Getting solarfilm to stick to balsa/ply with oil contam.

[Howard Tomlin]

The ridiculously over powered goldberg ultimate which I fly (my avatar) has decided to shed some of its fuselage coveriing in flight ( well I did say it was over powered)

 in doing so, the exposed area has been contaminated with some oil - I mopped as much as I could with kitchen towel but I think its going  to be a little tricky to get solarfilm to stick to the area.

 The affected area has oil staining but is dry to the touch, I remember hearing that the application of talc to the oil stained area would help, is this true and if not what else might help??

 Appreciate any tips you may have on this.

[Ernie]

Hi Howard,

It is possible to draw some oil of the wood by laying kitchen towels on the affected bit, and heating it with a hot iron. Maybe a coat of balsaloc would also help.

Also, and Alas, in my experience, the only really good solution to badly impregnated wood, is to replace it. 

ernie

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Howard Tomlin]

I tried the hot iron and kitchen towel trick and it got a little oil out of the wood - but to be fair I dont think there was much in there in the first place as the staining is very light and it was only the crankcase oil outlet for one flight. So its not like it was the exhaust spraying oil all over it.

 The solar film has stuck to the wood and I will keep an eye on it for structural degradation.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Ernie]

There I was, gently landing my mates ancient, and I do mean ancient trainer. A beautiful landing, then crunch, the nose falls off..Of course, I felt obliged to offer to repair it.. It was well saturated back to around the leading edge of the wing, so a major repair job..It's still flying I believe

ernie

[Andy Gates]

You could try sealing the affected section by using a layer of sanding sealer before covering.

Just a thought.

[Pete Collins]

Soaking the affected area with thin cyano sometimes helps, it seems to displace the oil and it also reinforces the wood which will help with theweakened structure.  Sanh down and finish with a coat of balsalock or similar before re-covering.

Do it outside though - you need to use quite a bit of cyano and the fumes can be dangerous.

[Howard Tomlin]

Pete Collins wrote (see)

Soaking the affected area with thin cyano sometimes helps, it seems to displace the oil and it also reinforces the wood which will help with theweakened structure.  Sanh down and finish with a coat of balsalock or similar before re-covering.

Do it outside though - you need to use quite a bit of cyano and the fumes can be dangerous.

I'll bear that in mind the next time it happens, hopefully the repair that I have completed will suffice but if the patch rips off again (which is a distinct possibility) I will do this as it seems to cover all angles!

 Thanks for the suggestion.
 

[Bob Cotsford]

I'd slap a couple of coats of Clearcoat on rather than Balsaloc as it's more fuelproof, and I suspect it will penetrate the oily wood better.  IIRC the Solarfilm site recommends using clearcoat in the engine bay before covering in the first place.