Help! Finishing Question
 

I have had several issues with my Episode (i.e. dumb thumbs) that has resulted in the fuselage looking like it has leprosy. I decided this would be a good chance to refinish it and make it look different from the usual finish. Hence, my question. Does anybody know how to strip the finish chemically without using something that attacks the epoxy resin of the structure? I tried sanding, denatured alcohol, and acetone . All work to some degree, but require quite a bit of effort and real slow progress. Need to get moving as this will be my backup plane this year and the season starts in about four weeks or so.

Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer.

Sheldon

Sheldon,

The he jet guys seem to be having success with Citristrip

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...p#post26832635

Thanks for the heads up, but it sounds like it might have attacked the fiberglass on the tail surfaces. I ruined a .60 pattern ship a bunch of years ago (30 or so) because I stripped the fuse with a commercial paint stripper that I left on too long. I really wanted to fly that plane. Ah well, just trying to avoid the same mistake.

By the way, I am printing your plans this week end to build during the contest season and use another set of wings on another fuse I have handy. I may put them on the Episode fuse also. I really do not like that step design on the stock wings. Earl Haury has been flying his Episode with Nuance wings and really likes it.

Thanks again,

Sheldon

There is a 'fiberglass safe' aircraft stripper - I have not personally used it, but when I was painting my Integral at a friend's place, another guy was making some repairs and said he used it with no problems on composite airplane parts. Of course I know how meaningful the 'I know a guy who...' posts are :)

http://www.amazon.com/Fiberglass-Str.../dp/B000VHVJOI

Thanks Joe,I looked it up using the link you supplied and it looks exactly what I am looking for. Thanks a lot.Sheldon

You're welcome. As always, it is best to test the chemical on an inconspicuous area or scrap piece of material if possible.

If I may add this: when painting on the stripper cover it with some wax paper. This prevents the solvents in the stripper from evaporating too quickly. You'll need to watch it and check to see when the paint begins to soften. Once it softens I start to scrape it off and then wipe of the remaining residue. It's an old tip I learned decades ago when stripping furniture, boats, etc. I recently stripped an old Bootlegger fuse this way, worked very well. But...YMMV.
Mark

FYI Most might know this but ACETONE will eat up fiberglass. Put a piece of fiberglass panel in acetone and it will eat it up.

I found more success stories with Citrus-strip
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/comp...lass-fuse.html

Thanks a lot guys. I tried some Citrstrip and it did absolutely nothing to an old canopy I had. Maybe the clear coat prevents penetration of the gel. I will try it again after sanding off the clear coat.

Sheldon

After following some advice I discovered that covering the Citristrip with wax paper really works. i worked on a couple of areas on the fuse and after an afternoons work, it is almost ready for final sanding and cleanup. After scraping I did find that I had to use some acetone to get some of the leavings and give the fuse a final cleanup. So this stuff really works.

Sheldon

Citri strip is a perfect product for stripping fiberglass fuses. I've used it several times.

Thanks for the support David. I have found that the pigmented paints come off quitereadily. However, there is a substrate of white that the Citristrip doesn't even soften. I have even left it on for several hours and the white substrate just laughs at me when I scrape it. I guess I will have to break out the sand paper to handle that. Thanks everybody for your advice.

Sheldon

Acetone is widly used in the aerospace industry to clean epoxy parts prior to bonding/laminating. If the fiberglass has been properly cured Acetone will not touch it.