Using Kitchen Appliances

I used to soak pieces of balsa in a pungent mix of ammonia and water in order to bend them around wing tip forms, or other compound curves, like a cowling form. Now I use the microwave.

Soak the balsa (or even plywood) in water for a few minutes, then zap it in the microwave. It comes out limp as a noodle, and ready to form into complex shapes.

Also, Kraft used to sell little plastic clamps with parallel faces. The tension was by a rubber band. These can be adjusted for any amount of pressure depending on your rubber band.

Don’t overlook small spring-loaded electrical battery clamps available from Radio Shack. These make nice clamps to hold things in place while the glue dries.

Got a wing warp? A finished model is usually too big and cumbersome to hold over a steaming kettle on your stove. Soak a bath towel in water and put it in the microwave until it is steaming hot. Wrap this around the warped wing. Have some books handy to use as weights to stress the structure in the proper direction a bit more than you would think; this is because the structure will spring back somewhat when it is all over. I hope you realize that even the finest and straightest building board is not much use if a warp creeps in after covering and painting. Butyrate dopes especially keep on shrinking and pulling at the structure.

If you don’t have a MonoKote hot air gun, you can use an ordinary hair dryer. It might take a bit longer, but it is safer and you are not likely to melt the plastic film.

An easy way to cut large pieces of MonoKote is with a pizza cutter. You know, this is a wheel with a handle. This works well for irregular shapes of MonoKote. Q