thordoggydog

How do you clean your spads? I have been using an engine degreaser to remove the layer of oil that is deposited by the engine but even that over time leaves a slight oily layer on the surface that attracts dust.

Rocketman612

My Feedback: (85)

I'm cleaning the plane with windex with no problems. The engine gets sprayed with carb cleaner to get any dirt off then wiped with a paper towel. Pete

Quicker

Same here...Windex. Works great.

RedWing

My Feedback: (4)

Windex or some other cheap cleaner with rubbing alcohol added.

novabill

carb cleaner on the engine and orange power on the plane.

WILLIAM

BTW-Orange power makes it smell good too.

Deadeye

I used to use starting fluid, because that's what I used on my monokote balsa planes. Now, I just use windex on the coroplast. I have discovered that ether will dullen the coroplast of some colors, namely black and navy blue. I have also disocovered that the black coro will dullen with exposure to glow fuel. Must be something in the black die. I haven't tried dissolving a small piece in glow fuel, but I bet it would.

Quicker

You must have the nicest smelling planes in your club

Scott Crownover

Getting the glow scum off the coro is the easy part. I fly off a dirt strip and occasionally use a piece of scrap music wire to clean out the oily dirt that gets caked in the flutes on the LE of the horizonatal stab.

SC

novabill

Yes I do.

tpstorey

Baby wipes work great for getting large amounts of oil off in one swipe. Every once in a while I follow up with paper towels and windex.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

I've tried windex, orange glow, 409, 409 laced with Ammonia, Car window cleaner laced with Ammonia. Too me they all work about the same. Then one day, one of those guys came to my door trying to sell me a new cleaner....I tried to no avail to be rid of him for an hour and half. Finally, I just bought the cleaner for some outrageous amount of $40 for a half gallon. My time is worth more than that though.

Anyway, I remembered that I had just been flying that day and one of the demos the guy did was clean the model airplane oil off my shoe. So I thought, let me try it...so I tested a bit of it. Anyways, the cleaner is unbelievable. It dillutes 1:10 so 1/2 gallon makes 5 gallons of cleaner. Its some kind of enzyme-based cleaner. It totally eats away the oil and leaves no oil film whatsoever. So thats what I use....and I really don't even know whats it called but it works about 5-10 times better than 409, windex and anything else I've tried.

ChrisSpad

clean them? I just build new ones.

novabill

I usually just clean mine when I am taking pictires to post on the forum. It is just as fast to build one as to clean one and your hands do'nt get as dirty-LOL[sm=lol.gif]

miskin

hi all

i clean all my planes with a water based degreaser and paper towel from the motor trade

as i work in the paint shop (body repairs)for peugeot its free

Tattoo

Dollar General stores sells generic windex type stuff...lots cheaper and you get more and it works just as good. Don't forget to save the plastic tube inside the bottle when it's done for use as pushrod guide tubes etc...

chuckster

i do like chris....

build new ones.. i rarely clean my planes, just throw them in back of
the truck and throw em in the basement... cleaning's for girls!


lol...

Mike in DC

All I fly is DPS's. If you mount the engine sideways, there is almost nothing to clean. Sometimes I spray with 409 (or similar) and paper towels, but it's just a bonding thing with the balsa guys, since they all do it after flying.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

I was only talking about my balsa...

I'm building my spad so I can fly in the wind and I don't have to clean it...and still be able to sleep at night.

Daddyo57

My Feedback: (15)

Hey Scott Crownover!!! I found a way to keep the dirt out of the flutes!!! I bought a roll of hinge tape, I think it is made by SIG... I just put it over all the leading edges of the rudder and horizontal and it works well. I usually use 409 to clean my Airplanes, but I do wish it worked just a bit better...

FrankC29

Cheap baby wipes work great, one goes a long way. Then I spray the engine with brake cleaning fluid (got this one from Tattoo, works great). I gave on on paper towels, it takes too many.

Chris7

hey,
ive found the metholated spirits with a quick wipe with a towel lifts the layer of oil off with ease.

Chris

MikeUK

All above work great for a daily cleaning but over a period of months a hard almost laqer like layer builds up and dirt and dust gets trapped on / under it. The only colour of coro I can get is white and the plane really starts to look dirty / well used. I'm guessing this is what you are talking about. Well, a quick wipe down with a cloth with some cellulose paint thinners on it once every month or so brings it off and returns the plastic to a new like white. It does not damage white coro or gutter pipe at all. Can't comment on other colours. The only thing is I spray my spads with cellulose paint when I don't want a white one and it brings the paint off too.

Silly me

I get the wife to clean mine ( she gets a fit if oil drips in the house on the way to the spare room ) but she use a bucket towel and handy andy.

other than that, I only clean corro before I glue it

Spadguy

My Feedback: (1)

Just stick it in the shower[8D]. I once had a bad test flight on a low wing design and it was packed with that fine grain, farm field black dirt, that night the wing took a hot shower and all the flutes were clean again. Yes, I removed the servos. Windex between showers :-)

suitcase

My Feedback: (1)

How do you keep the oil out of your foam covered parts?