Rv8Medic

Rv8Medic

Member
I've got a problem with my QB wings (and flaps and ailerons). I've etch primed my wings and noticed that several rivets (40+), as well as skin seams at the spar, leak what I believe is the preservative (anti-corrosion) put on the parts in order to avoid corrosion during the over water journey from the Philippines (where the QBs are pre-assembled) to Oregon . I've washed them with everything from MEK to Dawn/water through a high pressure washer and spray gun followed by a highpressure airgun (as recomended by Vans - to push the stuff back inside the seam). I've done this repeatedily (at least 20 times) and still have the preservative leaking through the etch primer. I've even got rivets in the gas tank leaking preservative through the primer. Does anyone have an solution? This has taken all the fun out of the process. The last thing I want is this stuff to leak through a final paint job. Very frustrating!
 
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QB Wing leak...

I have QB wings also but have not etched primed them yet so nothing seems amiss. Would you likr me to do any inspection of my wings to see if it is evident before painting? What should I be looking for? My QB wings are early 2007 manufacture and have gone Oregon - Philippines - Oregon - Australia
 
I spent countless hours trying to get rid of this. (it's just as bad on the QB fus.) and I thought I had sorted it.
Every thing looked fine after I sprayed it but after a couple of days of curing, there was some staining of the White base coat around a fair few rivets (mainly along the spar) and some seams. These only showed up after the clear coat :(

Whish I could give you an answer. I would like to know as I'm buliding a QB 10 now

Dave
 
I have several military surplus rifles that were preserved in cosmoline. The most common way to remove it is with a heat gun and wash with boiling hot soap and water. Might want to try heating the joints and rivets with a heat gun and blow them out.
 
Dave,

I will give the heat gun a try. I did try boiling hot water but when I blew it through the paint gun system it came out cold. Physics was not my friend this time.

What is the final damage? Does the paint peel or flake, or is the paint merely discolored? Thanks for your response.

Denver
 
I would be VERY careful with a heat gun!!! You could warp the structure as the thin ali will heat and expand quickly and at different rates.
I have not had any paint peeling etc as I got rit of every trace! (or so i thought) But it does stain the paint (mine is base coat with laquer)

Dave
 
Update,
I pressure (300psi) washed the fuselage and wings with an aluminum safe degreaser. After that, I used a PPG degreaser/wax remover. Finally I re-etch primed and to my utter dismay, the rivets still leak whatever lubricant was put on the plane before it was shipped to the US.
I'm still at a loss of how to proceed. The last thing I want to do is to spend all that time and money to paint a plane only to have the paint flake off around rivets. Very frustrating!
 
Update,
Fuselage-
I've put a coat of Dupont etch primer and then a coat of paint primer (PPG) on the fuselage and so far (2 days), I see no staining on the seams or rivets. I am hopefully optimistic that my seepage issue is resolved for the fuselage. I credit the pressure wash from inside out and then outside in for this small victory.

Wings-
I still have plenty of staining on the skin seams at the spar as well as around numerous rivets. My plan is to clean the stains with PPG wax/grease remover and then immediately prime. We'll see how that works out.

Only time will tell.

Happy New Year and happy building.

Denver
 
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Denver,

I live in the VNY area but work at CMA, drive by TO daily, would be very interested to meet and check out this seepage issue as Im most likely going th QB route on my wings and fuse. PM me if interested and we can swap info.
 
Rv8Medic said:
Update,
Fuselage-
I've put a coat of Dupont etch primer and then a coat of paint primer (PPG) on the fuselage and so far (2 days), I see no staining on the seams or rivets. I am hopefully optimistic that my seepage issue is resolved for the fuselage. I credit the pressure wash from inside out and then outside in for this small victory.

Wings-
I still have plenty of staining on the skin seams at the spar as well as around numerous rivets. My plan is to clean the stains with PPG wax/grease remover and then immediately prime. We'll see how that works out.

Only time will tell.

Happy New Year and happy building.

Denver
Click to expand...

WOW!, glad I read this post, Last week I just epoxy primered, wet blocked the next day, all looked good for days, just now went out and looked and slight oil staining of the primer at the tank seams, wax grease wiped off and looks dry..for now, painting chromabase-clear Sat. wish us luck.
One more note, I did the Loctite 290 on the rivets and no staining there.
Please report on your paint!
 
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