Hi all!
I'm finishing up a covering job. The plane has really light balsa that dents just looking at it and so I have a few scrapes/dents from the iron on the wing sheeting. I've heard of using a drop of water in a syringe to pop the dents out, but am not 100% sure if it will actually work. Any comments or ideas?
Thanks!
Robert.

I usually just live with the dents, but I have heard water with a little vinegar will do the trick.

Oh it works if the dent isn't more like a big gouge. Most time you don't even need the syringe. Just dampen the balsa at the dent and apply heat with an iron. Scratches will probably need to be filled with spackling, or a balsa/wood filler.

Yea, but Ed, I would assume that if the dents are from the covering iron, the wood is already covered

To remove dents, you have to remove the covering. Once the model is covered, you have to live with the dents unless the covering is very damaged.

Small dents are easily removed with a drop of water and a hot covering iron. Just put a drop of water in the dent and apply the flat bottom of the iron to the dent. The water will turn to steam with a sizzle, and you'll see that the dent's gone. "Isn't that amazing!" In fact, the balsa will be slightly raised, so you'll need to use a bit of 320-grit or finer sandpaper to polish it down. The steam makes the wood inflate in the same manner that steam makes popcorn inflate. The pressure of the steam pushes the fibers apart.

Large dents require filler. Use the lightweight stuff. If the dent is more like a large gouge, then carve off the area to accept a piece of larger balsa stock and then carve/sand the piece to shape.

It all depends upon how big/bad the damage is.

The syringe and water works great for bringing out dents after the covering is already on the plane. Get a small syringe and fill it with water, then inject water into the dent and then heat them your covering iron. The heat will turn the water to steam which will expand and push out the dent in the wood.

This is great for getting small dents out, but it does had limitations. Larger dents or breakages will still have to have the covering pulled off and repaired.

Ken

I've removed some petty large dents on covered parts using water and hot iron. Heck I just soak a paper towel and lay it the effect area assuming the covering is broken open, might take several applications on large dents. It always seems like I'm working on the rudder post?

Use your heat gun on these places. The covering will balloon up over the dent due to expansion of air. To get the covering back to level with the surrounding area just reapply iron but don't use a 'sock'. The sock compresses and any low spot will allow fibers of sock to push covering down into it. Hope this makes sense. Look at my Gallery page for the red racing plane is covered in film. It's smooth and wrinkle free. The graphics were done with film, too.

You're right Mike. I missed his very first statement.