Mike, an old method was a deep container - half fill with kitty litter, put in fuse - complete with kitty litter - let stand for couple weeks/months/daze/years.... will remove a lot of the oil. Repeat as required.

try and find the fibrous litter rahter than the gravelly stuff..

What do you think would happen if I were to try to clean the oil off by rubbing with acetone or isopropanol?

all the same.....both work. I'd forgotten the kleenex trick, mostly because wifey wouldn't let me use all the kleenex - cats we never had, noses we always did..

Balsarite isn't available much any more, shipping regulations I hear....after one or both of the above treatments, saturate the frame with clear dope, it acts as an advesive as well....then irin on top of that..

Thanks Sandy

I like the idea of applying clear dope.  I could try to get as much oil out as possible and then apply some clear dope.

The Sanding Sealer looks good.  Certainly a whole lot less expensive than the clear dope.


Today I spent a little time with the iron, heating up the wet surfaces bringing the oil to the surface.  Then I wiped the oil off with a paper towel.  It seemed to work rather well (thanks Grant).  Then I tried ironing on a small piece of covering and it stuck a whole lot better than prior to removing most of the oil, but not as good as if it were on perfectly clean balsa.  Perhaps, afer I apply the sanding sealer, I'll be good to go.

Now I have another question....

I'd like to make some MonoKote decals to apply some lettering to the upper surface of port wing....something polite

Should I just cut the letters out with a #10 blade, or is there an easier way to get custom lettering?

I've managed to get MonoKote to stick to my model.   I used a combination of Grant's suggestion to use heat followed by paper towel to get out the oil, and an application of Balsarite on the affected areas.  Seems to work just fine.

I have the fuse almost complete.  I'll post a pic once I have it covered but before I apply the details.