Thank you Mark! Great video and looks much easier than soaking in water and waiting for everything to settle back into shape. As far as people worrying about loss of strength You could coat the balsa with epoxy mixed with some denatured alcohol making it almost the viscosity of water. The wood soaks it up and presto, added strength. Cheers!

I use the older and known water, works fine.

6:54 this is exactly what I came here for, brilliant! Cheers and thank you!

As you wet one side that side expands as it absorbs the moisture. So the wet side grows longer. Window cleaners like Windex contain both Alcohol and Amonia, great for the modeler’s bench for many uses. I also use it for both Silkspan and Silk when covering. Over time the fibers in the wood do relax and the stress lessens. Just make sure it glued well and there are plenty of formers under the wood. Great job

Very useful. Thanks for sharing the tips and making the video. Greetings from Canada.

I love that technique! Thanks for demonstrating. I’ve tried doing that with plain water in the past, but noticed it leaves the wood a little weaker afterwards, whereas, the ammonia does a better job of maintaining the strength.

Thanks Mark, who would have thought it, a bloke finding a use for cleaning fluid 😁

I use rubber bands instead of the scotch tape; if the wood doesn't fit the precise curvature initially, it will bend a tad more as the fluid soaks in.

Good information right here, thankyou for sharing your methods.

very nice thanks for this tip

Nice Mark.

Nice idea

Your videos are really great 👍

Amazing cool

Wow impressed

smart

Damp it with water and use heat gun

Mmmmmm, Spare ribs, yum

A good video. I started with ammonia then quickly switched Windex. Now I use ordinary white vinegar which I find more pleasant to use. you can use it to form medium balsa at 90degrees to the grain I recently made a couple of Nacelles 50mm diameter 30mm long out of 2mm balsa with the grain going around the circumference and the joint butt glued. after they had dried they cut to fit the wing mounts there doesn't seem to be any loss of strength in the material, but it is a static model not subject to vibration or handling

Thanks for that. Always good to know of the odd trick or two :-) Have you tried it on the tissue coverings. It may act like a starch.

Two things I'd like to comment on, 1) Molding the wood before gluing the piece on like your doing is absolutely the correct method. Too many times I see instructions where they ask you to glue down one edge then wet the wood and bend it into shape while gluing it down. Only to see a "starved horse" look in the balsa after it has dried. Wetting the wood also expands it. It then shrinks back up when it dries. So if you glue it down in the wet condition, it will shrink between the unsupported sections, like ribs on a wing or bulkheads on a fuse, when it dries. Like plastic covering would when you shrink it up. So kudos to you for showing the right way to do it! Mold, let dry fully, then glue it on. 2) Whoever told you Ammonia weakens the balsa is complete bullshit. Especially when using Windex or the cleaner you are using as the amount of Ammonia is negligible. It might make a bad day for germs but that's about it. I've been using this method for nigh on 30years now and I have NEVER experienced "weakened balsa". In fact, before the internet, no one batted a single eye for using this method. Post internet, and morons just have to insert their 2cent opinion. Maybe they didn't get enough attention as children. In any case, soaking in plain hot water works well too if anyone is worried about it. In full scale, we steam soak spruce lengths and it bends around forms like paper.

use water on wood works also but takes more time to dry out

You can use water without problem , put water only on the outside bending part , it works great try and see .

I cant tell if he's Australian or British. Love the video

NNNooooo any type of cleaner will restrict any adhesive/glue that you will be using to attach the sheet to the model's framework! Just use a small amount of clean hot water or steam will do the job for you along with a preassembled jig to keep it to the shape till it dries! Keep it simple stupid is the best rule of thumb when it come to craft modeling!

Does this technique work on 2mm balsa?

Great video, would this work with 2mm plywood? Is that just Mr Muscle Window Cleaner?

Could you spray the stuff on after you’ve done the planking? (To take out the tension) Sry for my bad english

Nothing worse than a warped wing. I've had a few

How do I go about adding filling in the open area on my wing. I have a ARF with open area top and bottom. Seagull models wing.

So its windex you used?

does the ammonia cleaner dry 100% or does it leave the wood damp (adding water/liquid weight to the wood)

How many mm is the balsa you are using?

Sir can u make a tutorial on how to make seagull Cessna 188 aGwagon airplane

wht's the thickness of balsa, I must know immediately

Mhhhhh, Spareribs....

Just use water