Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Paint Prep and "body work"
Let's say that some of the pre-drilled holes don't line up exactly so I drilled my own.
That means I still have a few of those #40 (3/32 inch) holes in the skin that have nothing behind them.
Will bondo, primer, paint, fill that in? Is there some other product I should use?
In my case, it's a half dozen horizontal stabilizer skin holes that lined up with flutes on ribs rather than flat spots. They're on the bottom and not that noticable (except I know they're there).
Suggestions?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on
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Why not simply pop a rivet in them - clean, wont fall out and paints up nicely... (we usually have a few rivets in places that are not planned.... and once painted nobody notices...
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Permalink Reply by Bill Pagan on
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Yea, the way to go is to put a rivet in the hole even if it doesn't connect to anything. Would be surprising if anyone ever noticed. The bondo would probably eventually fall out.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Slutz on
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I thought about putting rivets in the holes to plug them. Since the flutes of the ribs are behind them I would be riveting from a flat skin, across a small air gap (maybe 1/8"), and into the curved part of the rib's flute. Since it's not a flat metal to metal contact and since the back side of the rivet might be at an angel depending where it lands on the flute, I was concerned about the rivet not staying tight and working itself loose over time. Should that be a concern? Am I being too much of a perfectionist?
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OK, lets try an experiment. Take a couple of scraps of metal, drill a hole and pull a rivet in each - single skin, two skins, etc. Now, put it them all a plastic box and give a spin cycle in your washing machine - see if any of them come loose... I haven't tried it - but I would love to know what happens (we do all of our washing by hand here...) - please post pictures!!!!
It will answer questions the practical way....
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