Old plane, old dope, some old Monocoat over some of the dope.
Is there a way to get Monocoat off of dope after 30 years, short of lots of careful sanding? I'm assuming that anything that'll eat Monocoat glue will eat dope, but if there's a magic solvent that works the other way, I'm listening.
Hi Tim,
You can use a paint cleaning solvent which will remove the adhesive without harming the dope. The solvents that I use are Sikkens M-600 (the best, in my opinion), Poly-Fiber C-2210 (also an excellent solvent), and PPG makes a good paint cleaning solvent but I can't remember the product number. The water-based paint cleaning solvents don't do much for paint prep cleaning and will likely do nothing to remove adhesive, so don't bother using them. All of the solvent-based products contain varying amounts of naphtha with other ingredients depending on the manufacturer.
Wet a rag with the solvent, and I mean really get the rag wet - not just damp. Wipe the surface several times with the wet rag then immediately wipe it dry with a clean, dry rag. Since the adhesive is old you may have to do it several times. The solvent will not harm the dope or the balsa.
Tim - I just noticed that you wanted to get the Monocoat itself off of the balsa...the paint cleaning solvents will not do that but they should remove any residual adhesive. I would try using a heat gun on the monocoat (carefully) to soften the adhesive & pull it off.