Author Topic: Treating Oil Soaked Balsa/Ply (Read 3843 times)

Dan McEntee · « **on:** July 18, 2013, 02:40:24 AM »

I'm recovering the fuselage and tail feathers on my good old P-Force ARF, and I'll need to treat some of the oil soaked balsa. I have some K2R here, but didn't someone have a home brew recipe for doing the same thing? Like a slurry of corn starch and something else?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Dan McEntee

John Craig · « **Reply #1 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:38:54 AM »

I think it is acetone. Take a look at the K2R can. Give one of the solvents they list as ingredients a try. I suppose anything that oil is soluble in & evaporates rather quickly would work. I bought a couple of cans of dry cleaning fluid on dabay that I am going to try.

Allen Brickhaus · « **Reply #2 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:47:59 AM »

Put baking soda in 91% alcohol and make a slush of it. Paint it on the surface and allow to dry and then brush off.

Allen

Robert Zambelli · « **Reply #3 on:** July 18, 2013, 05:38:18 AM »

Methyl alcohol (available at Lowes) and talcum powder also work very well.
Mix it to a milk shake consistency and brush it on, very thick.
When dry, use a stiff bristled brush and vacuum cleaner to remove the residue.
You may have to repeat the procedure a few times.

Bob Z.

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #4 on:** July 18, 2013, 09:37:08 AM »

Thanks gentlemen,. I don't know if it was the late hour or just a brain fart, but I couldn't get anything to turn up in a search. Search engines just don't like me!

Type at you later,
Dan McEntee

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #5 on:** July 18, 2013, 11:36:36 AM »

Dan, thanks for asking this question.

I have an oil-soaked Nobler that I just started looking at again. Yesterday morning I had decided to stomp it, but the answers you've gotten here have me thinking that maybe I'll take another whack at getting the oil off of it. Since my goal is to strip off the film covering and put on 'span and dope, Ty's answer pretty much saved the plane from the dumpster.

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #6 on:** July 18, 2013, 05:09:50 PM »

I know this has been covered before, but couldn't find the thread in what little time I had to look. I had a can of K2R but it was almost empty. The slurry solutiuon is what I wanted to try on the nose of the airplane. I got supplies today and will poke at it tonight, hope to have the model re-covered and back together by the end of the weekend. If I get it to my liking, I'm going to apply SIG Stix-It to the nose to help the covering adhere. Maybe a thin coat of dope first like Ty suggests. It's a good time to spend the days in the cool basement working on such things!
Thanks again everyone!

Dan McEntee

George · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2013, 05:59:47 PM »

Quote from: Motorman on July 18, 2013, 12:43:27 PM

Another trick I forgot about, hit the oil soaked area with a heat gun and the oil will thin out and expand forming drops on the surface. Quickly wipe them off with a paper towel and a little acetone.

MM

MM, I've never tried this. Do you heat from the bottom so gravity can help?

George

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2013, 01:45:01 AM »

I had never heard of the heat gun trick, but it seems to work well. I just had a few minutes tonight to try it before going to bed, and the oil just raises out of the balsa, and mop it up with a paper towel. It looks shiny when you look at it at an angle. Kinda makes sense, since a trait of castor oil is that it runs towards heat, correct? I'm envisioning doing the whole air frame with the heat gun first until it looks like I got all I can get that way, then hit it with the acetone/cornstarch slurry or K2R to finish up. For just playing with it for a few minutes, I like what I see.
Thanks a lot!!!

Dan McEntee

Bill Johnson · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2013, 05:42:07 AM »

There's a trick we use in removing oil and cosmoline from old Springfield stocks that might help: Put the wood in a large black trash bag. fill the area surrounding the wood with floor-dry / kitty litter. Place the bag in the sun for a few days to a week. Remove the wood and wipe down with denatured alcohol. Repeat if necessary.

I've used this method to clean up walnut stocks that have been oil-soaked for decades. It might work rather quickly on balsa. In cold weather, I carry them around on the dash of my car!

Chucky · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2013, 09:48:17 AM »

I used a combination of the heat gun and slurry methods to good effect on the engine and tank area of an old ringmaster several years ago. I used the heat gun and paper towels to remove as much oil as possible before two applications of the slurry as described above. After the slurry was dry, I applied hot air to it as well to help the powder soak up oil before brushing it off. Dope stuck well with no peeling issues to date.

Bill Little · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2013, 11:43:34 AM »

I use Naptha (lighter fluid) with Talc. It will dry fairly quick but gets down in the grain very well to float out the oil. And it's cheap!

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

goozgog · « **Reply #12 on:** July 20, 2013, 04:18:39 AM »

Hey Kids. Mr. Safety here.

Just remember that heat guns and
solvents are a bad combination.

Use in a well ventilated area... Etc.

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2013, 07:14:51 AM »

Derek ready to go.

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #14 on:** July 21, 2013, 09:31:50 PM »

Well, I got the job completed and tried all of the suggestions that were presented here as an experiment. Like a lot of people, my airplanes usually don't live long enough to need this treatment and this was most extensive "de-oiling" that I have ever had to do. All in all, the heat gun method worked the best, in my opinion. With acetone and dry powders available to make the slurry with, which was pretty effective also, I doubt that I will buy another can of K2R again. Like one would think, the nose of the airplane was pretty saturated, and the tail feathers were pretty slimy also. The outboard wheel pant was the worst! The inboard wheel pant weighed 19 grams when pulled off the model. The outboard pant, which is right in line with the engine exhaust, weight a whopping 45 grams! I used the heat gun on it exclusively. It's kind of amazing to watch. The oil just bubbles right up out of the wood, and then you blot it off with a paper towel. I kept working at it until no more oil would bubble out, and the wood started to scorch. I gave it the once over with a sanding block, and I could feel it was lighter. A quick check with the scale showed it down to 28 ounces. All weights were without covering. I just finished reassembling the airplane and it weighs the same as before which I was happy to see. I had to use MonoKote on the fuse, as SIG doesn't carry that color of orange any more, but that was OK. I just don't know in MonoKote is heavier than the ChinaKote it was covered with. I did put a coat of SIG Stix-It on the nose of the airplane, and along the edges of the tail surfaces and fuselage and that may have put on some weight as glue usually does, and I brushed on some thinned epoxy in the wheel wells of the wheel pants, and on the edges of the covering on the nose to help seal it and keep it stuck down. We'll see how it stands the test of time. Thanks again for the input.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee