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08-19-2017, 07:22 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Posts: 1,230
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Gap
Wow...nice topic...
Going to the airport now to see if my paint bridged the gap! 
I did plenty of filling where the fiberglass joined the metal. Tips etc. Plus the targa strips. Also the pop rivets around the plexi that had holes in them.
Oh course I was more concerned about the top of the plane over the bottom and same for the white paint over the red. Pretty sure if the rivet moves to smoke, then it will show through the filler, but where I filled was not really places that were structural.
But still going to go look and see if I bridged the gap.......
__________________
Bob Martin
RV-6, 0-360 Hartzell C/S, Tip up, 1200+TT
James extended cowl/plenum, induction, -8VS and Rudder. TSFlightline hoses. Oregon Aero leather seats.
D100-KMD150-660-TT ADI2- AS air/oil seperator. Vetterman exhaust with turndown tips.
Louisa, Virginia KLKU N94TB
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08-19-2017, 01:49 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Concho, Arizona
Posts: 177
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I machined a custom 'large' mushroom set. With it and low pressure on the gun (or as needed) it set rivets fine without making a dimple. Different methods help and practice too.
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08-19-2017, 01:53 PM
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Pocahontas MS
Posts: 3,884
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Someone mentioned wiping proseal into the dimple rings; can't get much simpler than that. And it won't crack.
Judging (from earlier in the thread): it is what it is, but it's also incredibly stupid. How much filler is on (all) the plastic award winners, and what defects in workmanship are covered on those? How many past award winners are near gross weight before adding fuel? How many were built/finished/painted by Parker P-51s? Any downgrades for polyurethane on fabric? etc etc
But if little statues float your boat, at least you know what it takes to get one.
(Got the plaque; get to say it.) :-)
Charlie
Last edited by rv7charlie : 08-19-2017 at 06:31 PM.
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08-19-2017, 05:07 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 774
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Well it's sounding like I need to find myself a normal build epoxy primer compatible with the PU topcoat I have already purchased, then just shoot a little extra down the rivet lines just to be sure that there is bridging between the rivets and the surrounding skin. I'm really not looking forward to all this surface prep over again. I'll be at the hangar shortly to see how that etch has held that I dabbed onto the individual rivet heads.
Tom.
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08-19-2017, 11:28 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Breda, The Netherlands
Posts: 42
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After 6 years of flying, I still am glad we filled the gaps. We did not try to make the skin look like epoxy, just filled the ring around the rivet head. A smoking rivet would be visible whithout any problem.
Our body and wings are red, what would mean a white ring would appear after using cleaners or wax.
There is no airplane-judging in The Netherlands, other then fellow pilots, and we have received only positive comments, even from RV-builders 
As for covering up poor riveting: we wanted the outside to be just as good as the inside, so no poor riveting was accepted.
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08-20-2017, 02:03 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 774
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So I think I have this issue resolved.
The rivets I dabbed underneath the aircraft with etch primer were not so good. The primer had done its job sealing the gap from the perimeter of the rivet to the skin, however the excess paint on the skin was a dog to sand off. I would say for every hour you spend "dabbing" rivets, you'll spend another half hour the following day sanding the rivet line to remove the excess from each dab, then 15 minutes cleaning and shooting another layer of primer along the row where you potentially broke through with the sanding. That's weeks of extra work.
Today I tried things from a different approach. I used the flap as a test case, prepping it as usual, then laying down a dust coat over the entire flap. I then got my 0.8mm touch up gun, added some neat etch without any thinners (I would normally add 30% thinners to a paint that was already only 10% solids) and adjusted the spray pattern so that it was shooting a round patch the size of a dime at a distance of two inches from the surface. I shot each rivet individually, and once complete and tacked off I then moved back a little and shot the entire row in one narrow sweep. Finally with the main 1.3mm gun, I shot a coat over the entire flap at a 30% thinner rate, blending everything together nicely. Although this method seems to work at bridging the rivet gap, using the etch without any thinners in the touchup gun caused spider webs to form. I've run into this problem before, so I think I've just got to up the thinner rate as little as possible, but just high enough to stop this spider web formation blowing around and landing on the skin surface, as the thicker the etch the better it tends to bridge this gap. Because of this, I didn't get a chance to lay down the top coat today, as I need to let this harden up so I can hit it with some 400 grit and take the top of the remaining webs (many of them dissolved with the last 30% thinner coat).
I'll head to town tomorrow and pickup a collapsible cup adapter for my touchup gun so I can shoot the rivet lines under the aircraft. I'm using the Velocity system available here in Australia, but it's the same as the Devilbiss DeKups or 3M PPS system, and makes it a breeze to shoot paint under the aircraft.
Although we are not completely over the finish line yet, and I won't know the success until the top coat is on and flying for some time, I am buoyed by the comments in the data sheet that says that this is an "epoxy resin modified" that may be used "as a primer or, when applied in mist coats, as
conventional etch medium".
Thanks for everyone's help on this one.
Tom.
Last edited by tgmillso : 08-20-2017 at 02:12 AM.
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08-20-2017, 09:32 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Chino, CA
Posts: 202
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I have good results by using a squeegee to apply primer to fill rivet gaps very little sanding required
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Jerry Scott
Rocket II
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