AlphaWhisky

Yesterday I pranged a new Freewing Starblazer EDF F-86 on its first test-flight. Not sure the cause, but that`s not the issue here.

Wings and tailplane are OK, but the forward part of the fuselage is a mess. It`s not broken as in lots of small pieces of white foam flying around, rather crushed/compressed and pretty badly deformed.

I would like to attempt a repair on this but have a query or two before I start :- I will intend to manually stretch some of this back into shape and glue it back together, probably using Titebond, but curious as to whether there are any processes that may help reshaping such as apply heat fom a hairdrier or gun, or maybe steam from and electric kettle?

Have tried a search for information along these lines but had no joy.

I really don`t think I am the first to face this situation and will be interested to learn how others may have tackled this task....

Thanks,

Alan W

jcterrettaz

My Feedback: (1)

If is to much of a puzzle it's better to make new part from good pink or blue foam . Joint the two ( old and new) with Gorilla glue or good epoxy, smooth the whole thing , apply .75 once fibre glass and hobby Poxy ( 30 minutes) diluted with alcool and finish with light hobby filler , resend and paint.

67Jag

Many minutes over a teakettle will just about restore the crushed portions to original shape. No worries....you can't apply too much steam/heat, rather you need plenty of patience and a glove to pull/squeeze/prod things back into shape while in the steam stream. Try and direct the steam to every side/surface of the deformed part. It works.

Ray

67Jag

Incidentally.....I now use a max-expanding aerosol foam (PU) to fill those forward cavities. Adds only grams, and once cured (overnight) easily carved out again if you've applied too much (and you will). Messy...follow directions(!)... but amazing how much it strengthens everything!

Ray

4stripes

If you can dunk the crushed part directly into water that was just boiling it will expand close to the original shape. The beads may bulge a little but it will look much better. I've done this with parts damaged in shipping and it works well.
Cheers

4stripes

If you have cracks and small voids to fill, DAP Fast' N Final lightweight filler works well and sands easily.

Greg Covey

All great suggestions! Foam is quite resilient and loves to retain its shape with some heat and moisture. If you have a syringe, you can inject the water like a booster shot. Doing it with heat helps it along.

Good luck!