Covering

Need some advice please, the covering came off the bottom of my Extra the other week. I have tried to iron it back but the area is where the exhausts exit and there is lots of oil on the wood, and the covering does not want to stick anymore.

How can I prep the wood so the covering will stick properly??

Thanks

Chris

Get some kitchen towel, single thickness, put it onto the oil soaked wood then press a hot covering iron onto it and it will draw the oil out into the paper, keep repeating, changing the kitchen towel each time so you always use a clean piece until you can't get any more oil out.

Then seal the surface of the wood with something, Balsaloc, epoxy or even thin cyano rubbed into it. Lightly rub it down to take the high spots off and then recover.

You might need to patch with a new piece of film as it may have traces of oil on the surface.

Hi Chris - Not aware of any method to remove the soaked in oil.
Couple of suggestions :
1 - Try sticking it over the oily bit with cyno, then shrinking​ with iron.
2 - Cut out the oily wood & replace with a new bit, sand till surface blends in.
Hope this helps
Colin

I had the same problem with the covering lifting from an oil soaked surface. Using kitchen roll and a hot iron gets most of the oil out, then cover the affected area with either talcum powder or cornflour. Leave it as long as you can, then apply kitchen roll and a hot iron over the talc/cornflour. A good and effective seal is ordinary knotting varnish, thinned with methylated spirit. Don't just brush it on, scrub it into the surface of the wood. Brush on Balsaloc or Coverite, iron on your choice of covering, and the model will be as good as new.

Thanks for you help, I will remove the covering and see how bad the wood is, if not too bad I will try the paper towel and iron, if really bad I will cut it out and glue in a new piece of wood

I will replace all the covering on the bottom as it is one piece so probably easier than trying to patch it

Use a cigarette lighter to get the oil to ignition point. After the fire dies down replace with a model designed for electric power.