I bought a plane and the fuel tank area was not sealed and had some fuel damage to the balsa. Someone told me at one time you can spray it with something and it will dry it out , but I can't remember what it was . Please give any Ideas on how to dry it out so I can seal / fuel proof it .

Robert; the stuff was K2R Made by Spontex Corp. It's located in the Laundry soap and cleaner section at Wal Mart and at Grocery stores.

Spray it on let it dry then dust off the residule, Sometimes I do it twice or more till I see a Clean surface. I then saturate with an Alcohol or Acetone clean and dry it up. Let it sit for 24 hrs then coat the total area with Balsarite or even Dope. Thinned Epoxy 50 X 50 will work great also.

Hope this helps

Hey Jack,

Along the same lines. I want to "paint" the engine area with epoxy. Is the mixture you mentioned a 50/50 mix of epoxy and denatured alcohol? Or......?

Tazz

Taz;
Yes it is denatured (NOT ISOPROPYL). Not shouting just making a point LOL.

Very good. Point taken. Thanks for the info.

Tazz

Been using the KR2 stuff since the 70's. Works OK! you cant get it all out completley. If you have problems with film adhesion after cleaning use the Balasrite formula for film.

The first reply pretty much covers it, the most important part is the ACETONE and a lot of it. I had a real bad one and even put Monocote back over it.

What also will work, if you can't find K2R is put newspaper over the area and iron it with the hottest iron you can find. You may have to do this a few times but it does work, the paper acts as a blotter and the heat seems to dry the fuel out.

Very good idea Jim.

I recovered a Dragon Lady 40 this winter that had bad oil soakink in the tail group.
I searched high and low for the K2r but to no avail! Then I did what any american would do, I improvised! I made a paste of naptha and corn starch, smeared it on and let it dry over night. I used a paint brush with the bristles trimmed down to about 3/4 of an inch to brush off the oil soaked corn starch. This worked great! Sometimes I did have to do up to 4 applications on the worse areas to remove the last remnants of oil. I also used heat on some of those last treatmenst, after the naptha had evaporate, just to bring out the deeper oil. I did use Balsarite on the leading and trailing edges to make sure I had a good contact with the Monokote glue. BTW never,never,never use cheep covering! You will regret it later, it takes the same amount of time to use good quality covering as it does to use cheepo covering.

Uciflylow's system works well, too. It will also work if you substitute alcohol for the naptha. The rest goes just like he says. Dzl

I recently ditched my dragon lady 90, damage wasn't too bad, undercart mounting ripped out and tailplane broke off. I thouhg I would take the opportunity to recover it, but there was so much oil saturated wood where it has been soaked right thru, it has been quicker and easier to build a new fusalage.

That way I don't need to worry about the structural integrity either, which was definitely looking dodgy!

Chris

PS Anybody find a 'K2R' equivilent in the UK?

If I was faced with that delima I would have done the same thing! There is defenatly a time to back up and try again, start a fresh.

you can use your heat gun on a soaked area, hold it close and the fuel will bubble to the surface. then use the k2r and alcohol.

Several issues here.

First K2R works very well to remove oil from balsa, but it also contains dry cleaning fluid that will dissolve your liver over time, so work with it in a well ventilated area. Outside is best. It is not flammable. However acetone, while not particularly toxic, is highly flammable, so be careful to avoid any area where sparks can occur. The same applies to epoxy diluted with denatured alcohol. It can flash too.

Remember also that acetone dissolves CA glue, so if your model was CA'd together, you can seriously weaken joints by soaking it with acetone.

I've heard K2R lot's of times. Think I have looked everywhere for this great product. Well my great flying freind (President Of North Carolina Space Cowboy's) Greenville, NC let me in on a perfect and safe way to draw out the oil from fuel soaked wood.OIL DRY, found at your local hardware, auto,or farm suppy. Really inexspensive and easy to use. I fix a .60 Mid-West Super Hots that I had purchased from a local swap shop. Inside cowl and fire wall soaked. Removed covering and placed nose first in a five gallon bucket then carefully poured and packed Oil Dry around fuse. Let stand one (1) week Wa La. Blowed off dust with air hose then wiped down with tack cloth. Ready to cover.

Click on the link below to order K2R via the internet and receive it in via mail. My local Walmart stopped carrying it also and this place advertises it online.

http://www.americarx.com/6079.html

I use the trusty Rainbow sweeper to suck the fuel out. Then Alcohol, suck it out again, so on. Wife loves me for it though, she hates that smell of nitro in the basement. Resorted to shop vac.

Justin:

I have a friend who bought a fuel soaked airplane. He used Bacardi 151 to remove the fuel. I know, it sounds crazy and I thought he WAS crazy but it worked. He stripped the covering off and poured it all over the plane. When it dried, the wood was as good as new. I still think it was a waste of good, mind-altering substance

Thats alcohol abuse Kirk . But im sure his plane had a distinct aroma afterwards. How much of the Bacardi had he consumed before he made the decision to pour it on the plane, or was this an "accidental" discovery?

Did he then Flambe' it, or just let the alcohol cook out?