From the Eugene Prop Spinners, Eugene, Oregon
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
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