What is this stuff ??

[Tom-D]

today I removed the old covers from the 170's wings and found this stuff in each wing.

It is water soluble, washes out easy with a little soap, and water, leaves no corrosion behind, it was on both sides of the front and rear spars. and inside the leading edge "D" box.

 

[BillTIZ]

My first guess would be mold or mildew of some sort.

 

[Tom-D]

My first guess would be mold or mildew of some sort.

I've seen mold in the cotton fabric, and this isn't like that. mold usually requires sone scrubbing to get it off, this doesn't, hit it with GP soap and it starts running down.

and washes off with out leaving a stain.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Some of the drip-like formations suggest to me some fluid seeped in and dried. Or not. Any sort of exterior cleaner that might have gotten inside and left some residue behind?

 

[Henning]

Palmolive dish soap?

 

[kgruber]

What does it taste like?

 

[Tom-D]

What does it taste like?

Too bad I didn't save some for you, then we'd all know.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Some of the drip-like formations suggest to me some fluid seeped in and dried. Or not. Any sort of exterior cleaner that might have gotten inside and left some residue behind?

That would be my guess as well. There seems to be some old newspapers in some of the images stained the same color as the residue. What's the connection between those pages and the plane? Some of the material appeared to be evenly applied where it didn't drip so I wonder if there was something used to coat those pieces to protect them after manufacture that wasn't removed.

 

[Tom-D]

The wing sat out in the rain over night, the night before I uncovered it. the mess was the mud dauber nests that got wet.

 

[1600vw]

My guess would be its been sprayed by an animal and that is urine.

Look on a car tire that gets sprayed by animals, it has the same pattern. I see this all the time, it just so happen to pick up dust and dirt and made it turn the color it is and not a yellow color.
Because of the acids in this I would remove it asap. You can ignore what I am telling you and say I am full of crap, but I wouldn't if it was mine. All that would be removed and find the critter that did it, it will be back. This has been sprayed.


H.A.S.

 

[1600vw]

If that was some sort of mold it would not be in just those spots. That has been sprayed.

 

[Tom-D]

My guess would be its been sprayed by an animal and that is urine.

Look on a car tire that gets sprayed by animals, it has the same pattern. I see this all the time, it just so happen to pick up dust and dirt and made it turn the color it is and not a yellow color.
Because of the acids in this I would remove it asap. You can ignore what I am telling you and say I am full of crap, but I wouldn't if it was mine. All that would be removed and find the critter that did it, it will be back. This has been sprayed.


H.A.S.

The wing had covers on them until 10 minutes before I took the pictures. and YES it has been washed and dried.

 

[Dan Thomas]

I doubt that it's any animal waste. It looks like the chemicals--or the residue from chemicals--from a really poor covering system. Did it have that horrible water-based Blue River process on it?

Dan

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I doubt that it's any animal waste. It looks like the chemicals--or the residue from chemicals--from a really poor covering system. Did it have that horrible water-based Blue River process on it?

Dan

I think Dan may be on the right track. It could be any number of things used in aircraft manufacture, care, and maintenance.

If you have the maintenance logs for the plane, you'd likely find several candidates for your mystery compound by looking through what work was done previously, assuming the logs were complete and all work was signed off ( this is not an experimental plane, right?). As a chemist, this is how I would start identifying the compound. As you've fixed and restored many planes, you can also come up with potential things that could have been sprayed in there if the logs don't help.

 

[Tom-D]

I doubt that it's any animal waste. It looks like the chemicals--or the residue from chemicals--from a really poor covering system. Did it have that horrible water-based Blue River process on it?

Dan

No,,,,,, that's the old blue Ray Stitz process. with dope as a finish.

 

[Tom-D]

I think you guys need to read post #9

 

[1600vw]

The wing sat out in the rain over night, the night before I uncovered it. the mess was the mud dauber nests that got wet.

So did you post this thread as a lesson in identifying spots like this?

I took it from the post you had no idea what this stuff was. But from this post you indeed did know what this stuff was. By the way I never seen mud dauber nests get wet. So I did learn something here.

What I come to these threads foris to learn, not to argue, but it seems some love to argue, Not saying you Tom.

 

[1600vw]

But it was a good lesson, for me anyway.

 

[1600vw]

Darn Mud daubers.

 

[Dan Thomas]

No,,,,,, that's the old blue Ray Stitz process. with dope as a finish.

No, Blue River had nothing to do with Stits. They're here:

http://www.bluerivercoatings.com/about.htm


http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...44CADQ&usg=AFQjCNES_E4C7pEp1b6_8fAyy1i2BnoTZA

The latter is a .pdf that takes a few seconds to load.

Dan

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I think you guys need to read post #9

I honestly thought you were answering the question about the newspaper pages and thought the connection was that the paper was used somehow to remove the nests.

 

[N2124v]

Could it be years of mold spores the stuck to condensation on the aluminum when you moved the wings? Just a wild guess.

 

[bluerooster]

Interesting. Dirt daubers around here, the nests just turn to mud, then dry into dirt. Not a reddish looking translucent goo that puddles up like some sort of coating that's been allowed to run.

Btw, were you able to date the newspaper?

 

[Tom-D]

Interesting. Dirt daubers around here, the nests just turn to mud, then dry into dirt. Not a reddish looking translucent goo that puddles up like some sort of coating that's been allowed to run.

Btw, were you able to date the newspaper?

No, the mouse chewed it up pretty good. and no the reddish stuff was not mouse pee. that's corrosive.