it on the inside glass in my car. It leaves no streaks and it evaporates well.


A ol' timer wrote me about this homemade cleaner a few years back.

I figured I'd share it.


Pete


Re-edited because of mistake

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Dawn is some good sheet! Works great when you want to clean your car before putting a coat of wax on.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Good stuff, Pete. Thanks for sharing.

CGr.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Ahhhh!!!! I goofed! Let me do this one more time. I'm having a senior moment!

Airplane Cleaner


Mix into a gallon milk jug or equivelent-

*10 cups of distilled water
*2 cups denatured alcohol
*1 cup of ammonia
*1 cup of favorite dish soap ( I like Dawn)


Shake up lightly and pour into your spray bottle and use on your airplanes as you normally would.
I'm so sorry.[&:]

And thank you CGR for getting my post up, and thanks for the nice compliment.


Pete

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

A member at a club I used to belong with came up with this formula:

<span class="msg"><font size="2">"Jim Quinn's Mix"

5 cups water
1 cup alcohol (91% isopropyl or stove alcohol)
1/2 cup ammonia
2 tsp detergent

I carry a little two ounce spray bottle in my flight box (a recycled CA accelerator bottle). I refill from a two liter plastic bottle.  I have used this for more than a decade on gas and glow models with no ill effects.  I use Parson's Sudsy Household Ammonia and Dawn detergent.</font></span>

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

I used to carry a spray bottle of Simple green with, works great for cleaning the slime up, and smells good too, but it leaked, now my carpet in my truck smells good too.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Hey, wait just a cotton pickin minute....Quinn flies electric and they don't need no stinkin cleanin

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

I bought it for the attached OS LA 40. Was going to trash it as I just wanted the motor, not sure why as I fly electric. Just wanted the frusteration i guess. I fly solo. In the fields around here, or at the big field at the cottage. It will be around $50 to cover as the whole thing is geting done. The pics were taken when it got here, and I sterted to carefully remove the rear area, and none of it stuck at all, so removed it all. Same with the wing. Started to carefully cut out the rib bays where damaged, then realized that it too was not sticking. So I will recover the wing, and probably dope up the fuse as it is solid balsa. If it flies, it flies.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

After you shake the burnt watts of your model, you still have to clean the electrics (twice per year). So this stuff will be handy. I just use top Job (Mr Clean) diluted in warm water with my gas models, and also the electric ones when the field is wet, or moist (we have grass).

So, contrary to public belief, electrics need cleaning. Slimeless, but still cleaning...

Gerry

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Simple green is a great product to clean the covering.No need to use full strength.Use 1/8 of simple green in average size windex bottle fill te rest of the bottle with water.If you have a lot of oil on the covering use a 1/4 of the product.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Plain old glass cleaner.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

I like a mixture of alcohol, windex and Dawn. It even works on your hands after a day of fueling and fixing planes at the field.<div>With the price of used planes nowadays I will trash tha trainer and get an used one RTF for 100-150$$. :D</div>

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

He wasn't always a servant of the dark side. ;-)

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

That's an Easy Fly 40 from Hangar 9 - you can download the manual from their web site.  I had one as my primary trainer and fall back airplane for years.  Can't tell you how many times I crashed, er hard landed :eek: that thing and kept putting her back together.

I used Orange cleaner on her for the covering but eventually replaced the Ultracote covering with Monokote.  And K2R works wonders for inside cleaning - soaks up fuel and vacumes well.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Awesome, thank you. This helps a large deal to rebuild the tail section. There is a picture in the manual that explains it all to me now. Thanks again for all the great replies.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Well, I got the ammonia. Wow, is that stuff cheap. I looked for plain 'ol ammonia, but had to settle for lemon scented. So while sitting down, I cracked it and figured I'd give her a wiff to check out the lemon smell. Nothing lemon there, but I can now breathe easily through my nose as it is no longer plugged! Lesson learned, read the warnings..... But gonna mix a batch of cleaner up today and giv'er a try. Thanks again all.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Household is about 5% by weight.  I worked at a photographic film plant that used 28% strength ammonia.  One poor guy opened an inspection hatch and got a whiff and passed out - with his head over the opening.  They found him there, dead.

I learned in college chemistry that when you need to sniff something you hold it away from your face and "push" fumes towards yourself by fanning your hand over the opening.

Lets be careful out there.  ;-)

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

You might want to be careful about using ammonia to clean your planes. If they are covered with Monocote, ammonia is able to soften the adhesive. A detergent or citrus based cleaner works just as well without that danger.

Hey Charlie P, it sounds like you had some fun stuff to play with for a while there. I know a few serious shooters who use 15% ammonia to clean the copper fouling out of their rifle barrels in the field. It only takes one pass for the patch to come out bright blue, and maybe 3 for them to start coming out clean. My father in law who works at a hydrogen peroxide plant has some neat stories to tell about his product in high concentrations too.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Does this mean that using Windex is Verboten because it might loosen the Monokote???

Bob

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

OK. Made the 'solution' and tried it. It cleaned up pretty good, but after a quick LIGHT spray from the garden hose she was drying. A short time later I took a look at it and noticed a lot of white 'fuzzy looking' stuff at a few joints. It was what I had feared. The solution/water had softened up the joints at the formers, radio tray. So now I am worried about the actual integrity of this thing. Looks like a scrapper now! But before going further throwing it away, I will trace the side profile and make plans for a new one. Thinking a Telemaster/Senior type fuselage, with sheeting up front, and stick rear end. Does this sound do-able? Would this be alright? I am used to foamies that cost a buck or two to build and am not worried if it doesn't work. So before doing this, I would just like another opinion. Thank you.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

In case you're serious and truly diduse a garden hose on the inside of your model(!?!) :) Cleaners aren't to be used inside the airframe.


I guess that beats taking it to the laundromat.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Dead serious. Garden hose was used. I was originally looking to clean the inside of the plane. I guess I did not mention the inside originally. As it was full of mouse stuff, and other 'goodies'. So I really thought this was alright to use to clean the inner structure. But after removing most of the covering, the damage became more apparent. Top aft th ewing was split down the center, sides were seperated from the top sheeting, lower fuselage was seperated from the center to the front, wood was thin from the previous repair, etc. Not just the tip of the tail as it looked from the begining. So no big loss. I will air it out to dry and see how it looks after that.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

Acetone or MEK.  Balsa that is not sealed is a sponge. 

I have used kitty litter to absorb spilled fuel and acetone to wipe out the fuselage as best as possible.  But wood airframes are not built to be bathed.

I'd check it real carefully for warpage after a soaking.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

It sounds like the plane is a lost cause. There's no shame in trying to fix one up and failing, but to continue you're just throwing more energy and money into a project that might still be unflyable when you're done. Start shopping for a plane or lot of planes in better shape and cut this one up for scrap balsa.

RE: Plane Cleaning
 

new222, just a tip from an oldie.

Drop by one of the 1$ stores or such, go to the cleaning supplies and look for AWESOME. Comes in a variety of sizes and spray nozzles. Take your choice as I have not found any real difference between sizes or what is advertised for dishes versus heavy greece, etc. This stuff is "AWESOME". It has a disclaimer of not being associated with some other Awesome Company. It will clean most anything you want to clean.
At these stores there are different sizes, different spray caps, and different colors. I have tried many of them and find no difference in EFFECTIVENESS and price is always the proverbial $1. As is fishing lures are designed to catch the fisherman more so than the fish, :D I think the contents in an AWESOME bottle are designed to catch the housewife.
All same stuff, different color and size!

I do caution that some of the spray caps don't work well. I check that out before going to checkout. I hold on to a few good ones as I empty each bottle.

Someone mentioned "money"-kote tends to peel. One way to delay such is to pick up a can/jar of fuel-proof butyrate dope or Aero Gloss if you wish to be a big-spender, and do with a small brush a couple of coats down the seams PRIOR to a first flight. Give it a couple days to really settle and cure. A week would be better. Drying in a few minutes is not CURED! BTDT! ;)

Good Luck with your rebuild. You will be happy that you did so.