Foam dent removal

[Jflyboy]

Hot water about 160 to 180 will return foam to original shape. I've tried it on 2 planes and it works great does not hurt decals.

[Possum62]

I recently bought an FW F4 at a swap meet, the dark green areas of the fuse and wings have gatored pretty bad. Is there anyway of removing this or does it require sanding filling and repainting ? I’m new to the foamie world. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Grossman56]

Filling and sanding, the only way I know to get rid of gatoring, you can use lite spackle or, I've used several coats of Minwax gloss, sanding between approximately every three coats. Best thing to do is to try to keep the airplane out of direct sunlight when not flying and use Minwax as a UV Protectant as well.

Grossman56

[Pauly]

Perfect advice Grossman

[Twowingtj]

Two years ago, we picked up a well used Carbon-Z T-28, at the NEAT Fair, for my wife to practice flying larger warbirds. It had a lot of dings and dents, but the price was right. She has since put numerous flights on it.
Fast forward to now. It's time to freshen it up with a new paint scheme. First the dings and dents needed to be addressed. I ran across the video, linked below, for the best foam fix tip I've seen in a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3mUNpAbpDc

I now have a new favorite shop tool for repairing foam ARFs.



This thing works great! It comes with several attachments and ran about $30. The bent tip shown on the right targets the steam to a small area so you don't affect the undamaged area. You can control how much steam and pressure is applied. Start a little bit at a time until the foam gets back to, or near, its original shape.
Many areas went completely back to original. Some will still require some filling before paint.

[Grossman56]

wheredyagedit!!??

Grossman56

[Hardway]

https://www.amazon.com/PurSteam-presurizado-conformado-accesorios-superficies/dp/B06XHXFHWG/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=personal+steam+cleaner&qid=1589764347&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&smid=A2KHCQE0KZXFS4&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVEtUODE4S1owMDA2JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDMwNDI1MzhPRjRJNUNPR0s3TSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDQ4NzU3MUMwMllBNFNTRlNQMiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Hardway]

[Pauly]

Wow, that is a must have in the hanger. Thanks Twowingtj

[Twowingtj]

If you are a balsa builder, it will also raise a dent out of balsa, as long as you get the steam to the bare wood. Or help soften balsa for sheeting.

But, wait, there's more. It can steam clean window, counter tops, fabric.... I like tools that are multi-taskers.

[Pauly]

Also, that's the perfect answer to tell the wife it's a must have. With an answer like that she can't say no.

[Twowingtj]

Pauly Luckily my wife fly's and has a hangar full of her own planes, so, she was all in.

[Pauly]

Twowingtj the wife ordered one, but I just haven't had a chance to try it yet.

[quitcherbitchen]

That looks pretty cool. I own a steamer. I should try it.

[Elbee]

It will also steam heat the planking on Static and RC wooden boat hulls so you don't have to soak those to bend around the framing and sheathing. Best, LB